Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit

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

          Blessed are not the poor. That’s not what it says. Some people seem to think that those living below a certain income are somehow special or more spiritual. That might make sense if those same individuals gave all their money to someone they hate and fought to end welfare and charity because helping the poor escape poverty comes between them and their blessing. But we don’t send condolence cards when someone gets money. In fact, if we don’t feel happy for them, it might be because we are jealous that they got it. If you happen to be one of those convinced that the poor are blessed, I’ll suffer being cursed to ensure your blessing. Just sign over your bank account and belongings. It will be a trial, but if you are blessed by it, that’s the important thing.

           No, it’s not “blessed are the poor.” It is “blessed are the poor in spirit,” and that makes it more challenging. How did the Israelites who heard Jesus preach understand the meaning of poor in spirit? I’m not sure. I don’t think those folks whose personalities are naturally carbonated or effervescent. Rather, I suspect that poverty of spirit is more a recognition of one’s spiritual state. 

        I’ve known people who are going to do this or that. They’re going to be great, and they’ll gladly tell you how to do it. You just have to put yourself out there, believe in yourself, and the world will throw itself at your feet. That’s the power of positive thinking, and that’s the power of attraction. Others point to the power of Karma. If you do good, and if you give to charity, then you will receive back good, even one hundred times the good seed that you sowed. Some will claim, for instance, that they or some other deserves to go to heaven because of all the good they did. Consider the rock stars and celebrities who have died. Suggest that one of them might be in hell, then stand back and watch the explosion.

          All of that seems to me to speak of the wealth of the spirit. Poverty of the spirit is the opposite attitude. To be poor in spirit requires a recognition that one has absolutely nothing with which to buy salvation. All your good deeds, though clearly good, do not pay a tenth of the debt you owe. All my good deeds are like a handful of straw when I owe a ton of gold. This is what I think it means to be poor in spirit. 

          Some might think this means we should bewail our fates. Oh, woe are we, for we are but worms. Pity us for we are but dust. I don’t think God suddenly decides that your tenth of what you owe is what makes you worthy, or that my handful of straw is great because it is so completely insufficient. One downmanship does us no good. The point is not that we become worthy because we are so unworthy, but that God is merciful. Spiritual poverty accepts our debt but looks to the grace of God for the answer.