Was Jesus rich

Many scholars suggest that the family of Jesus was very wealthy. Both Joseph and Mary were descendents from the Royal House of David.

Mary´s uncle was Joseph of Arimathea, who was the "nobilis decurio" of the Roman Empire, among other titles, as stated by Jerome and earlier sources. As nobilis decurio, Joseph of Arimathea was charged with overseeing the mining operations of the Roman Empire. Furthermore, the Greek word used for the occupation of Joseph, the father of Jesus, more likely should be translated as an architect or at the very least a skilled craftsman like an engineer rather than a carpenter or worker with wood.

The wedding at Canaan does not appear to be a poor families wedding and there is evidence Jesus knew many rich or influential people. So, Mary's uncle could never push any work Joseph's way? Not very Jewish?

His birth was in Bethlehem where there was no room at the inn. Poor people would not even go to the Inn. So they were in a place where there was live stock that was under ground. Only rich people would have a cave or barn for their animals and they would have lived right in with their animals. Large homes would often keep animals on the first floor but not the poor. The poor would be lucky to have something as nice as a lean-to like people see under Christmas trees. The word for manger did not mean it was for feeding animals but was something built like a chest, box or cradle.

But it has become popular to believe he was poor and that makes the poor feel better but if we actually take statements like:

2 Corinthians 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

That is a pretty direct statement but it could be discounted and then there was:

Luke 1:53 "He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away."

Does this mean he lived rich or like a rich man but gave up his wealth?

How many ministers want to hear that?

And Jesus telling his disciples who are seeking to be ministers.

Luke 14:33 "So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."

The word hath there means possessions, goods, wealth, property. Jesus was adamant about this giving up of property as an inheritance. It was repeated over and over for those who wanted to be of greater service and we see men like Joses who became Barnabas doing likewise and Ananias failing to do so.

This was the same thing that Moses required of the levites but modern ministers do not want to hear it because they are living the good life tinkling the ears of the people who think they are following Christ but are also under a strong delusion.

Even “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20) fits right in with this being born rich but giving up his wealth.

It also has to do with Luke 13:32 "And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third [day] I shall be perfected."

That fox had his den, his throne but the son of man came as a servant and gave all to serve all.

Who is with Christ?

Who has the faith of Christ?

John 8:31 "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed; So is doing what Jesus said and who is telling you that you do not have to do what he said but just believe he is God."

So who supported his ministry?

Everybody had to help support and when they organized into congregations of ten as we see throughout Christianity for centuries what was given was called tithe because it came from ten elders.

We know prominent people also supported his ministry which was caring for the needy through a network of ministers.

Luke 8:3 "And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance."

So why would we not think Jesus was not rich as a member of his family?

Luke 2:24 And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.

Some believe that the offering of birds reveals that they must have been poor.

Many believe that John the Baptist was an Essene and Jesus was to come after him as his successor.

For centuries, both ancient writers and modern scholars read reports about the Essenes from writers such as Josephus, Philo, Pliny, Porphyry, and Jerome — the “classical sources” on the Essenes.

Philo suggests that they were a pacifist group while others carried swords and even trained but were counted as being willing to take a personal blow without retaliation. He also describes the group in a way that suggests Pythagoreanism: rejection of oaths, and rejection of slavery. Philo claims that the Essenes abstained from animal sacrifices altogether, while Josephus reports that, because of their views, the Essenes were excluded from the temple courts and corban[sacrifice]. For this reason they had their own system of sacrifice based on charity as we see John and Jesus preaching.

Josephus agrees with Philo on most of these points. The modern Church barely addresses these points though we see them in the gospel and modern preachers though they some times start poor they often make themselves rich. Why shouldn't they? Almost everything else they do is contrary to what Christ said.

So if they rejected animal sacrifice because they believed that the pharisees had mistranslated the Torah and distorted the message of Moses, something Jesus also projected about them, then maybe Mary and Joseph did not follow their interpretation of Leviticus 12:6 ¶ And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest:

But instead were doing something quite different. Were Mary and Joseph members of an Essene religious order. Not likely but John certainly could have been. What do those ministers do. They serve the people and the people like Mary and Joseph could have been very well of and simply made a sacrifice of according to the estate of Joseph and Mary which is the other meaning for the word turtledove TavVavReish in the old testament.

The Gospel of the Holy Twelve Also Known as The Gospel of the Perfect Life TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL ARAMAIC AND EDITED BY THE REV. GIDEON JASPER RICHARD OUSELEY Lection XLI Iesus Setteth Free The Caged Birds

1. AND as Jesus was going to Jericho there met him a man with a cage full of birds which he had caught and some young doves. And he saw how they were in misery having lost their liberty, and moreover being tormented with hunger and thirst. 2. And he said unto the man, What doest thou with these? And the man answered, I go to make my living by selling these birds which I have taken. 3. And Jesus said, What thinkest thou, if another, stronger than thou or with greater craft, were to catch thee and bind thee, or thy wife, or thy children, and cast thee into a prison, in order to sell thee into captivity for his own profit, and to make a living? 4. Are not these thy fellow creatures, only weaker than thou? And doth not the same God our Father-Mother care for them as for thee? Let these thy little brethren and sisters go forth into freedom and see that thou do this thing no more, but provide honestly for thy living. 5. And the man marvelled at these words and at his authority, and he let the birds go free. So when the birds came forth they flew unto Jesus and stood on his shoulder and sang unto him. 6. And the man inquired further of his doctrine, and he went his way, and learnt the craft of making baskets, and by this craft he earned his bread, and afterwards he brake his cages and his traps, and became a disciple of Jesus.

The Eastern Orthodox Church  holds that Joseph was a widower and merely betrothed, but never married, to Mary. They name Joseph's first wife as Salome. there was a Salome but they are identified several ways but could be more than one. Although there is some Biblical support to this position.

They go on to believe that the references to Jesus' "brothers" are to children of Joseph and Salome. This is also  derived from the writings of Jerome.