Attitude Adjustment (Beatitudes)
Poor in Spirit, Rich in Grace
October 27/28, 2012
Digging Deeper (Questions are on the last page)
Attitude Adjustment. Poor in Spirit, Rich in Grace
Written by: Robert Ismon Brown ([email protected])
Background Notes
Key Scripture Texts: Matthew 5:3; Luke 15:11-32; Romans 8:26; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Hebrews 5:2; Matthew
11:28-30; Titus 3:5
The Text
3
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3).
Introduction
Scholars have long noted that the Beatitudes fall into two significant sections (5:3-6 and 5:7-12), with each
section presenting a unique perspective on the nature of the blessed life. In our previous Notes, the first section
carried the title, Blessings in the Human Condition: Promise (5:3-6). The first four stanzas offer direct
promises from God to persons in dire straits, in human need, and on the edge of life and death. The second four
stanzas focus on the ways caring disciples respond with fulfillment of those needs. Robert Guelich, in his
comprehensive commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, refers to this first group of beatitudes as belonging to
a “declarative context,” whereas the second group has “a more ethical, paranetic1 tone.”2
This week’s study begins with examining the first “blessed” saying which is addressed to “the poor in spirit.”
As we shall observe, to be poor, in the ancient world where Jesus lived, meant everything from economic
privation to emotional and spiritual despair. Poverty, of the sort Jesus intends, is no simple matter, and consists
of several layers of meaning which we will want to unpack. By calling the poor “blessed,” Jesus was, in the
context of first-century Judaism, asking that his disciples honor the poor. That was an exceedingly hard thing
for them to do, since poverty was a constant shame to those unfortunate enough to be held in its clutches.
Jesus did not intend to demonize the rich and confer sainthood on the poor. However, as we shall see in what
follows, he honored the poor by telling them the Good News that they were not trapped in their poverty, while
warning the rich that their riches are unreliable unless they are put to good use on behalf of the poor. Parallel to
“blessed are the poor” in Luke’s version (6:20) is the equally serious warning, “But woe to you who are rich, for
you have already received your comfort” (6:24). The unforgiving rich turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the
plight of the poor, and for this they are under the judgment of God. Still, Jesus freely dialoged with the rich,
asking those with ill-gotten gain to sell and give to the poor (Matthew 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 12:33; 18:22).
The rich need not be forever condemned to God’s disfavor if they freely and generously share what they have
with others, and put it to good use for God’s kingdom.
In at least one place, Jesus seems to speak casually about the plight of the less fortunate: “The poor you always
have with you, but me, not always” (Matthew 26:11; Mark 14:7; John 12:8). This is probably less severe than it
sounds, and certainly less callused. Yet, it reveals that the poor can become pawns in the hands of others who
might exploit their poverty for self-serving ends. Jesus actually quotes from Deuteronomy 15:11, a text that
doesn’t simply rubber-stamp the perpetual state of poverty but rather presents the huge need to eradicate it, as
the full passage indicates.
1
The words “paranetic” or “paranesis” belong to the world of rhetoric or speech-making and have to do with persuading an audience
to follow a certain moral or ethical course.
2
Robert A. Guelich, The Sermon on the Mount: A Foundation for Understanding (Waco: Word Books, 1982), 103.
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What we will also discover in this study is that poverty involves more than material possessions. It can be a
condition of human life, pressed to the ground and broken in spirit. Further, there is also a poverty chosen by
those whose purpose it is to give themselves away in the interest of others. In terms of the series, we also hear
echoes of the poor as an attitude we may adopt toward ourselves and the necessity to rely on God for whatever
it is that we have or whoever we are.
During the current election cycle, a great deal has been said, by both sides, about the status of the poor in our
society. When we examine the situation world-wide, a few important facts surface: “The annual income of the
richest 1 percent is equal to that of the poorest 57 percent, and 24,000 people die each day from poverty and
malnutrition.”3 I often hear — too often in fact — that poor people are lazy and deserve to be the way they are.
Or that poor people are too dependent on society and need to take responsibility for their own actions. You
would be hard pressed to find a single word from the lips of Jesus that would reinforce that stereotype. On the
contrary, he was fully aware that poverty was rarely a condition of choice, but of circumstance, and that the
road from poverty to economic viability is anything but easy. Granted, we are an industrialized society whereas
1st century Palestine was not. Yet the gap between rich and poor remains enormous throughout the world, and
the American experience is not woven from seamless cloth.
We will need to answer the crucial question during the study, “Where does Jesus stand?”
Poor in Spirit (5:3)
Portrait of the Poor
Old Testament texts often identify a group of people known as the anawim, those who are poor within the
community of Israel and who are the special objects of God’s concern. The Torah affirmed:
However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as
your inheritance, he will richly bless you (Deuteronomy 15:4).
Here is both a promise and a commandment, offering God’s commitment to eliminate poverty within Israel and
an implied instruction to His people to make it so. This gets fleshed out with the following instruction in the
Holiness Code:
If any of your Israelite relatives fall into poverty and cannot support themselves, support them as you would a
resident foreigner and allow them to live with you (Leviticus 25:35).
