**“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”** (2 Cor 8:9)  

Jesus chose to turn his back on riches. He could have been rich if he had fallen for Satan’s temptation to worship him. He would have become the king of this world. But, as we all know Jesus’ kingdom was somewhere else: “My kingdom is not of this world”. However, the text says that Jesus “was rich”, and for a split second while contemplating Satan’s offer he really was.

Both Luke and Matthew remembered what Jesus’ thought about worldly riches, however Luke’s  rendition seems clearer than Matthew’s.

>“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort (Luke 6:20,24). 

Thus, Matthew seems to differ, but the Aramaic Bible in Plain English seems to have the correct interpretation of this passage:

>"Blessed by The Spirit are the poor, because theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." 

Jesus also said that we should sell our excess belongings, stuff we can do without, and give to the poor to store up treasures in heaven. And that if we did this we would follow his example (Luke 18:22)

The other way of tackling this issue is, of course, the purely spiritual approach. But Jesus was not a trailblazer here. It is too common to even contemplate this, because it is being repeated every day in every classroom all over the world. Even Jesus was subjected to this by the teachers in the synagogues when he was young. By teachers, rich in knowledge, who lowered themselves down to a child’s level too better teach stuff.