Another Practical Guide to the Logic, Philosophy, and Thoughts of Christianity

Section 1 - Article 9

Therefore if Jesus was rich, it is either impossible for Him to enter heaven, or it does not apply to Him. Either way, one treads on dangerous grounds. If it was impossible for Jesus to enter Heaven, then I have no idea how He can offer salvation or be the sacrificial lamb for the world. Similarly, if it does not apply to Him, then it means that He is once again not setting a good example on how Man should live (a major contradiction to Paul's writings), or He is Not a Man. If Jesus is not fully man, then what is He? A demigod? God wrapped in flesh? (recall the creeds of the Apostles and the church fathers). All alternatives to Jesus not being fully Man and fully God does not bear very well with the writings in OT and NT, not to mention the widely subscribed creeds of old. Whilst it is not the point here to defend those creeds by entering into an in-depth study in Christology, it is clear that a Christian gets into a puddle of mud if one considers Matthew 19:23-24 together with Jesus being rich.

In Matthew 10:9-12, the Lord Jesus sent His disciples out without money or extra garments. If Jesus was rich, His sending of the disciples completely without money was either selfish, hypocritical, or that He was teaching them the provision of God. For the benefit of doubt, let us only consider that He was teaching the provision of God, especially since being selfish and hypocritical negates Him as God incarnate. If Jesus was rich, then it would be weird that He did not rely on the provision of God that He was trying to teach the disciples. Any follow-up thoughts down this line would definitely come back and bite the believer on Christ's nature and sacredness.

Did Jesus not say in Matt 8:20 that He did not have even a place to lay His head?

If Jesus was rich, and Judas was treasurer, it did not make sense to betray Jesus for merely 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15). Surely, a wealthy Jesus would have more than 30 pieces of silver for 13 individuals? And surely, Judas would not protest on the ointment poured on Jesus' feet that cost 300 of that day's currency (John 12:5). Surely, then one has to make the justification that Judas was greedy and not to mention really stupid to betray a rich master (big long term source of income) for a small amount of money, or to desire simply to keep the money that he was treasurer of. If there was more than 30 pieces of silver in the treasurer bag, then Judas really had to be an idiot to betray Jesus for a lot less money. Judas must be really stupid to lose big money for small money, or perhaps this then gives ground for the conspiracy theory suggested in the gnostic Gospel of Judas – something which the forefathers rejected outright as it was evidently not written by Judas if it was dated to 400 AD? So how could Judas be the treasurer of God incarnate if he was so stupid with money?

The other blasphemous argument was that perhaps Jesus' family was rich because He was a carpenter? Do not carpenters make a lot of money?

2 Corinthians 8:9 states that the Lord God gave up riches in heaven to become poor. So basically, when He left heaven, He became poor. In Luke 2:24, Mary took the little Jesus to give an offering, and it was done according to rules stated in Lev 12:8 for a poor offering. The rich brought lambs, and not doves/pigeons. So if Mary did not bring a lamb, they were not wealthy by any standard in those days, but rather slanting towards the poor spectrum. I need not explore the alternative that they were scrimping on the offering as to do so, means to rob God, and the implications down that line is clear.

Given all of the above issues, are we to believe that Jesus is rich? If we do, we run into a lot of problems in His nature, His divinity, and His messianic duty. This is really how dangerous prosperity gospel is. On the surface, it looks harmless, but a simple thought down that logic, not only discredits, but is inconsistent with what the Bible teaches. And it is foolish to use to Bible to back that the Lord Jesus was rich, and also discredit the message for His divinity and purpose.

If one stubbornly holds on to the wealthy Jesus, we have to wonder why and what was the moral point of the parable on the rich giver and the poor widow giver in Luke 21:1-4. How can one give all righteously and not become un-wealthy?

What should we then make of the sending of the disciples without money? In Acts, the disciples brought no money and relied on hospitable believers. If they were poor, was it that the disciples did not have faith in God? Or were they unrighteous in their deed? If they were unrighteous and faithless, then what about the Scriptures they wrote? These are dangerous grounds for a believer to tread on.

If one was to study Church history, the early church was a poor person's religion. It was wrought with persecution and poverty; at least until the first Christian Roman Emperor Constantine improved things. How does a prosperity gospel believer make sense of the poverty, persecution and un-wealthy state of these martyred believers before Constantine? What makes us different from those believers? Are we not all after the time of the Lord Jesus Christ's sacrifice?

If on the other hand, one was to accept the biblical poor Jesus Christ, we come to a very uncomfortable point. Does being a believer mean that we have to be poor? How does one deal with one's riches or possessions? As uncomfortable as it is, if one is able, one ought to do exactly as Jesus told the rich young man. But then, it is truly difficult. Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship" explains this significantly better than I possibly ever will. Nonetheless, one must first realize that to be a follower of Christ is not an easy thing. His disciple in Matt 8:21 was not given time to bury his father! Throughout the NT, we read of the accounts of the prisons, persecutions, shipwrecks, and suffering that His apostles went through. They are not suffering for the faint hearted, and many of them occurred after the Resurrection. Matt 7:13-14 also clearly stated that the path to salvation is a very difficult one, and one must realize that it is only with God, is our salvation possible in our wilful disobedience.

As believers, we all need to be careful on our measure of the worth of fellow believers based on their clothes, or their education levels, or their salary. Judgment is the Lord's not ours. If anything, measurements should be on hearts that are turned towards God. Only God can. In fact, why measure at all? Only God has the right measure, and only He knows what to.