Luke’s account provides us with a number of clues to Jesus’ economic situation:
- He probably was related to a priestly family.
- Jesus’ parents offered “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”, which according to Jewish law, was a concession for someone who not afford a lamb and a bird as a purification sacrifice.
- His family was free to travel to Jerusalem every year for the Passover Festival.
- When Jesus left his family and his job to become an itinerant preacher, he was supported financially by some of his female followers:Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.The same women came prepare his body for burial in a borrowed tomb.
Recall that Luke, as a gentile writing for gentiles, would have had every reason to inflate Jesus’ status (and therefore wealth) so it’s striking that he is depicted as depending heavily on women.
And we pray:
My Lord, my God Your Essence is Almighty, beautiful and serene. Shine down on me I pray. Use me LORD I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.