Through His Poverty We Were Made Rich

On one occasion during his ministry, when the multitudes pressed him, Jesus departed to the other side of Galilee. But one certain scribe didn’t give up the chase. He said to Jesus, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever You go. And Jesus said to Him, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head’” (Matt. 8:19-20).

Truthfully, Jesus had given up heaven for a human life of poverty and unrest. He was more than the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). His life was one of humility and his ministry of long dusty roads and tiresome days. His nights were spent in prayer. His time was dedicated to everyone else but himself, and most of that time he spent with the off-scouring of society.

Matthew 12 is a testimony to the type of life Jesus led on the earth. One Sabbath day His disciples were weary and hungry. They went into the grain fields to find something to eat (Matt. 12:1). Poor people ate in the grain fields. According to the Law of Moses, one could pluck standing grain or eat grapes in a neighbor’s vineyard, as long as they put none in their container (Deut. 23:24-25). Jesus had lowered Himself from Creator of all things to one who depended on support from others.

The gospel of Luke points out that Jesus received financial help from certain women to keep His ministry going. Women such as Mary Magdelene, whom Jesus had freed from an evil spirit, as well as Joanna, Susanna, and others, “provided for Him from their substance” (Luke 12:2-3). To be in a position in Jewish society that relied on women would have been considered by many as shameful at best. Words from the song Tell Me the Story of Jesus say it well: “Fasting alone in the desert tell of the days that are past. How for our sins he was tempted, yet was triumphant at last; Tell of the years of his labor, tell of the sorrow he bore, he was despised and afflicted, homeless, rejected and poor” (Fanny Crosby – 1880).

When Paul wrote to Corinth about their giving, he reminded them of the sacrifices Jesus made for mankind – “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). The point here is not just for Christians to give. It is understanding the degree of the sacrifice which was made by Christ – and that is our motivation to follow his lead.

Those who have been so blessed materially have a great need for reflection when it comes to how we think and what we value. Would we walk for miles on hot dirt roads with little or no food or water to a town that wanted to accuse and reject us? Would we continue to help people who didn’t want to listen to us, but just wanted our healing power and the miraculous food we had to offer (John 6:26)? Would we give up everything we had to suffer a lonely miserable death at the hands of a people who hated us so much they would let their own children take the blame for our murder (Matt. 27:25)?

We have a Savior who did all of these things. He lived in poverty to give us unsearchable riches (Eph. 3:8). He did so because He loved us more than heaven.

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AUTHOR: Jeremiah Tatum