‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Matthew 5:3-5 NIVUK
Four years ago I was blessed to visit the Filipino resort town of El Nido. This place is absolutely stunning – one the most amazing placed I have ever visited.
It has one particular attraction that really caught my eye. To get there you have to ride a local bangka boat, swim in the open sea and then duck into a tiny hole in the side of a limestone cliff. When you emerge on the other side of the cliff, a totally unexpected sight greets you: a beach, complete with lake, inside a circular cliff.
It's an extraordinary sight. Really quite special.
The eight statements we will study over my next three posts are called the ‘Beattitudes’, both for their impressive beauty and the fact that these are attitudes that should ‘be’ how we live our lives.
All well and good.
But there is another approach to understanding these.
They can also be seen as like rungs on a spiritual ladder, or milestones of spiritual progress.
And here we are at the entrance. It is quite an entrance. Like that hole in the cliff, we need to bow down to go up.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
This is already a powerful statement. But the Greek is even more powerful. In Greek there are two words for poor: one for those who work but have a low wage, and one for those who don’t work, are basically destitute and forced to beg for a living.
Jesus uses the second one.
Those who are poor in spirit are those who have no visible means of support, no claims or pretentions and no arguments. They are surrendered to God because they see they have no other option – they are bankrupt without Him.
They depend on God completely and utterly.
Yet Jesus says they are blessed – or happy.
Why is this?
Because the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs!
That might be a big surprise, but there ia a very good reason why. Check out these verses from Luke:
(All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptised by John. But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptised by John.)
Luke 7:29-30 NIVUK
And what was John’s baptism?
He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Luke 3:3 NIVUK
In other words, John’s baptism was for people who were poor in spirit – who recognised they were in the wrong, needed to repent and had no other hope.
Jesus again picks up this theme with the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector:
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” ‘But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” ‘I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’
Luke 18:9-14 NIVUK
Let me say something direct and simple: the way into the Kingdom of Heaven is through poverty of spirit: it is through recognising that you are a sinner and nothing you can do or say can resolve that predicament. It is in recognising that you have no hope but Jesus.
There is no other way in. If you cannot recognise your utter hopelessness without Christ, then you cannot be a Christian.
And if that sounds hard, wait till you awe the next Beattitude:
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Matthew 5:4 NIVUK
At first this seems like a massive contradiction. ‘Blessed’ can also be translated ‘happy’. So this verse seems to be saying ‘happy are the sad’.
How can this be?
The word ‘mourn’ here is a lot more than being sad. This is actually the word to describe the emotion felt by someone when they are bereaved. It applies not just to a sad disposition, but also to the weeping and wailing that come with it.
Seemingly, not a blessed state.
Some commentators, given its placement and context, have said this could have a specific cause, and that cause is personal sin. In other words, this beattitude could refer to grief caused by a realisation that our sin is grievous.
I’m not opposed to that. It is quite possible. Especially as the same word is used here:
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
James 4:8-10 NIVUK
But it seems to me that its usage elsewhere in connection to bereavement of a loved one (see Mark 16:10) or serious loss (Revelation 18:11, 15) leads me to believe that it has a double meaning: both grieving for personal sin and for the results of sins carried out by others.
In other words, this Beattitude is about a deep, and deeply personal, grief caused by the fallen nature of the world around us, and our own fallen nature.
Those who grieve in this verse are those who are sin-sick.
And the comfort offered to them in this verse is extraordinary.
The word for ‘comfort’ in Greek means ‘someone who stands beside’, who not only gives us a hug, but also provides counsel and advice and encouraging words. It’s the same word used to describe the Holy Spirit in John 14:15-17, 25-27.
In other words, those who grieve as mourners at a funeral because of the deep sin sickness of the world we live in, and their own failings and sins, will be comforted by none other than God Himself.
There is nothing more precious than that.
The third beattitude for this meditation is this one:
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Matthew 5:5 NIVUK
The word ‘meek’ is badly misunderstood in modern culture. We think about it as being someone pathetic, who doesn’t stand up to bullying because they are cowed by someone who is stronger than them.
That is not correct.
The Bible provides us with two amazing examples of meekness.
The first is David. David was in the process of gathering quite a sizeable band of supporters around him (1 Samuel 22:2). And yet on two separate occasions, David had opportunities to slay King Saul, who was hunting him down at the time, and refused to do so (1 Samuel 24, 26).
Saul was making David’s life a misery, forcing him to live life on the run like a fugitive. David had already been anointed as the next king of Israel. Yet he refused to take matters into his own hands.
Then we have Jesus Himself, who could have called down twelve legions of angels to avoid dying on the cross (Matthew 26:53), and yet He surrenders to a plan that will result in shame, torture and death, without even putting up a defence (Matthew 26:63; Mark 14:61; see also Isaiah 53:7).
In other words, a meek person is someone who has power and authority that they could easily use for their own benefit, but they absolutely refuse to use it.
In a world dominated by misogynistic bullies and people who try to use authority they don’t even have, meekness is a quality that will make us stand out. But, of course, it is not an easy thing to have. It takes a lot of self-control.
But it is how subjects of the Kingdom of Heaven live. They do not spend any time building their own kingdom. They subject themselves to the Lord’s rule and live for His Kingdom.
If you own a powerful car and drive it on a wide road, like a motorway or an unlimited German autobahn, you can feel its speed. But drive it on a narrow country road and you have to be careful. Oncoming traffic is closer to you. You might not have a clear view of what is coming round the bend.
The legal speed limit is lower. The only benefit is the appearance of the car. Otherwise, you might just as well drive a smaller, cheaper more nimble car.
Why am I talking about cars, especially as I don’t drive?
We will see these verses later on in our meditations:
‘Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Matthew 7:13-14 NIVUK
Why do few people find the narrow road?
Because they don’t want to look in that direction.
Because it is a road where wealth, power and position matter little, or are even a stumbling block.
Because the entry through the narrow gate onto the narrow road, requires poverty of spirit, to recognise that we are bankrupt and powerless without God.
Because passing through that gate leaves us to mourn the sinful ways of the world, and its brutal, merciful effects on others and ourselves, not to mention the part we play in that sin.
Because heading on that road requires us to reduce the power, lower the speed and become meek.
Because that is the most egalitarian road in history. It brings both the rich and powerful and the poor and destitute to the same position: as sinners before God.
But it is the only road to salvation.
It is the only road to the Kingdom of Heaven.
So if want to follow Jesus, we must travel down the narrow road.
No matter the cost.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I set aside my pretentious ego and my immature, childish demands. I know that the only way to follow You is to admit that I am a sinner, grieve over what I have done abd like meekly before you. I want to follow You. Teach me what this will mean for me, I pray. Amen.
Questions
1. What does ‘poor in spirit’ mean? How does this apply to you?
2. Why should we grieve over our sin? Can you think of five negative effects of sin in your community? What about your life? How can you turn away from them?
3. What does meekness mean to you? How can you live meekly before God and other people?
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