Perhaps because the Kingdom is not of this world, Jesus is shown to us as a pilgrim with no settled home. He continues his journey from birth to death: before birth his parents have the discomfort of no place to stay, and then after his birth they run from persecution. In his ministry Jesus preached, taught and healed, constantly journeying, and finally consciously chose a journey to death. After his resurrection his ascension to heaven is a journey from which one day we hope to see him return.

Many good stories contain journeys, and many of the best are built around a quest. Even most of the Old Testament characters spend a great deal of time traveling, and it is their journeys, not their settled life, that provides plots and arresting events. The theme of pilgrimage is highlighted in the “father of faith”: “It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in a tent. And so did Isaac and Jacob, to whom God gave the same promise. Abraham did this because he was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.” (Heb. 11:8-10)

Because my parents were missionaries in Mexico my childhood included a great deal more travel than most. As an adult working in Guatemala I continued a pattern of travel, so I have a reservoir of travel memories. In our society, travel is for business or for vacations, always with return to a settled home. In fact, being able to take exotic trips confers status with the friends one shares stories and pictures with on the return. Jesus didn’t fit this pattern. He had no house, didn’t work at his business, didn’t settle down. His adult life consisted of journey after journey, and “no place to lay his head.” This is not our cultural ideal. We want our children to have a comfortable middle-class home in a pleasant neighborhood, to get good grads so they can get into a good college so they can get a good job so they can get a good house so they can have a good family. Surely, there was some first century Jewish equivalent of success and respectability, and Jesus didn’t fit it.

His travel seemed to be a conscious choice of poverty. Jesus expressed skepticism that the wealthy could enter the Kingdom of God, and he told a successful young man to sell everything. Jesus said that the poor are happy and belong to the Kingdom. Given Jesus’ example and teaching, perhaps we need to examine ourselves and see if we can simplify our lives. In this era of 401ks, IRAs, CDs, mortgages, car payments, college loans, and great income disparity, how can we apply Jesus’ admonitions not to store up treasure here on earth, not to serve money instead of God, not to worry about our daily needs, and not to worry about tomorrow?

The economic ideal of the Kingdom is not a mystery. It is in the Old Testament law, of which Jesus said “not one jot or title” should be ignored. In Leviticus 25 we learn that land must be returned to the original owner every 50 years in the “Year of Jubilee”. (Whether Israel ever applied this law is not known to me.) Jubilee implies that God’s ideal system is one where everyone is middle class. All own their own land, and if through misfortune or mismanagement they lose the land, then God asks others to be compassionate and assist them, giving them work for wages. Yet every 50 years all land returns to the original owners, and in fact, if someone successfully gains the money or has a relative who will assist, the land must be sold back to the owner immediately.

In our world if all assets were equally distributed, presumably we would each have sufficient. Slight differences in wealth would occur, but the practice of Jubilee would continually equalize. This is, in fact, one reason (along with many other scriptures in the prophets) that I favor social programs and community development efforts. Our world system has not only created extremes in wealth and poverty; the rich get richer and the poor poorer even in our relatively wealthy nation. If we compare internationally, the extremes are even greater: half live on less than $2/day; 1.3 billion out of 6 billion on less than a $1/day. The wealthy nations hold the poorer nations in a bondage of indebtedness. By the standards of the Kingdom, our economy is wicked. Since we were told that good and evil would grow side by side to the end, it seems that one effect of the presence of Kingdom people in the world should be work for economic justice.

Many in our affluent society with open opportunities believe that if someone is poor, it shows a character flaw. While Proverbs does offer a few verses linking poverty and laziness, the majority of scriptures link poverty and oppression. It is the competitive drive to the top by the wealthy that can close opportunities to others; God will judge this and the prophets repeat the message over and over. Jesus exhorted us to an attitude of pilgrimage and detachment from material things. We are to be travelers who “travel light” if we are to be His followers.

While each gospel offers us something unique and beautiful, Luke has the strongest theme of a quest. There is a long section that doesn’t appear on the other Gospels of His journey to Jerusalem, knowing that suffering and death would come at the end of it. He also knew that the suffering was nothing to be compared to the joy that would come after.

Mt. 8:20 But Jesus said, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but I, the Son of Man, have no home of my own, not even a place to lay my head.”

Mt. 10:9-14 “Don’t take any money with you. Don’t carry a traveler’s bag with an extra coat and sandals or even a walking stick. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve to be fed. Whenever you enter a city or village, search for a worthy man and stay in his home until you leave for the next town. When you are invited into someone’s home, give it your blessing. If it turns out to be a worthy home, let your blessing stand; if it is not, take back the blessing. If a village doesn’t welcome you or listen to you, shake off the dust of that place from your feet as you leave.”