With these words, Jesus begins His Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5.3).
As we attempt to understand Jesus’ message, we need to answer three questions.
(1) What does it mean to be “blessed”?
(2) Who exactly are the “poor in spirit”?
(3) What is the “kingdom of heaven”?
The Blessed
The beginning of the Sermon on the Mount is called the Beatitudes because each statement begins with the word “blessed.” Beatitudes can be found in the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation.
The Beatitude can be translated as deeply happy or blessed. When Jesus speaks of blessing, it refers to the inner joy of those who have long awaited the salvation promised by God and who now begin to experience its fulfillment.
The blessings speak of the advantages of being God’s people already taking place in this life, even though the full consummation of their blessedness remains for the future.
Nearly every day, the Google News feed on my phone highlights a wealthy billionaire. Their names are familiar to society because they figure prominently in public discourse.
On the other hand, I seldom see a picture of someone homeless or extremely poor with a description of how they are blessed in this world.
Jesus turns the world’s values upside down, and we will have to read the Gospels with the insight of the Holy Spirit to understand how He can call someone poor as blessed.
Poor in Spirit
Isaiah helps us develop a fuller understanding of who the poor in spirit are. Below are two passages that will give us insight.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and release to the prisoners. (Isaiah 61.1)
Isaiah outlines people who fall into the “poor in spirit” category. They are the oppressed, the brokenhearted, captives, and prisoners.
The Spirit of God works through the Messiah to bring good news to these individuals because He sets them free, binds them up, and blesses them with His love.
The next Isaiah passage is an awesome promise from our loving God.
For thus says the high and lofty one
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place
and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57.15)
Notice the blessing of God for the poor in spirit. They’re identified as contrite or crushed and humble in spirit. God says that He will dwell with them and revive their hearts.
One day, when I was preaching this passage, I picked up a chunk of rock from the parking lot of the church. We had a vase on the communion table. I asked the congregation if this rather large rock would fit in the vase, and everyone said no.
But then I said, if I crush this rock to sand, will it fit in the vase? The answer was yes. Not only would it fit in the vase, but it would also take on the shape of the vase.
When I am as hard as a rock with pride and self-assurance, I am unusable to God. But when I have been crushed by life’s circumstances, not only am I able to fit into the life God has for me, but He can mold me into the person He wants me to be.
I think this is what Jesus meant when He declared the poor in spirit blessed.
The Kingdom of Heaven
When Matthew talked about the Kingdom of Heaven, He was not talking about going to heaven when you die. Rather, He was talking about the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God is the rule of God. What He was saying is, that the poor in spirit who have been oppressed by terrible leaders now have an opportunity to enter into God’s rule, led by the very best Ruler of all.
Walter Brueggemann put it like this. He said, Jesus came to earth and he put up a new sign, “Under New Management.”
That’s what the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven, is all about.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross and I discussed this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
Real Voices 