Basically, there are two main streams on materialistic Christianity:
1. Those who say Christ was rich and,
2. Those who say He was poor.
My view, today, is He wasn´t rich neither poor. He was (and is) ABOVE and beyond all these.
According to what He said, there are two humanistic big realms and that´s why He said: “Give Cesar what is Cesar´s and God´s what is God´s”. (There is a human reign and there´s a divine also).
My reasoning should be like this:
Most of people I know want to be rich (and I want to be rich just to avoid things I don´t want to pay for).
Of course Jesus lived like a man, like a simple “poor” man. We see that when someone asked Peter for money to pay the temple tax. Soon after,Peter gave a report of things to Jesus, and immediately Jesus sent him to go fishing. What for? To get the money they needed.
Were the apostles rich enough?
Peter was a fisherman and probably owned his boat (or something more). But, did they use credit cards to pay taxes? No! And it´s obvious inferred their economy was simple enough to pay workers day by day (The Old Testament asked to do so).
The money they received on their mission was to serve for the mission… I see, when paying the temple tax, no one of the Twelve asked Judas to come to pay the money Romans charged the Jewish for the use of the temple. Additionally, I see Jesus saying: “…Each worker deserves his food” (Matt 10:10) So I see Jesus worked for food, not for money (Matt 10:9-10) and He is aware of the stuff we daily need to live (When He sent the Seventy, He gave them permission to take everything they have to work on the missionary field)
Did Jesus ask Judas money to pay His taxes?
No! Instead Jesus sent Peter to WORK and, soon after, Peter had the money to pay the tax collectors (with the exact amount of money) Jesus and His close disciple owed the Roman Empire, yearly or monthly.
The Christian Materialistic stream insists on facts that “prove” Jesus was rich:
· They talked about Jesus´ clothing and said an inference based on the fashion of its priceless woven… (Does clothing make people rich or poor?) See Matt. 27:28
· They could say –and “proved”- He was rich in Heavens, according to Paul´s records and opinions (These are human´s inferences Jesus never told us).
· They have said He left His heavenly glory to live “poorly” on earth (and the Bible tells us God disregards what we consider wealth).
· They´ve said He was a “professional” on carpentry (and I know an “apostolic” pastor who insisted on this craft was unpopular and very expensive). How expensive or cheap is it today, if all jobs are costly done?
· They argued that He took care of the family -the whole household- after Joseph death… (But there´s no biblical written proof for those issues, but only logical inferences) (except His brothers did not believe in Him: John 7:4-5)
Here are some “inferences” of mine:
I haven´t seen any record of the economic stature of Joseph´s family. He is thought to be son of Jacob (Matt. 1:16) while Mary had Elizabeth, as relative, who was a daughter of Aaron (Luke 1:5). For the enrollment, Joseph had to go back to the city of his origin and, being from Bethlehem, he had no relatives there to welcome him (and his wife) when coming to be registered in a census of the Judean population).
What was the status of Joseph and Jesus´ family?
Was Joseph rich for being a carpenter? If so, what kind of stress both Mary and Joseph dealt with while Jesus was born in a stable and how long He rested in a manger?
Three Maggi came as rescue party… The family already had a house, but extra money served to move -fleeing- to Egypt.
In His earthy mission, the Bible, instead, showed us Judas to be the bearer of the money box.
The Bible shows us Judas taking money out of the collective treasure they used in the missionary field for giving the poor.
The Bible shows us Jesus sending Judas to buy or doing “something” with the money he was in charge (or cared of) same day they were to partake the last Passover in Jerusalem, before He was taken to the cross.
Did they use that money on personal issues? If so, why Jesus sent Peter to work to pay the temple tax?
Was it to prove He was sent from God or to fulfill God´s command?
Scripture says: “Ganarás el pan con el sudor de tu frente”. (Genesis)
(Excuse me for the Spanish) (I don´t have a tool to translate it now).
