January 10 - Poverty of Christ

January 10

The Poverty of Christ

Lu 9:58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Jesus did not have much more than the clothes on his back. But his poverty contains one of the greatest lessons we could ever learn. Am I suggesting we give all our goods away and live without any possessions? No. Let’s look at what he did not have to see if there is a lesson we can learn.

The topic verse above tells us he had no house, no bed and maybe not even a pillow.  He had nowhere to lay his head.

When he needed a colt he had to borrow one. By the end of his ministry he still had nothing. When he came to Jerusalem on what is commonly known as Palm Sunday he rode on a colt. Luke 19:30  tells us the story of how they went into town as Jesus had told them and they untied someone’s colt. The owner asked what they were doing, they told him the Lord has need of the colt and the owner must have agreed.  Perhaps the owner recalled the prophecy of Zec 9:9

  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

Jesus had to borrow a boys lunch. When a multitude followed Him into a mountain and Christ told Phillip to go buy bread we are told they did not have enough to buy bread. So Jesus had to borrow a boy’s lunch.

Joh 6:9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?

He had to borrow a coin to answer the critics in Matt 22:19. Mark also records the event. 

Mr 12:15 Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? Bring me a penny, that I may see it.

He had to borrow a coin from a fish to pay tribute, a required fee. Matt 17:27 gives the details.

“…and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.”

He borrowed the upper room.  He gave Peter and John instructions on how to find a man who would take them to an upper room where everything was there for them to prepare the Passover.

Lu 22:12 And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.

He was that poor.  As you read about Christ in the Gospels you will notice there are several times he has to ask for something because he does not have it.  Even at the end of his life he had to borrow things.

The cross he was crucified on was intended for Barabus. But Christ used it instead.

He was buried in a borrowed tomb. 

Mt 27:59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,

 60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock:

  OK so where is there any lesson in all this?   It may be interesting Bible trivia, but it isn’t what I promised you at the start “But his poverty contains one of the greatest lessons we could ever learn.” Well, there was one more thing he had to borrow.

He borrowed our sins. He did not have any of his own, so he took up on himself our sins and died on the cross for the remission of our sins. Because of his complete poverty your sin debt has been paid in full. And by some miraculous kind of bookkeeping, when our sins were placed on his account, his rightiousness was imputed to us. It is an oversimplification, but essentially true, that when God looks at the accounting books he sees our sins under Christ’s account and they are stamped, “Paid in full”. That would be fantastic enough but under our account is entered the righteousness of Christ. 

 

What greater thing could we learn from Christ's poverty than this.   

Ro 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Ro 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

This is the most important lesson we can learn. “…while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”