Jesus Was Homeless

Jesus was, indeed, homeless. He didn't have a home. He traveled during His entire ministry. That's what can be inferred from the lack of anything mentioning Him having a home. Always staying with other people. Now, we can assume He had a home during His "childhood" with Joseph and Mary, but between the instance when He was 12 at the temple and His showing up appearing around 30 years, there isn't much to indicate when He left His parents house or where He was or what He was doing. Just that He was homeless during His ministry. Reading through Luke chapter 4, for example, one can see that much of Jesus' time was spent traveling and doing works.

Now, I'm not suggesting everyone become homeless. Who would give shelter to the homeless if no one had a home? How would the human race have shelter from the elements? I don't think this is so much of a "be poor" thing as it is a "don't be in love with material possessions" thing. Take Matthew CH 19:16 - 30 for example. Jesus' instructions to the rich man were to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor. I interpret that this means that we should be willing to part with any material possession. Nothing I possess will be so valuable to me that I would keep it at risk of losing my soul.

Listed below are four links to two different news stories regarding use of wealth and large homes.

The first is in regards to a German Bishop who uses the Catholic Church's funding to renovate his mansion. He is then expelled for being luxurious and the mansion is then used to serve the needy and homeless. Very fitting indeed. Now, I assume that all reading this are against people using other people's money for such purposes and that this is clearly greed and borderline theft? We needn't spend much more time on this, right?

Now for the next story. A pastor in North Carolina uses money from his book sales to build a mansion for himself and his family. In terms of needs vs wants, this does fall into the category of greed. No one needs a mansion. He did use his own money, and for some, that's reason enough. So, in terms of capitol, he technically did not do anything wrong. He didn't steal or lie his way into having the money. And furthermore, I disagree with telling other people what to do with their own money. (albeit, if he had asked me for my opinion; spending $1 million on a house would not have been suggested) There is another discussion on how much time was spent at his pulpit advertising his book, but that's really neither here nor there. What we should focus on are things like "For the love of money is the root of all evil" and Jesus remarks regarding the rich entering Heaven as compared to a camel entering the eye of a needle. I think the answer here is not to tear down the people who don't quite do what they should, but to build up the people that are good examples (Such as John Wesley, who is known for his saying: "What should rise is not the Christian’s standard of living, but his standard of giving.").

Now, I'm not saying people are evil for not living in shacks. However, we should be aware that having the biggest and best house should not be a priority. Our focus should be what Jesus instructed us to do (The two greatest commandments and the Great Commission). Helping the less fortunate should be the prime objective. Putting justice to injustice; right to wrongs. Many people have spent years being homeless, traveling or even being in prison for the Lord. Moses had two separate 40 year trips through the desert. No home outside the makeshift tents that would be pitched during rest stops. John the Baptist wandered through the desert until his arrest. Paul traveled a lot, whenever he wasn't visiting a fellow disciple or in prison.

Sources:

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/10/23/Pope-expels-German-luxury-bishop-from-diocese

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/german-bishop-of-blings-multimillion-euro-mansion-to-be-used-to-serve-needy-8907623.html

 http://www.wcnc.com/news/iteam/I-Team-How-a-pastor-paid-for-his-multi-million-dollar-home-228870731.html

http://www.wcnc.com/news/iteam/Elevation-Church-Pastor-responds-to-critics-of-his-17m-home-229413291.html