There are several opinions, perhaps more than I can imagine, but I see God working on Jesus when money served for nothing:
· The day He fed several hundreds, money was useless; particularly in a remote area with no “malls”.
· The day He sent His team mission and the 70, money was used and sometimes was useless: They received their pay: Food + clothing.
· When the apostles had lost hope in Jerusalem and came back their homes, they went to fish on a lake (just for trade to make some money for their living). Suddenly, when nothing was gained a whole night vigil, Jesus showed Himself to be The Giver, The Real Provider and the Eternal Hope they thought gone (just by giving them too much fish more than their net could possibly collect or hold).
These formerly fishermen were “rich” (according to the opinion of some materialistic churches and denominations), but they abandoned their business to follow the call Jesus gave them to work in His field, so they became “fishers of men” (We know there was a tax collector in Jesus´ team, but he was given the job to write and spread the word).
Was Jesus poor or rich?
Let´s say he was “rich” and left His secular wealth to enter the missionary field… Allow me to say He decided to give a tenth of his earthly life (10%) to God since He was about 30 years old when He started His missionary ministry (Luke 3:23) so He left Nazareth to live in Capernaum (Matt. 4:13, 17; Luke 4:23)
We know he came down from Heaven; His kingdom is not made of money or gold, but with the re-establishment of Justice, instead.
We are never said He owned an earthly mansion He had to leave on someone´s else care. We´ve never heard He has some servants (except angels) and I never heard he was bossy over the Twelve or dependent on banalities.
He said His disciples would receive 100% of what they have left on earth… What would that be?
Think on Luke 12:15, 19:8 and 19:26.
Does Jesus want us to live in poverty? If so, why He left His mother under John´s attentions? He had more sisters and brothers who could care for His mother´s needs (John 2: 12; 7: 3-5)
1. Those who say Christ was rich and,
2. Those who say He was poor.
My view, today, is He wasn´t rich neither poor. He was (and is) ABOVE and beyond all these.
According to what He said, there are two humanistic big realms and that´s why He said: “Give Cesar what is Cesar´s and God´s what is God´s”. (There is a human reign and there´s a divine also).
My reasoning should be like this:
1. If He was rich, Why asking people to leave it all? Why asking the rich young man to leave all behind, is He wasn´t living like a humble man?
2. If he was poor, Why telling rich to be poor? It would be a lie, and an unethical issue to ask anything He wasn´t or hasn´t done; but He said one who volunteered: “…the Son of man doesn´t have to lay his head” (Matt. 8:20, Lk. 9:58)
Are all rich and poor people happier because of money, housing and for the abundance of wealth?
Most of people I know want to be rich (and I want to be rich just to avoid things I don´t want to pay for).
Of course Jesus lived like a man, like a simple “poor” man. We see that when someone asked Peter for money to pay the temple tax. Soon after,Peter gave a report of things to Jesus, and immediately Jesus sent him to go fishing. What for? To get the money they needed.
Were the apostles rich enough?
Peter was a fisherman and probably owned his boat (or something more). But, did they use credit cards to pay taxes? No! And it´s obvious inferred their economy was simple enough to pay workers day by day (The Old Testament asked to do so).
The money they received on their mission was to serve for the mission… I see, when paying the temple tax, no one of the Twelve asked Judas to come to pay the money Romans charged the Jewish for the use of the temple. Additionally, I see Jesus saying: “…Each worker deserves his food” (Matt 10:10) So I see Jesus worked for food, not for money (Matt 10:9-10) and He is aware of the stuff we daily need to live (When He sent the Seventy, He gave them permission to take everything they have to work on the missionary field)
Did Jesus ask Judas money to pay His taxes?
No! Instead Jesus sent Peter to WORK and, soon after, Peter had the money to pay the tax collectors (with the exact amount of money) Jesus and His close disciple owed the Roman Empire, yearly or monthly.
