Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Was Jesus Poor? A platinum post by Douglas Wadeson, M.D.
[00:00:07] most people would answer this question quickly. Of course he was. It's become an integral part of the Jesus story. He was a poor mendicant preacher.
[00:00:19] I recently saw a post on Facebook that a group had asked for people to submit their favorite pictures of Jesus and someone submitted a picture of a homeless man sleeping under a blanket on a sidewalk.
[00:00:30] Now if this is an allusion to the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, I think it's spot on as Jesus said that to help someone like that homeless man was to do it for Jesus.
[00:00:42] Technically the king in the story says this, but people do assume that Jesus is referring to himself in Matthew 25:40.
[00:00:50] And Jesus did say, the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have their nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.
[00:00:58] That's Matthew 8:20.
[00:01:01] So Jesus really was poor and homeless. Right?
[00:01:04] And is this image of Jesus as a homeless person accurate?
[00:01:10] Let's go back to his childhood. The Gospels make it clear that Jesus grew up in Nazareth.
[00:01:17] That village has been excavated and it was indeed a one donkey sort of town. There were no public buildings. Jesus father was said to be a carpenter. Surely a carpenter in the small town of Nazareth will be living on the edge of poverty, right?
[00:01:33] So Jesus grew up in poverty. Of course, Joseph was actually a tecton in the Greek. That's Mark 6:3, meaning a craftsman.
[00:01:44] Buildings in Galilee were typically constructed of stone, not wood. So it's more likely that Joseph might have been a stonemason or other artisan.
[00:01:53] But that would still mean poverty wages. Right?
[00:01:56] Within walking distance of the small town of Nazareth was the sizable city of Sepphoris, known as the Jewel of Galilee.
[00:02:05] It was a wealthy administrative center and also a Jewish scholarly center with significant buildings like a theater and a synagogue.
[00:02:13] That would be more likely to be a source of work for Joseph than tiny Nazareth.
[00:02:19] That does not mean he was a wealthy man by any means, but it may have provided a steady income, what we would think of as middle class rather than poverty level.
[00:02:28] Joseph would have been providing for a family of a wife and at least five sons and two daughters according to Matthew 13:55,56.
[00:02:38] So at least he earned enough to support a family of that size.
[00:02:42] And later Jesus also as the eldest son and after Joseph is presumed to have died and dropped out of the picture.
[00:02:49] Yet at some point typically thought to be about 30 years of age, Jesus left home and began an itinerant preaching ministry in Galilee.
[00:02:58] So he was Thereafter living in poverty, right?
[00:03:01] Not so fast. Jesus still had a source of income.
[00:03:06] Some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses. Mary, who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, who was the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward. And Susanna, and many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means.
[00:03:22] That's Luke chapter 8, verses 2 and 3, and many others.
[00:03:27] Jesus collected enough money from people that he could Support himself and 12 followers as they traveled around. And possibly some number of women too. See Mark 15:40 and 41, etc.
[00:03:40] They even needed a money box to store it all, as in John 12:6 and 13:29.
[00:03:48] That gospel even says there was enough for Judas to be able to embezzle some of it. I'm not suggesting Jesus lived a Joel Osteen caliber lifestyle, but neither was he without income.
[00:03:59] Small contributions add up when there are many giving.
[00:04:04] But he was still homeless, wasn't he?
[00:04:06] Well, consider this. When he had come back to Capernaum several days afterwards, it was heard that he was at home.
[00:04:14] That's Mark 2:1.
[00:04:16] They came to Capernaum and when he was in the house, he began to question them. What were you discussing on the way? He asked. That's Mark 9:33.
[00:04:26] After this he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother and his brothers and his disciples. And there they stayed for for a few days. That's John 2:12.
[00:04:36] Now that last verse does not specifically mention a house, but it does say that Jesus and his family and his disciples all stayed there for a few days.
[00:04:45] Either they had a house or they were able to rent a house, or they knew someone whose house was large enough to accommodate this significant entourage.
[00:04:54] That certainly does not suggest homelessness or poverty.
[00:04:59] Capernaum is on the Sea of Galilee. Wouldn't you like to have a house with a nice lake view?
[00:05:04] And here's a point that I suspect most people overlook from the crucifixion story.
[00:05:09] Jesus had clothes that were nice enough that the soldiers gambled to see who would get them.
[00:05:14] In fact, in John 9:23 it says the tunic. Now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. In other words, not the usual cheap stitched together tunic one might expect a poor person to wear. It was worth gambling for. These clothes doesn't sound like rags worn by a pauper preacher or a mendicant monk for moral alliteration.
[00:05:38] Now one might respond that this was likely the purple or scarlet or gorgeous robe that was put on Pilate when they mocked him. But Matthew 7:31 and Mark 15:20 explicitly state that the robe was removed and Jesus went to the cross in his own clothes.
[00:05:57] Note there are several churches in Europe who claim to have the robe or pieces of it as holy relics. So plan your pilgrimage now.
[00:06:04] Now, I'm not suggesting that Jesus was wealthy, but I'm not sure that portraying him as a destitute homeless man is accurate either.
[00:06:12] He may have had a middle class upbringing.
[00:06:15] He had significant support during his ministry, enough to support a band of 13. Plus he had a home in Capernaum. At his execution he was wearing desirable clothing. How does that read to you?
[00:06:29] And that's just the historical Jesus.
[00:06:31] If you believe in the divine Jesus, then you definitely cannot classify him as poor. He could turn water into wine. He could feed 5,000 people at a time. He produced a coin in a fish's mouth. That's Matthew 17:27.
[00:06:47] In other words, Jesus could miraculously produce whatever he needed. That's like having an unlimited bank account.
[00:06:54] And that does not meet any definition of poverty.
[00:07:00] There is no mistaking Jesus take on wealth and greed. However, he repeatedly warned of the danger of riches, even suggesting that they could keep you out of the kingdom of heaven. That's Matthew 19:23, that's Luke 16:19 and following, etc.
[00:07:18] And I don't know of any possessions that Jesus took on his travels other than the clothes on his back. And I don't think we should begrudge him a decent set of clothes to wear.
[00:07:28] So why did Jesus say the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head?
[00:07:33] This seems to come from the Q material, but let's assume Jesus said such a thing. Well, to be clear, he had a home in Capernaum in addition to the family home in Nazareth, and was often welcomed into other people's houses like Simon the leper see Mark 14:3, or Mary and Martha see Luke 10:38.
[00:07:54] Still, I can see Jesus expressing that he felt he had no safe and permanent place to call his home when he was on the road doing the Lord's work.
[00:08:01] That's not the same though as huddling under a blanket on a public street.
[00:08:08] If Jesus was actually more middle class than poor, would it matter?
[00:08:13] Would there be anything wrong with his mission or his teachings if he had arisen from such a background?
[00:08:19] Do you have to be poverty stricken in order to teach and preach about poverty and wealth?
[00:08:24] If you can preach about wealth without being wealthy, can't you also preach about poverty without being poor?
[00:08:32] Even if Jesus had been born upper class like Buddha before him. Jesus may have looked out upon the suffering and the poverty in the world and rejected wealth and comfort for himself, instead choosing an itinerant ministry preaching what he believed to be the needed word of God in a troubled world.
[00:08:50] That might even be seen as more noble than a poor person who, not surprisingly, criticized the wealthy.
[00:08:59] Personally, I admire Jesus attempts to lift up the poor and downcast in a world that favors the wealthy and the powerful.
[00:09:05] But I don't want to make the mistake of molding Jesus into an unrealistic image of abject poverty. The actual story is striking enough for more of my offbeat articles, look up thebibleundressed blog.