When the prophet Isaiah anticipates a future year of jubilee, when debts are cancelled, he declares:
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor
(Isaiah 61:1).
This is a text about the coming Messiah, and early Christians read it through the lens of Luke 4:18 where Jesus
applied it to himself. Those who accepted Jesus thereby identified themselves with all such persons in need. In
another sense, they also became the poor, assuming the role of those who had divested themselves of those
resources that did not originate from the grace of God found in Jesus the Messiah. Think of this hymn phrase:
“Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.”4 Read in its original context, Isaiah 61:1 applied to
those Israelites who remained faithful to God in spite of going into exile to Babylon. Such persons were
“blessed,” not because of their situation (poverty is no fun!), but because God would care for them and would
eventually deliver them from exile. Looked at through the eyes of Jesus’ contemporaries, the poor were his
disciples, the sick, the sinners, and the possessed who responded to Jesus.
The poor in this sense were social and religious rejects, cast aside by those with power and means, and who
needed to turn to Jesus out of desperation. “Where else could we go?” (John 6:68).
Job, in defense of his innocence before God, told his accusers:
Margaret Aymer, Confessing the Beatitudes. 2011-2012 Horizons Bible Study. 1st Edition. (Louisville: Presbyterian Women, Inc.,
2011), 79.
4
Augustus Toplady, “Rock of Ages,” 1776.
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I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist him (Job 29:12).
Often, in the Psalms, the poet prays for God’s intervention to aid the poor:
Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay
(40:17).
Yet I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay
(70:5).
We generally think of Sodom’s guilt because of certain sexual deviances, yet an equally grievous sin plagued
that city — one that is often ignored in reading the biblical text:
Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they
did not help the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:49).
Pretty heady stuff: “arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned” — all directed at the neglect of the poor!
Needless to say, from this sampling of texts (there are more!), the poor find a safety net in their covenant with
God, and He fully intends to remedy their situation directly and through the obedience of His people in taking
care of them. Already in the biblical traditions, poor people have the full support of God’s righteous kingdom.
What Jesus brings to this human condition is a reminder that such poverty reaches deep into the human spirit
(the pneuma) — the very edge of life and existence where 90% of the population in Israel at that time found
themselves. Most lived at the margins without a steady income and without property or the means for recovery
or a way out of debt. Jesus is not speaking in terms that float in the sky above the earth or only about “spiritual
things” that have little to do with material human problems.
The phrase “poor in spirit” doesn’t sidestep actual poverty by somehow entirely transmuting it into some other
kind of poverty — a willowy spiritual poverty. Just read the other version of this saying in Luke 6:20 where the
phrase “in spirit” is completely absent. Adding “in spirit” doesn’t deflect attention away from physical poverty.
Instead the phrase intensifies that poverty by telling us that the poverty in view has completely broken the
human spirit of those who are poor. They are, in fact, at the end of their resources and their will to survive.
“Spirit” here is translated from pneuma and has its roots in the Hebrew ruaḥ which has to do directly with “the
breath of life” (see Genesis 1:30; 2:7; 6:17, etc.). We might legitimately speak about the poor being completely
out of breath — worn out and too tired to go on.
What Jesus promises to all who are at the end of their resources is that the blessings of God are about to be
poured out on them. The poor will soon exchange a life of scarcity for one of abundance, and Jesus will show
them how this will come about. This reminds us of the stanza in Annie J. Flint’s little poem:5
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
The blessed poor are those for whom the Father’s “full giving” has only begun with the arrival of Jesus.
One outstanding text in the New Testament brings together the condition of the poor and the work of Jesus:
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so
that you through his poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).
5
Annie J. Flint, “He Giveth More Grace,” in the public domain. Printed at Orchard Park, New York, in the “Casterline Card” series,
number 5510 (date not given).
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This is an extraordinary passage, for it brings together the ideas of “grace,” “Jesus,” “rich,” and “poor.” We see
in this characterization, the image of the cross where Jesus poured out his life unto death (Isaiah 53:12). The
very act of becoming a human being involved laying aside his heavenly lordship so that he might take on the
form of a servant (Philippians 2:7). Similarly, did he not comment on his own poverty with these words:
Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head (Matthew 8:20;
Luke 9:58).
Precisely because Jesus willingly accepted this earthly humiliation did God honor and exalt him — blessed him
— with resurrection glory. A related text is Hebrews 12:1-2:
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the
cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).
In this case, the cross meant shame, but Jesus accepted this in light of the “joy” set before him. Joy corresponds
to blessed in the Beatitudes.
The text goes on to say “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” What is the significance of the conjunction “for”
(Greek: hoti, “for that,” “because,” “seeing that,” “inasmuch as”) which follows the declaration of blessedness
in each of the beatitudes? It is nothing other than the ground or the reason for the blessed state of the persons
mentioned. The poor, in this case, have their blessed state because the kingdom of heaven is present in the
work and words of Jesus.
