December 10, 2008 (Matthew 5:1-12)

If you grew up in church, I suspect you’ve heard the Beatitudes many times. As a kid, I generally heard sermons from them that were titled something like “the Be-Attitudes”—because Jesus was telling us what we should strive to be like. For the most part, that made sense to me. “Okay, God wants us to be peaceful, merciful, etc.” I was always a bit confused, however, by 5:3. A fairly literal translation of the Greek is: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (NASB) I had a very difficult time understanding how being “poor in spirit” could be a good thing. Then during graduate school, I was introduced to a new way of understanding the Beatitudes. Maybe they weren’t so much intended to tell people what to be, as they were intended to encourage them in what they already were.

Remember, Jesus was teaching in the “backwaters” of Judea. His apostles were the guys who couldn’t cut it with any other rabbi. He’s got people following Him from Gentile lands. In short, His entourage was what many of the day would have considered “the dregs of humanity.” There was a popular teaching in the first-century that good things happened to good people, and bad things happened to bad people. Therefore, you could simply look at a person’s life circumstances and know where they stood with God. (And excellent example of this was when the apostles saw the man born blind and asked Jesus: Rabbi, why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins? John 9:1-3)

Bearing in mind that many people thought this way, the words of Jesus can take on a slightly different meaning. Perhaps He is not only telling people what they must do to be accepted by God, but also assuring them that—despite appearances—they are not abandoned by God! In essence:

“God blesses even those of you who are poor in spirit. He doesn’t expect you be a superman/superwoman. It may feel like you’ve been abandoned, or as if God has forgotten you. You may even have Temple officials and teachers who tell you the same, but don’t believe it! They aren’t calling the shots. My Father is…and He has declared that the Kingdom of Heaven is for you.”

As you go through today, be mindful not only of the obedience you owe God…but also of His unconditional love for you in spite of your disobedience. Blessed are we who are poor in spirit, for the Kingdom of Heaven is ours!

-- Justin

The Beatitudes
Beatitudes Coloring Sheet