Was Jesus Wealthy? Was John Poor?

"For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners (Luke 7:33-34)." '

This is one of the verses used by some people to suggest that Jesus lived a wealthy lifestyle. The verse supports prosperity preachers in living with a crud load of money, jets, expensive suits, expensive cars and neat houses. " Jesus was rich," they say, "so I should be as well." In fact, wealth becomes simply one more marker of how spiritual and giving one is.

Personally, I think a better set of verses to explain prosperity teaching is found in Luke 20:46 - 21:4. Here we find 2 stories connected to each other. The first is a rebuke to the scribes who robbed from the widows who were the poorest of the poor, and the second story is the story of one of those widows who gave everything she had to the temple so people like the scribes could live a good life.

Back to the question: Was Jesus wealthy?

As I read the Gospels, I believe that Jesus had short term money gained from donations, possibly on a regular basis. Luke 8:3 tells us that Jesus had certain donors: Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples. This type of support did not enable Jesus to buy a home, build a business or buy a car. There was nothing that provided Jesus with financial security for the future.

I don't find any poor widows supporting Jesus in the Bible, but they probably donated to his ministry. The Bible does mention that there were wealthy ladies helping him from their abundance, and the Bible does mention that Jesus was very hard on those whose support relied on the donations of the very poor.
The Gospels also tell us that Jesus ate and drank and celebrated (perhaps partied) with sinners and tax-collectors. Jesus was prophetically celebrating the arrival of the kingdom of God.

Was John the Baptist Poor?

John grew up in a priestly household that may have been in the upper class, but he chose instead a life of poverty. Furthermore, he may have lived in poverty for only the months or few years of his ministry.

There is no mention in the Bible of how John got his money, maybe he got it the same way Jesus did.

CONCLUSIONS

Although Jesus had supporters for his ministry, his support was temporary.  When he died, he had nothing left - no house, no car (when he entered Jerusalem he borrowed a donkey which was by no means a high end model of traveling), no 401K, life insurance, bank account, or any other means of hoarding or protecting what he had.  When he died, the only clothes he had were taken from him. 

In his ministry, he never dressed in upper class clothing. 

Jesus may have received a decent salary as he traveled around, but he did not have enough to save anything or give himself a comfortable life.