The Christian Materialistic stream insists on facts that “prove” Jesus was rich:
· They talked about Jesus´ clothing and said an inference based on the fashion of its priceless woven… (Does clothing make people rich or poor?) See Matt. 27:28
· They could say –and “proved”- He was rich in Heavens, according to Paul´s records and opinions (These are human´s inferences Jesus never told us).
· They have said He left His heavenly glory to live “poorly” on earth (and the Bible tells us God disregards what we consider wealth).
· They´ve said He was a “professional” on carpentry (and I know an “apostolic” pastor who insisted on this craft was unpopular and very expensive). How expensive or cheap is it today, if all jobs are costly done?
· They argued that He took care of the family -the whole household- after Joseph death… (But there´s no biblical written proof for those issues, but only logical inferences) (except His brothers did not believe in Him: John 7:4-5)
Here are some “inferences” of mine:
I haven´t seen any record of the economic stature of Joseph´s family. He is thought to be son of Jacob (Matt. 1:16) while Mary had Elizabeth, as relative, who was a daughter of Aaron (Luke 1:5). For the enrollment, Joseph had to go back to the city of his origin and, being from Bethlehem, he had no relatives there to welcome him (and his wife) when coming to be registered in a census of the Judean population).
What was the status of Joseph and Jesus´ family?
Was Joseph rich for being a carpenter? If so, what kind of stress both Mary and Joseph dealt with while Jesus was born in a stable and how long He rested in a manger?
Three Maggi came as rescue party… The family already had a house, but extra money served to move -fleeing- to Egypt.
In His earthy mission, the Bible, instead, showed us Judas to be the bearer of the money box.
The Bible shows us Judas taking money out of the collective treasure they used in the missionary field for giving the poor.
The Bible shows us Jesus sending Judas to buy or doing “something” with the money he was in charge (or cared of) same day they were to partake the last Passover in Jerusalem, before He was taken to the cross.
Did they use that money on personal issues? If so, why Jesus sent Peter to work to pay the temple tax?
Was it to prove He was sent from God or to fulfill God´s command?
Scripture says: “Ganarás el pan con el sudor de tu frente”. (Genesis)
(Excuse me for the Spanish) (I don´t have a tool to translate it now).
There are several opinions, perhaps more than I can imagine, but I see God working on Jesus when money served for nothing:
· The day He fed several hundreds, money was useless; particularly in a remote area with no “malls”.
· The day He sent His team mission and the 70, money was used and sometimes was useless: They received their pay: Food + clothing.
· When the apostles had lost hope in Jerusalem and came back their homes, they went to fish on a lake (just for trade to make some money for their living). Suddenly, when nothing was gained a whole night vigil, Jesus showed Himself to be The Giver, The Real Provider and the Eternal Hope they thought gone (just by giving them too much fish more than their net could possibly collect or hold).
These formerly fishermen were “rich” (according to the opinion of some materialistic churches and denominations), but they abandoned their business to follow the call Jesus gave them to work in His field, so they became “fishers of men” (We know there was a tax collector in Jesus´ team, but he was given the job to write and spread the word).
Was Jesus poor or rich?
Let´s say he was “rich” and left His secular wealth to enter the missionary field… Allow me to say He decided to give a tenth of his earthly life (10%) to God since He was about 30 years old when He started His missionary ministry (Luke 3:23) so He left Nazareth to live in Capernaum (Matt. 4:13, 17; Luke 4:23)
We know he came down from Heaven; His kingdom is not made of money or gold, but with the re-establishment of Justice, instead.
We are never said He owned an earthly mansion He had to leave on someone´s else care. We´ve never heard He has some servants (except angels) and I never heard he was bossy over the Twelve or dependent on banalities.
He said His disciples would receive 100% of what they have left on earth… What would that be?
Think on Luke 12:15, 19:8 and 19:26.
Does Jesus want us to live in poverty? If so, why He left His mother under John´s attentions? He had more sisters and brothers who could care for His mother´s needs (John 2: 12; 7: 3-5)