Promise of the Kingdom
Under ordinary circumstances, poor people do not gain access to kingdom power. They can’t afford it. Money
and power commonly go together, as the widespread practice of fundraising for political campaigns attests. We
hate to believe it, but money buys political office when you start examining the cost of elections. Rarely is that
contradicted. In Jesus’ time the situation was pretty much the same. But the kingdom Jesus described was not
the kingdom of Israel or the Roman Empire. Instead it was variously called “the kingdom of God” or “the
kingdom of heaven.” The word “heaven” used here is a synonym for “God” in Jewish thought — a kind of
surrogate word at a time when Jews jealously guarded pronouncing the true name for God.
This kingdom had its roots in the Old Testament, meaning “the sovereign rule (or reign) of God.” The problem
with the word “kingdom” (Greek: basileia) is that it has both the connotation of power and of space. Jesus
actually meant the “reign” or “rule” of God wherever that might be exercised. God is dynamically sovereign,
and in the words and deeds of Jesus he makes a royal announcement — Good News — that this reign of God
now breaks into the world with fresh power and life. Guelich notes that “Jesus has come to fulfill the Old
Testament promises by effecting God’s sovereign rule in history.”6 This kingdom has a two-fold aspect:
1. The kingdom is already here because Jesus is here as God’s Son and vice-regent. We know this from his
deeds of healing (Matthew 8-9), his willingness to admit sinners (9:10; 22:1-10), his triumph over Satan
(12:28), his announcement of good news to the poor (4:23; 5:3-12; 11:5), and his teaching found in the
“parables of the kingdom” (Matthew 13).
2. But there is also a future dimension to this kingdom, for Jesus will come as “the Son of Man” who brings
history to fulfillment (compare Daniel 7 with Matthew 16:28; 24:27, 30, 37, 39, 64). The parables look to
the future when they tell about the kingdom that is coming (13:31-32; 13:24-30; 5:20; 13:41, 43; 13:40-43;
24:29-31).
The great promise Jesus makes to the poor is that if they turn to God through the person and work of Jesus, they
will be blessed, honored, and restored by the coming kingdom. Kingdom as reign of God means the active
intervention of God into the affairs of human history, setting right the wrongs, restoring impoverished and
desperate humanity to right relationship with himself. This kingdom does not come by coercion but by
sovereign love that offers support, healing, and forgiveness, bringing to an end the reign of sin and death. Both
blessing and judgment arrive with the kingdom of God.
6
Op. Cit., 99.
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James, the brother of our Lord, writes in a way consistent with this teaching:
Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and
to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? (James 2:5).
Those who are “poor in the eyes of the world” are simply those that everybody else thinks of in demeaning
terms. They are the “no-accounts,” persons left out, and individuals who don’t amount to much according to
the standards of the dominant culture. Those in power, or who want power, simply write them off glibly as of
no importance, only a statistic (47% maybe?) which they don’t care about or worry about. Yet God cares,
according to James, for He has “chosen those who are poor” to be “rich in faith” and — here’s the connection
with Matthew 5:3 — “to inherit the kingdom…” Whereas within the empire, “The rich rule over the poor, and
the borrower is servant to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7), in the kingdom of God that inequity is overturned. But
what the kingdom sage knows is that the “Rich and poor have this in common: Yahweh is the Maker of them
all” (Proverbs 22:2). Here is the advantage of the kingdom poor: “A rich man may be wise in his own eyes, but
a poor man who has discernment sees through him” (Proverbs 28:11). This is the wisdom of the kingdom, and
such wisdom is the agreeable home for the poor.
Poor Like a Pig-sty (Luke 15:11-32)
It’s a pretty familiar story, though most people only pay attention to the first half. He’s called the “prodigal
son” for a reason, though never by that name in the story. The younger son takes his inheritance early, thereby
insulting the honor of his father, though completely within his rights. He says in effect, “Dad, I wish you were
dead,” as he dashes off into the world carrying his fortune, not seeking it. This son already has his kingdom
tucked away inside his leather purse, itching to spend it but blinded to lose it. That’s where the prodigal part
comes in. Prodigal: “Spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant.” He’s on the
fast track to poverty, with bag in hand and lust in his heart. He starts out rich, though prematurely so, yet his
soul is poor and his heart is empty. Soon he hits rock bottom, out of cash, out of friends, out of fine clothes and
fresh showers. If he is Jewish, he’s doubly humiliated by working for the goyim, tending their pigs. It doesn’t
get worse than this. Worse, before it gets better. He has, as we often say, come to the end of himself, and that’s
a much different kind of poverty than the sort caused by social inequity or natural disasters.
