Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
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The Beatitudes
[Jesus] said:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
In his assessment of the church in Laodicea, the risen Christ said, ‘You say ‘ I am rich… I need nothing… you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.’
Blessed are the poor in spirit is the first beatitude and is perhaps the least understood of the eight Beatitudes.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit - for theirs is the kingdom of God.” — Matthew 5:3
Poor in Spirit
To put this in context, Jesus had just started his ministry and was gaining in popularity. Large crowds were following. He had just chosen his disciples. And in the rolling grassy hills of northern Israel by the Sea of Galilee, there were rich and poor, young and old, various races, women and men, young and old. It was a cross section of society of that time. Yet, as different as they all were, they wanted the same thing happiness.
Instead Jesus spoke to them of blessedness – similar but very different. A special word spoken by Jesus in Aramaic, ‘Makarios.’ Happiness is a foundation built on sand. Blessedness is about who we become in Christ.
Nota Bene: Note Well …..
Before we examine each of the beatitudes in turn there are few general things to note
[1] Jesus spoke these words in Aramaic, and the Beatitudes were spoken in that language, there is no Aramaic equivalent of the English word ‘are’. So when we say ‘blessed are the…’ it is more accurate to see it as an exclamation in Aramaic which would sound something like ‘oh the blessedness of the poor in spirit, oh the blessedness of those who mourn or the blessedness of the meek etc
[2] the word blessed is the Greek word Makarios. This word cannot be translated as happy as we find in some translations it is more of a deep deep joy completely independent of the circumstances of life. Happiness can be lost when some adversity happens to a person but for the Christian blessedness is assured as Jesus said in John 16:22 ‘no one can take your joy from you.’ The beatitudes speak of joy which holds us through our pain sorrow and loss - joy which shines through tears cannot be destroyed by life or even death. This joy comes from walking with and ever closer to the Lord Jesus.
[3] The Beatitudes are not just some literary prose by Jesus although they are formed beautifully, each Beatitude has the same form, they begin with present blessedness and the second half of each beatitude giving promises for the pilgrim’s journey and the kingdom blessing is yet to come.
The group is top and tailed (1st and 8th) with the same refrain ‘for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ the assurance of eternal life.
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (1 & 8)
for they will be comforted
for they will inherit the earth.
for they will be filled
for they will be shown mercy
for they will see God
for they will be called children of God
All this Blessedness belong together and as we continue to walk with Christ - the collective Makarios describe the privileges and gift of being a Christian.
[4] Notice the scripture says "and seeing the multitude, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his DISCIPLES came to him. And he began to teach THEM." The reason why he didn't just present the beatitudes to the crowd and let them come to their own conclusions is that we must know Christ as saviour before we know him as teacher. Unless we have a relationship with God, the Beatitudes will seem ridiculous. They fly in the face of everything that the world has taught us. The problem so often is that we put the cart before the horse. We read his teaching and hope it will change us. But it is Christ who changes us. And, as we ‘taste and see that he is good’, we hunger and thirst for his teachings. Thus, the Sermon on the Mount is the pattern of living for those who have received Christ as Saviour.
Thus, on this special day Jesus shared with disciples, and indeed, with us, this interlinked quality of the Christian called ‘blessed'.’
The first is blessed are the Poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. What does Jesus mean by poor in spirit?
Blessed are the poor in spirit. The Greek word here for poor is ptochos. It does not mean poor, as in, short of money or resources, but abject poverty, the root of the word means to cower and hunker down in destitution. To say ptochos in spirit it means we admit our spiritual poverty, that our problems and spiritual destitution are beyond self-help eg like someone in the grip of drink knows will-power is not enough, same for lust and the effects of porn. Poor in spirit admits the need, eg. In debt or can’t make ends meet – Poor in spirit admits you are rock bottom and can only be rescued by grasping God’s outstretched arm and putting your trust in God.
An amplified version of this blessedness could be ‘Oh the blessedness of the person who realises their spiritual emptiness and total powerlessness, who has put their trust in God.’
There is a progression through the Beatitudes,
1. you mourn and cry out to the Lord and (if that is for the first time) you become a child of God, and He is your Abba father. You mourn as you admit the problem is me, my sin, my self-sufficiency and
2. in humble meekness we turn to God realising that it is only by His grace that we are born anew, meekly saying ‘Lord I need you, your help, your presence, you in me and Jesus says ‘blessed are the meek.’ As he transforms us
3. a hunger and thirst for righteousness develops
The Beatitudes stand in stark contrast to the way the world would describe being blessed.
A mistake that is often made by this famous passage is to see it as an objective to try and be poor in spirit but the beatitudes are more like a manifesto of Jesus saying God is changing the world, one person at a time.
Rikki Doolan spent years travelling the world, chasing meaning and fulfilment. Drugs and alcohol couldn't fill the void. At his lowest point when he was homeless on the streets of Manchester he discovered the blessedness of being poor in spirit.
“I found myself spiralling downwards, trapped in a rut with no sense of purpose. I was lost, drowning in a sea of hopelessness”
“On a rainy day, I sought solace in Manchester Cathedral… Despite my disbelief, silently asked a God I didn’t truly believe in for help. Within weeks, I had embraced Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, and my life began to transform dramatically. My addiction was replaced with a fervent passion for Jesus.” “You turned it around” he writes of Jesus meeting him in his spiritual poverty.
