A Poor Carpenter? Think Again

Christians of every stripe and color say that Jesus was a poor carpenter from Nazareth. And He Himself testified to that by saying, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” But available evidences do not really support the notion of a poor Jesus. Following is an excerpt from a long list of His deeds.

Mark 8
2 I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with Me three days and have nothing to eat.
3 And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar.
4 Then His disciples asked Him, “How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?”
5 He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.”
6 And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude.
7 And they had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them before them.
8 So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments.
9 Now those who had eaten were about four thousand. And He sent them away.

Mathew 17
24 And when they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple 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 own 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.”

John 2
On the third day there was a wedding at Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.
3 And when they ran out of wine, mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.”
6 Now there set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.
7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.
8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it.
9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.
10 And he said to him, “Everyman at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guest have well drunk, then that which is inferior; but you have kept the good wine until now.”
In addition, the number of people He healed were just too many to write about. He was also known to bring dead people back to life occasionally.
Pretty impressive, eh?!
These are what He did on a day to day basis when he was here on earth. Certainly, a Man with that power can not be considered poor in any sense of the word.