Luke 12:22-28 “Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. (23) Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. (24) Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? (25) And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? (26) If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? (27) Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (28) If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?”
So what about Jesus’ personal finances? The answer to that question is simple. The only thing that Jesus owned, were the clothes that He wore and absolutely nothing else. Our Lord Jesus is not a hypocrite. In the above quoted passage of scripture He taught us that just as God supplied the needs of all His creation, so He would supply all of our needs. And so our Lord Jesus lived exactly like that. He lived as the birds of the air live, having full confidence in God supplying His every need, and never once worrying about His needs being met. During His time of ministry on the earth Jesus did the work of the ministry, for He understood the principle that if anyone will not work neither shall he eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10). And so as He did the work that God the Father had given Him to accomplish, He knew that God would take care of all His needs, and never once gave that a second thought.
John 7:53 “And everyone went to his own house.”
John 8:1-2 “But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. (2) Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.”
We have seen earlier that Jesus rented a house in Capernaum, but Jesus never owned a home. And so many times during our Lord Jesus ministry He would sleep under the stars and His disciples would follow suite. The above quoted passages of scripture are clearly illustrative of this point. For it states that all the Jews went to their own houses but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, where He slept under the stars and returned in the morning to teach in the temple. When Jesus travelled around ministering and He was not staying in the open, He would stay in the houses of those who had invited Him into their homes. For example, He stayed in Peter’s home (Luke 4:38), He stayed in Simon the leper’s home (Matthew 26:6), He stayed in Levi’s home (Mark 2:15), He stayed in Martha and Mary’s home (John 12:1-2), and I am sure that there are many other homes that our Lord stayed in as He travelled around Judea and Galilee proclaiming the gospel. But the point that I wanted to highlight in this section, is that when He dwelt on the earth our Lord Jesus did not have a home that He owned.
Matthew 17:24-27 “When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the tax came to Peter and said, "Does your Teacher not pay the tax?" (25) He said, "Yes." And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?" (26) Peter said to Him, "From strangers." Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free. (27) Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”
We have already seen that there were vast amounts of money that passed through Jesus ministry. Nevertheless He never once used any of that money for His own personal use. The above quoted passage of scripture illustrates this point. For when those who collected the government taxes approached Peter regarding our Lord’s tax obligations, our Lord knew what had transpired before Peter spoke to Him about the issue. And so, He had already exercised His faith in God to obtain the necessary funds in order to meet His (and Peter’s) tax obligations, which resulted in God dispatching a fish to retrieve that money lying on the ocean floor. But the point that I wanted to highlight from this account, is that Jesus did not use the ministry funds to pay His personal tax bill.
Luke 19:29-35 “And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, (30) saying, "Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. (31) And if anyone asks you, 'Why are you loosing it?' thus you shall say to him, 'Because the Lord has need of it.' “(32) So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. (33) But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, "Why are you loosing the colt?" (34) And they said, "The Lord has need of him." (35) Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.”
Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.”
Even when our Lord Jesus fulfilled the scriptures by riding into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey, He did that on a borrowed donkey, for other than the clothes that He wore; our Lord owned absolutely nothing in this life. The false teachers who would distort the gospel to justify their own love of money, have said that when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey that it was the best mode of transportation in our Lord’s Day, and as such it was the equivalent of driving in a luxury vehicle today. That is obviously nonsense, for the wealthy people in our Lord’s Day rode in chariots (Acts 8:12), on horseback, or they were carried by slaves in litters. And so those who would distort the gospel forget that the Holy Spirit has said that our Lord came to the city of Jerusalem lowly and riding on a donkey. In other words He showed humility in this act and not extravagance.
Mark 15:24 “And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take.”
Psalms 22:17-18 “I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. (18) They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.”
I have already stated that all that our Lord Jesus owned when He walked this earth were the clothes that He wore. The above quoted passages of scripture confirm this truth to us, for when He hung on the cross; it was for His clothes that the Roman soldiers cast lots to see who would take them for himself. And so we see clearly that in this life, Jesus was what the world would call a poor, homeless, man. But even though Jesus never owned anything, He still lived this life never lacking anything, for God the Father took care of His every need.
Michael E.B. Maher
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