We need to love the poor by loving the rich. Perhaps this sounds sanctimonious, or overly simplistic. I do not want to suggest that this kind of love assumes a weak posture, as if accepting everything that happens in our world without opposing anything. Love does not mean the absence of conflict; or the closing of our eyes/mind to sin, injustice, and mistreatment. Jesus cautioned against the “yeast of the Pharisees” and actively confronted socio-political forms of sin that manifested within first-century Palestine. Yet He also “loved” the rich young ruler, ate with tax collectors and other “sinners,” and praised the faith of a centurion.

Rather than shunning power, we need to nurture it … and especially the kind of love manifested in Christ.

That’s all. Simple.