Blessed are the poor

Blessed are the poor. - Mark 6:20

Without hesitation or qualification, Jesus blessed the poor. Today we listen in to Kat Armas as she helps us understand one of the many ways the poor are blessed (and that those who are not poor get to learn from them). She’s writing particularly about her Cuban abuelita (grandmother). What surprises you, challenges you, comforts you, or inspires you in this passage?

When many of us with varying levels of privilege interact with the Bible’s stories, particularly those of Jesus engaging with marginalized women, we often have to force ourselves into the narrative. I wonder if much of our abuelitas’ theological insight comes from the fact that they can see themselves clearly in the story.

They don’t need to stretch to imagine what it would be like to be the Samaritan woman or the persistent widow. Many of our abuelas know those stories intimately not only because they’ve committed to studying them and their lessons but because oftentimes those stories are about them. What they pass on to us is a knowledge about God that many of us spend our lives trying to obtain from books and conferences. Our abuelitas may be “uneducated” by the dominant culture’s standards, but they possess PhDs in prayer and Bible interpretation.

They may not be ordained as official priests or pastors, but they’ve been playing those roles behind the scenes forever, noticed and called by God.

- Kat Armas, Abuelita Faith