Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ … He became poor. 2 Corinthians 8:9 KJV

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ … He became poor. 2Corinthians 8:9 NASB

Paul in writing to the believers in Corinth no doubt had the cross in mind as the ultimate end of the self-impoverishing act of the Lord Jesus Christ. His poverty, however, was real in His lifetime as well. We get insights into it from a number of things mentioned in Scripture.

The Village He Occupied

Nazareth of Galilee was not a very significant place on the map of Israel. Being in Galilee was one strike against it; being Nazareth with its reputation was another. A man who had no guile honestly said that he doubted anything good could come from Nazareth. It was not a commercial center, a cultural hub for the nation, or a spiritual mecca to which all went. It was an out-of-the-way, relatively insignificant village in Galilee.

The Character of the Offering

Luke tells us that Mary brought the infant Jesus to the Temple to do according to the custom of the law. She came to present Him to the Lord and to bring her offering for purification. Those who were able were to bring a lamb and a turtle dove or pigeon: one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering.

The language of Leviticus is lovely to notice: “If her hand find not sufficiency to bring” a lamb, then she was allowed to bring two turtledoves or two pigeons, the offering of the poor. When Mary came on that 40^th day, she brought the offering of the poor, two turtledoves or pigeons. Her hand “could not find sufficient” to bring a lamb. They were too poor.

These are the parents to whom the Lord Jesus chose to come. He chose conditions of poverty. When Mary came with her offering, it is the only time in all of history when anyone approached the altar holding in one hand the type (the pigeons), and in her other hand, the antitype (Christ).

The Nature of His Occupation

“Is not this the carpenter!” (Mark 6:3). They did not think much of Him; even in His own village, He was scorned as being an unlearned carpenter, reduced to working with His hands in a menial occupation. He labored over a carpenter’s bench, employing tools in hands that had birthed the universe. He did not appear upon the scene as a learned Jewish rabbi or scholar. He came as a carpenter.

His Lack of Ownership

What did He own? We do not read of His having a house to call His own. There was no chariot. He had to borrow a colt to ride into Jerusalem at the end of His ministry. At the cross, they took the few things He did own: a coat without a seam and the other four garments they divided among themselves. He had little if anything to call His own. He was marked by poverty. He became poor for us.

Consider:

Can you think of other incidents in the Gospel records which reveal something of His material poverty?