Anyone who even casually studies the Bible knows there is a decided bias for the poor.

It is to them that God seems drawn over and over again. Not because they are inherently better than the wealthy, but because they have an empty space for God.

Isn't it curious how we have come to believe that we deserve all that we have? Somehow, we have determined that we have earned the right to be rewarded both by the world and by God.

Why else would the very excellent book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, be such a best-seller? We can't imagine not getting all the breaks, having everything go our way. When this doesn't happen, we curse God and everyone else.

Not the poor.

They haven't deluded themselves into believing that they are deserving. Quite the opposite. They marvel at good fortune. They celebrate love and grace and they can do that because they have an empty space for God.

The story of the widow dropping her pittance into the plate is a vivid reminder not only of our failure to be generous but, far more importantly, our failure to trust in God. Our failure to leave an empty space for God to fill.

It is not evil to be rich. But it surely is tragic to be so filled up with things that we have no room for God.