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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 5:3)
The beatitudes are blessings. They are not requirements. Jesus is naming various conditions of his followers, or that his followers will encounter. And as he names it, he declares the blessed state of that situation. This is clearer in Luke's version. There it's like Jesus points to a group, or puts his arm around someone, and says, "Blessed are you who .... " However, because we are made for blessing, because we long for blessing, and because we want to bless the Lord and follow Jesus fully, the beatitudes do carry a kind of subtle imperative quality to them. In other words, as we read these we may recognize we are not described here, but we want them fulfilled in our lives and experience.
This first beatitude sets up a framing among the beatitudes with the first and eighth (blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake) having the same present tense resulting blessing: "theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The eighth is the last in the series that all have the same form. The beatitudes "inside" these two all relate the resulting beatitude in the future.
If nothing else, this present-future tension is indicative of a kingdom dynamic that we live in and are living into. The kingdom is "now" and "not yet".
Luke's version of the beatitudes reads, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God" (Luke 6:20). A few verses later are the adjoining woes that Luke includes, "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation" (v. 24).
I think when Jesus in Matthew references the "poor in spirit" he is first speaking of the materially or economically poor. These poor in spirit are his disciples. They are those who are not blessed because the are poor alone, but because they hope in God and they trust in Christ. They do recognize a spiritual bankruptcy, and their absolute need of God's care and deliverance. The term had been used of the religious poor in Israel, who were in part the result of the tumult over the centuries in the land, among the people, because of their sins; the devastation of cities, and economy, and religious life because of invading powers due to the fact that God had withdrawn his protecting hand because the people had withdrawn from loving and serving him with their whole heart.
I do think we do a disservice to this text if we move too quickly to solely spiritualize it. Yes, Jesus said "the poor will always be with you." But why? What does poverty embody or symbolize? Of course, it could be because of famine, or scarcity, that is, limited resources. It also is because of inequitable distribution of resources. It is also because of greed, and fear, and pride. And the devastation of extreme poverty is also the result of hardness to the heart of God and disobedience to God's commands, who through the Law and the Prophets and Jesus himself taught his people to care for the poor.
Some followers of Jesus have been, and are, led to renouncing worldly possessions and embracing vows of poverty, or at least of simplicity and downward mobility. That may be what God is calling some of us to. But the reason I emphasize the economic / material aspect of the beatitude is not to suggest that is what the Spirit is necessarily speaking in this. But I am suggesting that at least it's calling for an identification with the poor. If theirs is the kingdom, I want to be on good terms with them! I want to be around them, especially when the kingdom comes finally and fully.
Jesus was poor. He gave up his riches in heaven, and was born in a manger. He had no place to lay his head. The women in the company supported the traveling band of disciples. When he died, they tossed dice for his garments even as his dignity was taken from him. He was laid in a borrowed grave.
Meditating on Jesus' poverty humbles me. It evokes a deep sense of my poverty, that I am so needy that the king of the universe had to so empty himself:
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.And as it humbles me and confronts me with my poverty, I do with deep gratitude open my heart, my spirit, my life to his goodness and the riches of his grace. And the present reality of the kingdom, and of the glorious, reigning king, does impact me here and now with righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17) and with security and significance as his own.
(2 Corinthians 8:9)
And as one so graced, so enriched, so identified with the Humble One that I identify with, and minister to, the least of these, his brothers and sisters (and mine).
Jesus, help me to so accept and embrace my poverty and your riches, and your poverty and my riches, that I indeed out of the overflow and abundance of your grace will connect with, truly love, and serve you in my poor brothers and sisters.