The prodigal is poor, having made himself that way through extravagant living, using resources that were bound
to run out. He loved money at the expense of his father’s love. He loved pleasure more than he loved God (2
Timothy 3:4). He lost his money because he loved it too much, and he nearly lost his soul because he cared for
it too little. He was twice-poor: poor in love and poor in living. To his credit, he “comes to his senses” (15:17),
acknowledging his situation as an act of sin against God7 and his father. His real poverty was the result of lost
relationships with the two most important people in his life. In this moment of realization, the younger son saw
that he was “poor in spirit,” crushed at the deepest level of his being and needing to find reconciliation. He
cared little about his former position as son and heir, preferring rather to be a servant in his father’s household,
so that at least he might be home. Perhaps he thought about the townsfolk and how they would react when he
returned home. That society would likely have shunned the younger son because of the shameful way he
treated his father by leaving with half the inheritance before his father’s death. Better for him to come home,
incognito, a man looking for a servant’s job, than as his father’s son. He was willing to accept another kind of
poverty — of status — simply to become once more part of his father’s house. A prominent theme from the
Psalms:
Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my
God than dwell in the tents of the wicked (Psalm 84:10).
Of course we know how the story continues. The father receives his long-lost son, throws a party, endows him
with the signs of status, and treats him like royalty. Shocking! Shocking that a father who had been so badly
treated would freely restore his younger son after that son subjected him to public humiliation. Especially
shocking to the older son — the good son — who always remained faithful, responsible, and at home. Not like
his near-do-well brother — the scoundrel — who threw all caution to the wind and violated the family’s honor
7
The text says “heaven,” but as we have noted earlier, the word “heaven” really means “God.”
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by his preemptive actions and wasteful life-style. Did this younger son not come home empty-handed, a beggar
bereft of the inheritance and full of chutzpah to suppose that Daddy would actually give him back his place?
And did not Daddy collude with the younger son in allowing this charade to play out before a crowd with music
and dancing? Shameful!
It is this older son who poses the crisis point in the story. We usually ignore him. But he will not be ignored,
for in many ways he is really the rest of us who perhaps didn’t play fast and loose with life and our parents’
fortunes. Yet he is poor in a different way. Poor in his understanding of a father’s love. Poor in his capacity to
love his brother. Poor in his ability to grasp the heart of his father’s actions, summed up in these words:
31
"'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate
and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found" (Luke 15:3132).
Poor in valuing the father “who is always with” him, and seeing the greater truth that “everything I have is
yours.” Indeed, the older son deemed himself poor by comparison to the generosity accorded to his younger
brother, and in making this comparison, the older son devalued the reliable relationship he himself had with his
father. How could he have missed this?
What Jesus does with the parable is strip away the frequent mask we wear that hides this deeper poverty of
spirit. Through the image of the older brother, he was really speaking to Israel’s leaders who pushed away any
of their own who didn’t live up to the expectations set by the tradition of the fathers, namely, the poor, the tax
collectors, the lepers, the prostitutes, and the rest of the losers. These persons had left home and squandered the
inheritance of their Jewish identities. Yet these persons were the objects of Jesus’ love. After all, Jesus was the
Father who ran to greet these prodigals, even before they reached the city limits. He saw their poverty and met
them nonetheless. And he saw the poverty of the leaders who failed to grasp the hopeful vision of Isaiah 61 and
the promise of God’s Messiah to bring good news to the poor.
“The Spirit Helps Our Weakness” (Romans 8:26; 2 Corinthians 11:23-30; 12:9-10)
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself
intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express (Romans 8:26).
Paul knew all about the traditions, for they were his roots (see Philippians 3:4ff). Yet they became for him a
hollow world of achievement without joy and without victory. Just read Romans 7 and observe the inner
struggle of a man unable to find God through an external relationship with Torah. Let that text sink in a bit, and
then try on Paul’s discovery in Romans 8 — a huge contrast. Incapable of doing what he thought was good,
Paul one day met the Jesus with whom nothing is impossible. He met the one who became poor that Paul might
become rich (again, 2 Corinthians 8:9). That said, life didn’t become instantly easy and without suffering. He
still wrote about “the sufferings of this present time” — sufferings that would only disappear when glory
appeared (Romans 8:17-18). Life deals plenty of weakness, plenty of poverty, even for Christians, and perhaps,
if we take Jesus’ beatitude seriously, especially for Christians.
Poverty comes with our commitment to follow Jesus. Just ask Paul:
23
Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in
prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received
from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was
shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger
from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in
danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often
gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28
Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel
weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness
(2 Corinthians 11:23-30).
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“Hunger, thirst, often gone without food … If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness…”
Paul wrote these words to the Corinthians Christians who had a habit of boasting about their strengths
(“Already you have become rich! You have become kings!” 1 Corinthians 4:8; 5:6). Not Paul. For him the life
of voluntary poverty was much more valuable.
And so, in Romans 8:26, he writes about “our weakness,” and even admits not always knowing how he ought to
pray. Since prayer is a significant part of spiritual life, failure here is enormous for us. What? Don’t know
what we should pray for? Don’t know what to say or how to say it? How can a good Christian end up in such a
crisis? “I will boast of the things that show my weakness…” or that show my poverty. Such weakness, Paul
once told the Corinthians, opens the door for “the power of Christ to rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) — the
power which flows from God’s grace that is “sufficient for you,” in the place where God’s “power is made
perfect in weakness.”
