Blessed Are the Poor

Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, "God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is given to you (Luke 6:20 NLT).

So who were the poor? Luke describes them as needy people who followed Jesus. They were people tormented by demons, lepers, the lame, people with withered hands, and people ruined by sin. They came to Jesus for healing, forgiveness and deliverence.

ECONOMIC SEPARATION
Injustice or God's Will by Steven J. Friesen (A People's History of Christianity, p.243)

According to Friesen the world of Jesus' day could be broken down into these catagories:
0.04% Imperial elites
1.00% Regional and provincial elites
1.76% Municipal elites
7.00%? Moderate surplus resources: some merchants, traders, freepersons, artisans and military veterans
22.0%? Stable near subsistence level (with reasonable hope of remaining abouve the minimum level to sustain life): many merchants and traders, regular wage earneres, artisans, large shop owners, freedpersons, some farm families.
40.0% At subsistence level and often below minimum level to sustain (especially those emplyed by others), wage earners, most merchants and traders, small shop/tavern owners.
28.0% Below subsistence level: some farm families, unattached widows, orphans, beggars, disabled people, unskilled day laborers, prisoners.

80% to 90% of people worked in agriculture and like some poorer 3rd world countries of today there was no middle class.

Here is what is important in all of this. The vast majority of the people that heard Jesus were poor.