By Olufemi Emmanuel PhDThere seems to be some confusion in the air about how Jesus Christ interacted with the people within his sociocultural context during his earthly ministry.
A delusive statement is presently going viral on the social media and it deserves some sound theological response .
The impression given in the misleading comment is that Jesus had nothing to do with the poor of his day; in fact It was suggested that Jesus did not only hate the poor, he only associated more meaningfully with the rich.
Firstly, the basis of the assertion must be recognized because there are examples that could easily be scooped from biblical accounts to support it.
Jesus was a friend to the household of Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha (Lk 10:38; Jn 11:1-5); they were rich people. Zacchaeus the rich tax collector hosted Jesus in his home (Lk 19:1-5); Simon the Pharisee that invited Jesus for dinner in his home was a rich man (Lk 7:36-43); what about Nicodemus who sought after Jesus at night as well as Joseph the Aremathean ( Matt 27:57) and a host of others who were friends of Jesus were rich people in their day?
But it will amount to a reckless Bible interpretation to conclude based on the above stated examples and even more, that Jesus only had a close dealing with the rich and had nothing to do with the poor of his day?
Such conclusion only indicates an attempt to trivialise the mission of Jesus and a gross ignorance of his redemptive mandate and purpose.
Now, from an array of inexhaustible reasons, the notion that Jesus had nothing to do with the poor can be refuted. It suffices to discuss only a few in the subsequent comments.
Jesus’ Mission is Not Materialistic:-
The two major pronouncements made by God as basis for Jesus’ Mission on earth are in Genesis 3:14,15 ; 12:1-3. He came as the seed of the woman, an emphasis on his humanity, to destroy Satan by his sacrificial death for the sin of mankind .
In order to guarantee this blessing of salvation for all the peoples of the world, he established it by covenant with Abraham and his descendants. This is a basic understanding that must be borne in mind for a correct and meaningful conversation about Jesus’ mission .
The ignorance of this foundation has generated so much misinterpretation of Christ’s redemptive mandate and has reduced it to an ordinary material orientated mission, unfortunately.
Jesus’ Mission is All Inclusive and Absolutely Generic:-
He is God’s gift to all human beings regardless of racial or socio-economic status; there is no basis for him to be discriminative in his day to day engagement with the public as his ministry is inclusively oriented.
This can be observed in the kind of men he attracted to himself as his disciples. His followers were a mix of people from the lower and upper cadres of the society.
The fishermen and tax collectors may be financially comfortable but they were not really regarded as people to be respected and regarded as rich of the time. The women that Luke reported as supporters of Jesus in the eighth chapter of his gospel among whom was Joanna wife of Chuza, a manager in Herod’s household, (Lk 8:1-3) may not necessarily be among the wealthy class of that society. Their commitment was not driven by their material means but the measure of their convictions and love for the ministry of Jesus.
Jesus’ Ministry is For and To the Poor:-
He was anointed without measure (John 3:34) to proclaim good news to the poor (Lk 4:18) but not in abstraction or without empathy. He himself knew what it meant to be poor because he actually came as ‘poor’ having emptied himself of his glory by coming in human flesh and in a form of a servant (Philip 2:7,8); that explains why he was often moved with compassion towards the poor and destitute (Matt 9:36). Jesus actually operated as one afflicted with poverty (2Cor 8:9) during his earthly ministry; yes he had a treasurer, Judas who was pilfering the money bag (John 12:4-6) and who eventually betrayed him, his value system and choices were never determined on material standards .
The messianic prophecy of Zechariah (9:9) actually described him in a proper term: the Hebrew word translated “humble” or “lowly” in that verse is ʿānî ; it actually means ‘to be wretched’.
It is totally unscriptural to classify Jesus Christ among the materially rich people of his day; and it is an utmost insult on his redemptive purpose to narrow his mission to material well being. Claiming that Jesus never associated with the poor, whereas he himself was described as wretched depicts lack consistency with the truth.
Jesus’ Witnesses Were Consistent With His Mission:-
The Disciples of Christ were his witnesses and they had the same identity of being poor as their master. They were observed to be unlearned and ignorant men but whose confidence was prompted by their having been with their Lord. These are descriptions associated with the poor of their time. They were not known to be men who had money to display at any given time: Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have….” ( Acts 3:6).
The Apostle Paul also displayed this identity in is writings, in Philippians 4:12, he states: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. (NKJV). These are not words a super rich pastor would speak; this is not a thinking pattern of a present day wealthy preacher.
James the brother of Jesus and a prominent leader in the early church decried the existence of partiality among the Christians of his day; he condemned the preferential treatment for the rich against the poor, noting that God had “chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom….” (James 2:5 NKJV)
In conclusion, to Jesus and his Disciples, being materially rich or poor does not make any difference; being rich is not defined in materialistic terms. The present day church has seriously drifted away from the original foundation of spiritual integrity, hence the love for the things of the world seems to have obliterated a clear perspective that characterized the earliest believers on how to handle earthly things; that is the reason comments that are incongruous to scriptures are made with impunity in defense of material wealth.
Jesus was never out of touch with the poor of his day; he interacted with them; he touched them and he touched him; he lived with them; he loved them and they loved him; he never preferred the rich to them; he knew what it meant to be poor because existentially he operated as one.
