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Good evening,
I always knew that Jesus was “poor”, that is, He was quite normal.
However, today I read that Jesus was wealthy, according to a don, and I find that strange.
According to Luke, Joseph and Mary bought a dove, which was the lowest fare, for the poor. Moreover, “the Son of man became poor rather than rich”.
I do not quote exactly but that is the meaning.
Anyway, His tunic should have been made by a pious woman who followed Him (I read it in a message of Hers).
That don says that it is thanks to the archaeological excavations in Israel that he says that, and most of the exegetes would say so too. However, other sources, including Famiglia Cristiana magazine, portray Jesus differently.
This information seems contradictory. Could you clarify this for me?
.
The Priest’s answer
Dear,
1. the condition of Jesus’ family was poor, and this fact emerges precisely from the episode of the presentation of Our Lord at the temple.
The law of Leviticus prescribed the following: “When the days of her purification for a son or for a daughter are fulfilled, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the meeting tent a yearling lamb for a holocaust and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering” (Lev 12:6).
But, “If, however, she cannot afford a lamb, she may take two turtledoves or two pigeons, the one for a holocaust and the other for a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement for her, and thus she will again be clean” (Lev 12:8).
Now, about the moment of Mary’s purification and the presentation of Jesus in the temple, St. Luke indicates only the offering of the poor: “and to offer the sacrifice of ‘a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,’ in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.” (Lk 2 ,24).
2. About the poverty of Christ, St. Thomas points out: “It is written (Mt. 8:20): ‘The Son of Man hath not where to lay His head’: as though He were to say as Jerome observes: ‘Why desirest thou to follow Me for the sake of riches and worldly gain, since I am so poor that I have not even the smallest dwelling-place, and I am sheltered by a roof that is not Mine?’ And on Mt. 17:26: ‘That we may not scandalize them, go to the sea,’ Jerome says: ‘This incident, taken literally, affords edification to those who hear it when they are told that our Lord was so poor that He had not the wherewithal to pay the tax for Himself and His apostles’ ” (Summa Theologiae, III, 40,3, sed contra).
3. Of course, as you point out, “he became poor although he was rich” (2Cor 8:9), meaning that, being God and therefore the source of all wealth, he chose poverty and wanted to live poorly.
He wanted to be poor, says St. Thomas, for four reasons: “First, because this was in keeping with the duty of preaching, for which purpose He says that He came (Mk. 1:38): “Let us go into the neighboring towns and cities, that I may preach there also: for to this purpose am I come.” Now in order that the preachers of God’s word may be able to give all their time to preaching, they must be wholly free from care of worldly matters: which is impossible for those who are possessed of wealth. Wherefore the Lord Himself, when sending the apostles to preach, said to them (Mt. 10:9): “Do not possess gold nor silver.” And the apostles (Acts 6:2) say: “It is not reasonable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.”
Secondly, because just as He took upon Himself the death of the body in order to bestow spiritual life on us, so did He bear bodily poverty, in order to enrich us spiritually, according to 2 Cor. 8:9: “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: that . . . He became poor for our [Vulg.: ‘your’] sake that through His poverty we [Vulg.: ‘you’] might be rich.”
Thirdly, lest if He were rich His preaching might be ascribed to cupidity. Wherefore Jerome says on Mt. 10:9, that if the disciples had been possessed of wealth, “they had seemed to preach for gain, not for the salvation of mankind.” And the same reason applies to Christ.
Fourthly, that the more lowly He seemed by reason of His poverty, the greater might the power of His Godhead be shown to be. Hence in a sermon of the Council of Ephesus (P. iii, c. ix) we read: “He chose all that was poor and despicable, all that was of small account and hidden from the majority, that we might recognize His Godhead to have transformed the terrestrial sphere. For this reason did He choose a poor maid for His Mother, a poorer birthplace; for this reason did He live in want. Learn this from the manger” (Summa Theologiae, III, 40,3).
4. The charism of Consecrated Life within the church also testifies to the poverty of Christ.
The Consecrated Life through the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience is distinguished from any other status of life as those, who take part, want to live according to the same lifestyle of Christ, poor, chaste, obedient.
This is what John Paul II recalls in the document Vita Consecrata: “The Consecrated Life, deeply rooted in the example and teaching of Christ the Lord, is a gift of God the Father to his Church through the Holy Spirit. By the profession of the evangelical counsels the characteristic features of Jesus — the chaste, poor and obedient one — are made constantly “visible” in the midst of the world” (VC 1).
And: “By professing the evangelical counsels, consecrated persons not only make Christ the whole meaning of their lives but strive to reproduce in themselves, as far as possible, ‘that form of life which he, as the Son of God, accepted in entering this world.’ By embracing chastity, they make their own the pure love of Christ and proclaim to the world that he is the Only-Begotten Son who is one with the Father (rf. Jn 10:30, 14:11). By imitating Christ’s poverty, they profess that he is the Son who receives everything from the Father, and gives everything back to the Father in love (rf. Jn 17:7, 10). By accepting, through the sacrifice of their own freedom, the mystery of Christ’s filial obedience, they profess that he is infinitely beloved and loving, as the One who delights only in the will of the Father (rf. Jn 4:34), to whom he is perfectly united and on whom he depends for everything” (VC 16).
5. To be a carpenter in the hidden life of Nazareth, and to work together with Joseph, did not mean that Jesus was rich.
Probably, they had no shortage of work, as they did everything perfectly.
But, facing the poverty of those who did not have to pay, they were happy to provide their service for free.
Not unlikely, they were tricked by some customers who sometimes pretended to have already paid for everything.
In any case they were not expensive.
Therefore, they lived according to the common poverty of the inhabitants in Nazareth.
The Holy Family was no wealthier than the other families in Nazareth.
6. Probably, His mother made His tunic or, however, one of the women who served Him with their goods.
I wish you a happy pursuance of the Christmas holidays and I bless you.
Father Angelo