Infamous Words

David Gist reflects on the meaning of the phrase “You will always have the poor among you,” or “with you.” It’s a rather famous phrase — or infamous, given how this passage has been used to perpetuate greed and capitalism. But what was the context for this phrase, initially from Deuteronomy?
David was called to work with Bread for the World just over 20 years ago. It's founder decided to focus on the root causes of hunger concluding from Bible study that God not only cared about “the least of these,” but about our laws and structures — and how society relates to the least of these. God calls us to advocacy: write a letter to Congress with us!