An acquaintance of mine recently asked a question on his Facebook about whether Jesus and his family were poor, rich, or in the middle. The church I had grown up in spiritually (2003-2009) had always taught that all followers of Jesus were to be blessed with not only spiritual wealth, but also material wealth. I will admit, the pastor had a couple decent arguments for this position. Jesus’ garment at the crucifixion was made of one woven piece which wasn’t cheap. The gifts brought at the Epiphany were costly and probably let his family live comfortably for a few years. Jesus had a treasurer. I’m sure there are more, but those are the ones I remember off the top of my head. It wasn’t until the past few years that I actually started questioning this theology.
I don’t believe that Jesus’ family was rich in any way. Leviticus 12 talks about the ways a woman can be made pure after childbirth. Verse 8 states:
“If she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her and she will be clean.”
Fast forward hundreds of years (and about a thousand pages) to Luke 2:24 where Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple for presentation “and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: ‘a pair of doves or two young pigeons.‘”
If Mary and Joseph would have had the money, they would have bought a lamb for the sacrifice and not the bird sacrifice God allowed the poor to make.
The social status of Jesus’ family is not nearly as important as the lives of both adult-Jesus and of his followers. The easiest reference to this to make is to the Rich Young Ruler, where Jesus tells the man that in order to follow him, he will have to give away his possessions and give his money to the poor. This is generally interpreted that Jesus was talking specifically to him and that it was simply a heart matter. There’s this great quote about this by Rich Mullins that Shane Claiborne has in his book The Irresistible Revolution that says:
“You guys are all into that born again thing, which is great. We do need to be born again, since Jesus said that to a guy named Nicodemus. But if you tell me I have to be born again to enter the kingdom of God, I can tell you that you just have to sell everything you have and give it to the poor, because Jesus said that to one guy too…But I guess that’s why God invented highlighters, so we can highlight the parts we like and ignore the rest.”
However, something that many believers overlook, is when Jesus tells all of his disciples to not worry about where they’re going to get their next meals or where they’re going to stay, but to sell their possessions and give to the poor and follow God anyway. (Luke 12:33 – paraphrase). Even my study bible has a note saying basically “Well, Jesus didn’t really mean this.” I disagree. If Jesus didn’t mean these things, why would the entire original Church live on basically nothing so that everyone could have what they needed? How can anyone truly learn to rely on God for their daily bread when have more food in their fridge today than some African families will see in a year?
One of the things my above mentioned friend talked about in his status was the prosperity gospel in Africa, where he is currently a missionary. Bringing the message that, if you have enough faith, God will provide you many material riches as a reward is dangerous to a culture made up of individuals that live on less than a dollar a day. What exactly is that saying to these people? The people of the African Church are notorious for having extraordinary faith in Jesus while the American Church is known for lukewarm and shallow worship. According to this “gospel,” those who have lots are in God’s favor while those who have nothing lack faith. Again, I ask, what kind of message is this? Where is the “good news?” This can’t continue.
Another quote (I’m a fan of them, obviously) This one’s from Ron Sider, from his book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger:
“We insist on more and more, and reason that if Jesus was so un-American that he considered riches dangerous, then we must ignore or reinterpret his message” (93).
Again, this can’t keep going on. I know I’m not alone with my frustration about this movement. A lot of people want to talk about change, but no one wants to change anything. I’ve come up with a few ideas (with help from a few sources) on how we can change our views of the riches we do have and how we can help those who have nothing:
1. Refuse to keep up with fashion. It’s ridiculous to think we need to buy hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars worth of new clothes every time a new fad comes out.
2. Resist buying things just because we can afford them.
3. Lower energy consumption.
4. Stop driving everywhere. Ride a bike or walk.
5. Find free events to go to and stop wasting money on $9 movie tickets and $4 lattes.
6. Sell your possessions and give your money to the poor. 
