The masses…live with their backs constantly against the wall. They are the poor, the disinherited, the dispossessed. What does our religion say to them? The search for an answer to this question is perhaps the most important religious quest of modern life. (Howard Thurman, “Jesus and the Disinherited”; p. 13. Beacon Press. Kindle Edition.)

Jesus was a poor Jew. There is recorded in Luke the account of the dedication of Jesus at the temple: “”When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” (Luke 2:22-24)

When we examine the regulation in Leviticus, an interesting fact is revealed: “When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement on her behalf… If she cannot afford a sheep, she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering.” Leviticus 12:6-8)

It is clear from the text that Jesus came from a poor family. We cannot remove this reality from the life of Jesus. His neighbors were poor, he worked with the poor, he lived with the poor, he was one of them. We cannot remove this identity and reality when we understand and call him the Son of G-d.

It is time for Christians to reclaim the reality that Jesus came from a poor family, that he lived among and taught those who were struggling with life, and reclaim his teachings that will give hope to people whom society claims are the last, lost, least and lowest.

Pastor Dave