Images from the natural world in the teaching of Jesus about poverty and wealth

Abstract

The presence of numerous animals and plants’ names in the New Testament, often accompanied by descriptions of their characteristics, is caused by the fact that the Jesus often used the language of imagery to present the revealed truths to their contemporary listeners. At the same time, it is essential to emphasize the fact that this rich natural world is for the Master of Nazareth just a tool used to translate God’s address into human language. For this reason, the knowledge of the animal symbolism in the Holy Writ allows for the accurate understanding of the pericope. In the New Testament we can also come across descriptions in which Christ refers to animal lives in order to illustrate his teachings about poverty and wealth. The following words of Jesus can serve as an example: “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head” (Mt 8:20). Jesus also reached for bird images in his teachings about these issues: “Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them” (Mt 6:26).These words clearly show that those who listened to Jesus had to be familiar with those animals, especially with the way they fed and built their nests. The Jesus description of clothes moths shows the insignificance of earthly riches. The destruction of clothes by the moth in the Bible lands was not an occasional or incidental occurrence, but something which, in the given time, was bound to happen. As recorded in the words of Christ: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal” (Mt 6:19 and Lu 12:33).