Shades of Poor

Luke 2:22-24

Apparently, Jesus' family was poor, but not grindingly so.  It mentions that they were to give doves or pigeons as an offering at the temple.  There were other options.  A lamb was necessary for those who could afford it, so Joseph and Mary couldn't.  But the other option was a bit of flour, I guess for those who couldn't afford the birds.  I don't know where the cut-off for these offerings was, economically speaking, or what percentage would have done the lamb or birds or wheat.  But I think it would be a decent assumption that these two new parents were closer to the bottom end of the poor spectrum.  They were young, they were displaced and unestablished in a new town.  Possibly, then were shunned because of the whole child out of wedlock thing.  I wonder if they could have gotten away with the grain offering?  Anyway, I just found it interesting, because it's something I never really paid attention to before.