The Gospel of Poverty When one pays close attention to Jesus, as
presented in Luke, one finds an interest and emphasis on the
issue of poverty. Luke is well aware that in the everyday of
functions of life, privilege and deference are usually extended
to those with money, while those who are outcasts and those who
are poor are ignored, discriminated against and often despised.
But there are many scenes from Luke's Gospel, many of them
unique to Luke, which demonstrate his belief that the coming of
the Kingdom of God reverses this ordering of existence, and that
Jesus embodies this reordering. Henry Ossawa Tanner, "The
Annuciation" (1898) The Birth Narrative There are two important
incidents relative to the theme of poverty in the opening
chapters of Luke. Having begun with the birth of John the
Baptist and the announcement of that miraculous birth to John's
father, Zachariah, Luke moves on to the birth of Jesus. While in
the Matthew's account of the birth of Jesus the focus is largely
on Mary's prospective hus