9
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all
the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight
in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2
Corinthians 12:9-10).
Frankly, the whole idea that weakness somehow was good upended Paul’s culture where things like weakness
and poverty were signs of God’s disfavor and people’s dishonor. Honestly, nobody likes being poor or weak.
Our own culture regularly advertizes products designed to fix both of those problems. The message is pretty
consistent: “Your body is a problem that our technology can solve” — just listen to the commercials for the
drug companies. Paul took a far different position: “Your body is a mystery to be lived with” — he tells us
through these texts. Our poverty and our weaknesses, far from being limitations, are signs of the cross at work
in our lives. Jesus died in poverty and weakness, but was raised in power (see 1 Corinthians 15:43). Paul saw
such limitations as openings to the limitless grace of God, cracks in the human body armor, allowing in the
Spirit of God the ever-increasing source of our life and of our riches. “The Spirit helps us” through the gift of
prayer without words, supplying utterance through “groans that words cannot be utter.” Even our words
manifest as poverty — we can’t find any good ones for our prayers! So, in place of our words, come the groans
of the Spirit. The word “groans” comes from the Greek stenagmos meaning “sighing, groaning, or moaning,”
and belongs to a collection of similar terms, all of which have to do with mourning or grief. But whose groans
are these? Paul would have us believe that the Spirit is the one who enters into our weakness so deeply that he
sufferings along with us — he groans — and then brings that suffering to God through an act of “intercession”
— he prays to the Father for us.
And we do believe it! For anyone who has remained at the throne of grace or has returned to the throne of
grace often knows this special ministry of the Spirit. But it is hard for us to approach God with a poverty of
words. After all, we have so much to tell God about our desperate situation. Yet Paul invites his audience to
discover the power of prayer by becoming poor in words, allowing the Spirit “to do the talking”! It is hard for
us to “be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10; 37:7), and rather to invite God to speak through His
Spirit. (Psalm 83:1). In our poverty of words comes the riches of his grace.
Jesus: Subject to Weakness (Hebrews 5:2)
He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness
(Hebrews 5:2).
The context of Hebrews 5:2 is Hebrews 4:14-5:10, an extended discussion that compares “Jesus the Son of
God” (4:14) to the office of High Priest in Israel, the most powerful position in Second Temple Judaism.
Originally created during the days of Moses, the office of High Priest, held by Aaron the brother of Moses,
symbolized God’s desire to remain connected to His people through carefully planned rituals that gave
extraordinary access to God. The background of this important position is found throughout the Old Testament
(see Leviticus 16:32; 21:10; Numbers 35:25-32). As we noted in our previous series (Haggai), re-establishing a
legitimate High Priest was crucial for restoration of worship after the exile. Among the many duties of this high
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office was celebrating the “Day of Atonement,” a high holy day when the High Priest entered the Most Holy
Place of the Jewish Temple and offered a blood sacrifice over the sacred ark of the covenant — called “the
mercy seat.” Through this act of atonement (Hebrew: kippur), everyone in Israel, for this one day, were
declared forgiven of their sins, whatever those sins might be (see Leviticus 16; 23:26ff). Everyone who was
poor through sin became rich together through mercy.
Further, the High Priest wore on his chest a breastplate with twelve precious stones, symbolizing the whole
nation of Israel (Exodus 28). He was carrying over his heart the entire community, in a somewhat literal way
telling the people, “God, through my priestly ministry, carries you in His heart.” If the High Priest was truly
faithful, he would put the concerns of God’s people above his own, thus representing them before God each
time he stood at the sacrificial altar or within the holy places of the Temple. That’s what responsible priests did
in ancient Israel. But not all priests were responsible. Even Aaron’s own sons violated their trust, losing the
priesthood and their lives (see Leviticus 10). Nor were the sons of the High Priest Eli reliable in their
performing their office (see 1 Samuel 2:22ff). In the years after the return from exile (6th century and later), the
High Priest became increasingly a political office, often vying for power with the national rulers. By the time
of Jesus, this formerly holy office became a place of corruption and compromise with the Romans. High Priests
required permission from the Roman governor to wear the sacred garments in discharge of their duties. Names
like “Annas” and “Caiaphas” conjure up images of backroom deals and intrigue. Heading the Jewish
Sanhedrin, the chief ruling body in Jerusalem, the High Priest shaped public policy. The High Priest
orchestrated the trial of Jesus and his subsequent disposition by the Romans.
Is it any wonder that the writer of Hebrews reminds his audience what a High Priest was supposed to do?
