Matthew 26:11a For you always have the poor with you,
That is just the way it is, not that God wants it that way but because that is how the world works.
Matthew 26:8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste?
A woman took an expensive ointment and anointed our Lord. This was the response of his disciples. Allow me for the moment to shift the conversation from anointing the Lord to how we choose to spend our money.
No matter what we buy, someone is going to get the larger market share of the profits from the sale. Even in those things that are cheap, they could not make it to market without everyone along the supply line eking out a living. Somewhere, someone is getting a larger market share than anyone else. That is just how the market place works.
Who that person or persons are will be hidden from us and we do not make our choices with them in mind. The ones that suffer the most are the ones that are the poorest. They have no choice but to choose the least expensive product just in order to survive.
Our charity will never be enough to erase poverty because the only things available to buy come from that same marketplace and the same people will get their share.
Jeremiah 9:12 Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?
I am beginning to understand why John the Baptist preached in the wilderness where the land was laid waste and there was nothing to be offered there, no market, no buying or selling. Just the free offer of salvation.
Ezra 4:15 in order that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will find in the book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from of old. That was why this city was laid waste.
It is not the marketplace that ruins a city but rather sedition.
The truth is found in the records of our fathers. Read, learn and be warned.