“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

“To be poor in spirit is to have a humble opinion of ourselves; to be sensible that we are sinners, and have no righteousness of our own; to be willing to be saved only by the rich grace and mercy of God; to be willing to be where God places us, to bear what he lays on us, to go where he bids us, and to die when he commands; to be willing to be in his hands, and to feel that we deserve no favor from him. It is opposed to pride, and vanity, and ambition. ” (Albert Barnes)

I like Barnes’ explanation of what “poor in spirit” means. To accept that we are in need, spiritual need, that we NEED God, we need a functional relationship with God on an every-day basis, because whatever else we are, we are de facto spiritually destitute without His Presence. I suppose this is the closest I get to a traditional interpretation of “poor in spirit”. There are others though…

We have to remember that Jesus was addressing a Jewish Community from within Jewish Tradition and Scriptures. From that perspective, it is reasonable to think that He compared the “rich in spirit” i.e the Theologians and Educated of His day to the ordinary people, who had only the most basic knowledge of the Law, which he called “poor in spirit”. “Poor” not as in “lacking means” but as in “simple and child-like”. This would correspond very well with what He says in Matthew 18:3-4 “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Children are not conceited, pretentious, arrogant, narrow minded and judgmental. Children see the World as it is, not as they would have it, and to what they see they add marvel and inquisitiveness. To children the World is full of wonders and fantastic new things each day. Children will be equally enthusiastic over a butterfly chasing from flower to flower and a star glittering in the night sky, reflecting on the words of Psalm 8 without missing a step. Poor in spirit means lacking self-consciousness and pretense, but having curiosity and playfulness in abundance. Children don’t cower, they don’t lack courage to Believe in that which they cannot see. Children are naturally spiritual, and in my opinion have a built-in relationship with their Maker. A relationship adults have to re-discover and re-establish. Admitting that we, as adults have this need for unpretentious spirituality and direct contact with God is a chunk of being “poor in spirit”.

Someone called the Beatitudes the BE-Attitudes. I like that too. To be. To have an attitude of “I am here and now” whatever meets us, and accept that it is just as God intended it to be in that very moment. This is something we are very bad at as humans. We flitter endlessly from past to future without paying much attention to the PRESENT. Yet, as Jesus points out later in this 3 chapter sermon, all that we need is what today gives. Nature is not occupied with regretting the past or fearing the future, making plans or trying to change that which is history. God is NOW. There is a reason that when God introduces Himself to Moses in the burning bush, He uses a verb-form that encompasses ALL known temporal forms, in reality laying claim to NOW. He wants us to relate to Him as He is in every possible moment. We cannot do that if we are busy fiddling with every temporal gap except that in which He actually reside in relation to us.

“Blessed” – sanctified, holy, fortunate, sacred, lucky, happy…if we maintain a status of “poor in spirit” we are all those, and The Kingdom of Heaven is ours.

Blessings,

Henry