Words like “sympathize, deal gently, subject to weakness” stand in stark contrast with the power games played
by Jerusalem’s priestly elite in Jesus’ day. Above all else, the High Priest was supposed to be the national
Pastor, upholding God’s Word and lifting up the weak among God’s people. And so, in these verses from
Hebrews 4 and 5, we read how Jesus became our High Priest in a way utterly foreign to the establishment
religious practice in Jerusalem. He voluntarily shared in human weakness — took on the poverty of the human
spirit — so that he might bring those depending on him to the “throne of grace with confidence” — the place
where mercy and grace converge so that human needs are met (4:16). He did not “take this honor on himself,”
but instead, Jesus accepted the call of God his Father who appointed him “priest forever” (5:6). Jesus did not
discharge his work casually or officially. Instead he engaged fully in submission, praying with “cries and tears”
as one caught up in great sorrow, suffering, and concern for others (5:7). Himself, the perfect example of one
who became “poor in spirit,” Jesus “learned obedience from what he suffered,” and he did this to benefit others,
“the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (5:10). His last words from the cross included these:
“Father into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). The text says, then “he breathed his last.”
Among the more obscure statements in Hebrews 5 are those referring to the name “Melchizedek,” a man who
mysteriously appears in Genesis 14:18 where he is called “priest of God Most High.” He shows up in the story
of Abraham where he receives a tenth from the spoils of the war Abraham fought with certain enemy kings. He
also brings out bread and wine, an early sign of the future feast on Mount Sinai (see Exodus 24:11), and later, of
the Eucharist celebrated by the church. Yet we know nothing about Melchizedek, as Hebrews 7:3 would later
explain to the readers, a man “without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of
life…” As to his roots, his lineage, or his pedigree, he is a nobody. He fits into no official roster of priestly
families. He, too, was poor in spirit, lacking proper credentials. After all, this obscure Old Testament character
lived centuries before Aaron became Israel’s first High Priest.
Jesus, says the writer to the Hebrews, was just like Melchizedek (again see Hebrews 7). He did not come from
a priestly family (he was from the tribe of Judah not Levi: see Hebrews 7:14), yet he belonged to the symbolic
order of a nobody priest. Or as the writer tells us in 5:16, “One who has become a priest not on the basis of his
ancestry bit on the basis of the power of an indestructible life…” Jesus became our priest by dying on the cross
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and becoming a nobody so that God, through his resurrection, might make him Somebody. He became poor in
spirit as our priest who put the need for our forgiveness above the status of his office.
Not What We Have Done (Titus 3:5-7)
5
… he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the
washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our
Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:5-7).
“Works can’t save us.” Perhaps you have heard that statement before. In response you might ask, “But don’t
works count?” The short answer is “Yes, properly understood” (see Ephesians 2:10). God doesn’t save us
because we do things that impress Him. He doesn’t save us because all of our good works outweigh our bad
ones. After all, how do you measure goodness like an arithmetic problem? Or, another way to think about it:
this doesn’t mean: “If God grades on a curve, we’ll pass”! Salvation is not pulling ourselves up by our own
bootstraps, because, quite frankly, we aren’t wearing any boots: we took them off when we stepped on God’s
holy ground. We come to God “poor in spirit,” with empty hands and an empty heart. Those aren’t easy things
to say about ourselves, to be sure. The risen Jesus once told a church:
17
You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched,
pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and
white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see
(Revelation 3:17-18).
His words echo the Old Testament prophet Isaiah:
Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine
and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not
satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare (Isaiah 55:1-2).
Salvation is first of all about admitting that we are spiritually poor and desperately in need of God’s mercy and
grace. That’s a hard admission, filled with the acknowledgement of our own inadequacy — something that
self-assured human beings hate to do. We know that we are thirsty for something. We know that we are hungry
for something. But what? In an attempt to shore up these deficiencies, we cobble together a deed here and a
good work there, and perhaps even accomplish some limited good in the process. Yet our need is far greater
than the good we do, and sooner or later the deficit catches up with us. In his famous Pensees, Blaise Pascal
(1623-1662) remarked, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any
created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.” What we need, Paul reminds us in our
Titus reading, is for God to “pour out on us” (Greek: ekcheō, “pour forth, stream out”) mercy, rebirth, and the
Holy Spirit, something He wants to do “generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.” Compare the word
“generously” to the phrase “poor in spirit” and you will see a sharp contrast, artistically crafted.
Invitation to the Crushed in Spirit (Matthew 11:28-30)
28
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
light" (Matthew 11:28-30).
29
30
Take my yoke upon you and learn from
For my yoke is easy and my burden is
Jesus does not begin his instructions in 11:28-30 with “go do this” but with “come to me.” An invitation is
much different than a command. The Greek has Deute pros me. The word “come” is actually not a verb but an
adverb that normally would modify a verb, adjective, or other adverb. But the scribe who assembled the text of
Matthew 11 chose to use a word that means “Come on! Come here! Here!” There is both concern and urgency
in the choice of this term. We can imagine a parent calling her children out of the street or to the dinner table
with such a word! There’s no time for niceties or polished language when faced with a serious matter. Traffic
kills kids playing on the road; dinners get cold. Come, for it’s time to act or change course, Jesus is saying.
“Come” implies leaving behind an old way of doing things — of carrying the burdens placed on one’s back by
others. Enough of that, Jesus tells them. Leave it! Come here!
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Leave it, because after all there’s really nothing there anyway. The weary and the burdened are the “poor in
spirit” who are without viable resources.
