the church is allergic to privilege

The church cannot tolerate the distinctions and privileged statuses the world orders itself around. The Gospel breaks this down where it is lived out and exposes the suffering that privilege inflicts on everyone.  Jesus was drawn to the hurting poor and the hurting rich. God has a preference for the poor, that is clear in the Gospels and in the Hebrew Scriptures. But we should not overlook the suffering that wealthy people endure or that wealth itself brings. There are many people in our society who are economically wealthy and impoverished in all other ways. Like the rich young ruler, Jesus has compassion on them too, though they seem more inclined than others to find that compassion offensive as it is a prophetic compassion, a compassion that exposes the needs they are so keen to ignore.