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The Beatitudes

             “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. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:3-6)

 

            Today’s passage is the first four verses of the Beatitudes. They’re part of a sermon Jesus gave, and He probably preached the same sermon, with slight variations on verbiage, more than once or twice. I had thought to go through each verse separately, and I probably did so at one point, but looking at them today, these four clearly belonged together.

            The first thing that these verses have in common is need. One of the things both Dallas Willard and John Ortberg talk(ed) about a lot is need. Maslow developed what he considered to be a hierarchy of needs.[1] At the lowest levels were physiological needs (things like oxygen, water, food, and shelter) and safety needs. At the top is “self-actualization.” Whether or not I agree with the top depends on one’s definition of “self-actualization,” but as I look at the needs that Jesus described, they aren’t physiological or safety needs. I’m not even sure they’re psychological needs, which are the next two levels.

            What this means is that Jesus isn’t telling those with lots of possessions that they aren’t blessed any more than He is telling those who have nothing that they aren’t. These needs involve things beyond the mere physical. And it is those who recognize their needs beyond the physical whom Jesus describes as blessed. Some tell us that until the lower needs are met, the higher needs don’t matter, but when allied troops went into the concentration camps to release the prisoners, I’ve read that at least on one occasion, they took lipstick with them, because the lipstick returned humanity to the women – not food, not shelter, not relationships, but a sense of identity or self actualization.

            Ultimately, it tends to be those who recognize their needs who are blessed. I suspect this is partly because when you need something, you seek it.  Those who think they have it all, or those who reject the idea that these things are needs, are the ones who miss out.


[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Maslow%27s_Hierarchy_of_Needs2.svg/250px-Maslow%27s_Hierarchy_of_Needs2.svg.png

 

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