1. The word “weary” comes from the Greek kopiaō which has to do with “hard work, labor” — the kind that
makes one tired at the end of the day. Matthew uses the present plural participle: the “all” who are weary
are constantly so without relief and without comp time. Classical usage also has the elements of “suffering,
trouble, or beating” in the meaning. Those whom Jesus calls to himself have taken a beating in their daily
labors, coming home dog tired. Jesus knew the circumstances of labor for the peasant and artisan
communities. What bothered Jesus more, perhaps, was the additional labor imposed by the force of Torahrules imposed by the rabbis. As if having to work one’s tail off six days a week wasn’t enough, Judaism
required carefully managed choices about every facet of human life. Or, as Paul once framed it, “Do not
handle, do not taste, do not touch…” (Colossians 2:21), the monotony of religious scruples. What good did
such ethical burdens do? Again, hear Paul:
22
All these regulations refer to things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and
teachings. 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and
severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence (Colossians 2:22-23).
If we factor in “severe treatment of the body,” this text echoes what concerned Jesus in Matthew 11:28.
Jesus wanted to deliver from such things those who came to him.
2. Coordinate with “weary” is the word “burdened,” taken from the Greek phortizō, meaning “burden, load
with burdens,” and commonly applied to loading cargo on a ship. In this case, Matthew applies the perfect
passive participle, suggesting a condition that is not only continuing but fixed and settled. Those who come
to Jesus are the burdened ones whose condition defines them. Living as they did under an unjust economic
system that piled on the quotas with diminished compensation and high taxation, people had burdens that
just kept piling on them. Imagine the crew loading the hold of a ship, one piece of cargo after another, in an
unending line.
Jesus was not only interested helping people here and there, but he wanted to unburden them from meaningless,
exploitive, and unending labor. What he offers them is something to replace nothing. Matthew calls this offer
“rest,” from the Greek anapauō, “to give relief, rest, relax, stop, desist, or regain strength.” Perhaps no other
historical experience illustrated such rest more than the Exodus from Egypt when God released His people from
unending labor as slaves who worked 24/7 without taking Sabbath. That is why the command to “keep
Sabbath” appears prominently at the center of the Ten Commandments. Jesus tells laboring, exploited, and
“poor-in-spirit” people, whose life has essentially become that of a slave, that he has come to set them free from
their labors, Exodus-style!
Conclusion
What we learn from this week’s readings is that “poor in spirit” has more than one meaning. There is economic
poverty resulting from poor beginnings or bad breaks or unplanned loses that plunge people into a vicious cycle
of job loss and personal depression. Israel, in the days of Jesus, knew all about that kind of poverty. To them,
Jesus made his promise, “Blessed are the poor.” But then there are those whose spirits have been crushed
emotionally, through loss of identity and purpose, or shattered by loss of meaningful relationships. Marriages
gone bad, children in trouble, or nations at war; these are all cases of another kind of poverty that crushes the
human spirit, bringing with it hopelessness and the deadening anxiety of our age. But then there is the choice to
surrender control of assets and income and property, surrendering our lives to God. When poverty is a choice, it
takes the form of a commitment to view true wealth in utterly different terms. “Rich in faith” James calls this
attitude of the “chosen poor” (again, James 2:5).
A great deal passes for poverty that collapses into victimhood, rather than loving the neighborhood. I also think
far too many Christians write off the poor with glib comments about people being “lazy, victims, dependent on
government, etc.” Nobody denies that poor people can work the system. But, then, so do rich people! Class
warfare is not the main battleground for followers of Jesus who see the ground at the foot of the cross quite
level, and quite beyond the old categories of rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free
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(Galatians 3:28). We are, in the words of Paul, a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15), and
creation is about making something from nothing, bringing true value out of human emptiness. The Gospel
creates a new way of being human and leaves behind the hurtful ways of dividing up the human race, pitting
one group against another in the name of keeping what is “rightfully ours.” But nothing is rightfully ours! God
owns all things because He made all things, and they are out on loan to us who are called as His stewards
entrusted with “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8).
Here are a few selections that help us focus on what we have learned this week. 8
Someone begged an old man to accept some money for his needs, but he refused, saying that his manual work
supplied all that was necessary. When the other insisted that he should accept at least enough for his essential
needs, the old man replied, ‘It would be a double shame to accept it: for me to receive what I do not need, and
for you to give me what belongs to others.’
Jesus was elated over the poor widow who offered two copper coins (Mark 12:41-44). Whatever we may give
of all the things that belong to us — our money, our time, our magnanimity, our health, our thousand good
qualities — even if we put all this at Jesus’ disposal, still we are only giving from our abundance. And it will
always remain hard and even painful for us to give from our poverty. Happy — blessed — are they who dare to
give from their poverty: in the eyes of Jesus they have given everything they have.
