Week 2: Jesus was Poor

Paul summarizes the gospel in many different ways throughout his letters. In his second letter to the Corinthians he succinctly writes, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Paul is referring to the doctrine of kenosis, or “self-emptying,” which suggest that while Jesus remained fully God, he humbled himself and took on a lowly status, refusing to utilize many divine prerogatives. Of course, the most significant dimension of this self-emptying refers to his taking on human nature, but we also cannot forget the specific historical life he assumed – a life of poverty. Elsewhere when Paul writes of the kenosis, he makes a similar connection: the eternal Son was not only born in the “likeness of men,” but also in “the form of a bondservant” (Philippians 2:7). The extent of the Son’s self-emptying for our salvation is only clear when we recognize that Jesus was neither a king, nor a wealthy man, nor a priest at the temple, but rather a poor peasant.

Jesus was poor. He was also God in the flesh, Lord, and Savior.