Poverty — the poverty of spirit of the Sermon on the Mount — is a total detachment from the material world. It
is to recognize that everything comes from God — our bodies, our breath, our very existence. We cannot
properly possess anything — not even our own bodies, as Benedict says. We can only receive everything from
God at every moment — our life, our food, our clothing, our shelter, our books, our friends. Everything comes
from God, created anew at every moment.
The Hasidim tell the story of the visitor who went to see a very famous rabbi and was shocked at the sparseness,
the barrenness, the emptiness of his little one-room house. “Why don’t you have any furniture?” the visitor
asked. “Why don’t you?” the rabbi said. “Well, because I’m only passing through,” the visitor said. “Well, so
am I,” the rabbi answered.
The “poor in spirit” travel light, carrying only what they need for the journey, sharing the rest with their
neighbor and sometimes with their enemy. Treasure is really about what we love, what we cherish, what
captures the human heart. Our treasure, whether God, another person, pleasure, reputation, status, wealth is that
which we trust, what we count on, where we place our security. The treasure is that for which we will sacrifice
all other good, sell all, making it the pre-eminent value that has no equal in our lives. All human striving is
directed whether we recognize it or not, to finding this treasure.
Glory to God! Amen.
Adapted from: The Monastic Way: Ancient Wisdom for Contemporary Living . Ed. Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild (Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans, 2006). A Desert Father, 90; Andre Louf, 93; Bede Criffiths, 94; Constance Fitzgerald, 101.
8
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Digger Deeper: Attitude Adjustment. Poor in Spirit, Rich in Grace
(Bob Brown)
To gain a deeper understanding of Attitude Adjustment. Poor in Spirit, Rich in Grace, carefully read the selected
passages below. To aid you in your study, we invite you to visit the website at http://www.c1naz.org, click on
Resources, click the tab Series, find and click on the series title, find and click on the date you want, and then
click on the Background Notes link at the lower left. You can also pick up a copy of the Background Notes at
the Information desk, or from your ABF leader. Now consider the following questions, as you ask the Lord to
teach you.
1. This week we are considering the beatitude, “poor in spirit,” from Matthew 5:3. Compare this reading with
Luke 6:20. How do the two versions differ? Discuss the special emphasis, if any, in each case. Note the
contrast Luke makes with the “rich” in 6:24 as you consider your response.
2. What was Jesus’ attitude toward the poor, according to these texts: Matthew 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke
12:33; 18:22?
3. In what ways is his attitude consistent with Old Testament teaching (Deuteronomy 15:4; Leviticus 25:25;
Job 29:12; Psalm 40:17; 70:5; Ezekiel 16:49). Jesus began his public ministry with what key text from the
prophets (Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:1)? How did that quotation begin? To whom is it addressed?
4. Discuss the meaning of “spirit” as applied to the poor in Matthew 5:3. Note: the Greek word pneuma can
mean “spirit, wind, or breath.”
5. What does Paul teach us about Jesus and poverty in 2 Corinthians 8:9? Compare Luke 9:58; Philippians
2:7; Hebrews 12:2.
6. Define the phrase “kingdom of heaven” (Note: this is equivalent to “kingdom of God”). How did Jesus
announce the kingdom of God in his earthly ministry (Matthew 8-9; 9:10; 22:1-10; 12:28; 4:23; 11:5; 13)?
In what sense if this kingdom both present and future (Matthew 16:28; 24:27, 30, 37, 39, 64; 13:24-30; 5:20;
13:40-43; 24:29-31).
7. Why is the kingdom a promise to the poor in spirit? (see James 2:5). How does the kingdom overturn
situations like Proverbs 22:7? In what way did the Old Testament anticipate this according to Proverbs 22:2
and 28:11?
8. Read the story of the Two Sons in Luke 15:11-32. Discuss wealth and poverty as they apply to the younger
son. Where did his wealth come from, and what happened to it? What did he finally see as his true riches?
Compare Psalm 84:10.
9. Now examine the attitude of the older son to wealth and poverty. How does his attitude toward both his
father and brother uncover his true values? In what ways does he reveal his poverty by what he says?
10. Study the following texts: Romans 8:26; 2 Corinthians 11:23-30; 12:9-10. Substitute the idea of “poor” for
“weak” in these passages. What role does weakness/poverty have in our lives? Who helps us deal with
them? How?
11. How did Jesus model weakness/poverty according to Hebrews 5:2? Study the context in Hebrews 4:14-5:10
which discusses the role of the High Priest. How does Jesus fill that role for us? What does it mean for him
to “help our weakness/poverty”?
12. What form does poverty of spirit take in Titus 3:5-7? Compare with Revelation 3:17-18 and Isaiah 55:1-2.
13. What invitation does Jesus give in Matthew 11:28-30 and why does he give it? How important are the
words “Come to me,” and how do they differ from the words “Go do this”? Compare with Colossians 2:2123. What often crushes the human spirit but ought to lift it up? Discuss: “Religion can make us poor while
claiming to make us rich.”
14. How important is it for “the poor in spirit” to hear that they can be God’s “new creation” (see 2 Corinthians
5:17; Galatians 6:15; Romans 45:17)?
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