Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
Matthew 5:1-11
May 1, 2005
Sometimes, there are some interesting typos in new editions of the Bible. One edition of the Holy Book translated a verse from Exodus 20 as “Thou shall commit adultery.” John 8:11 was rendered “Go and sin on more.” I know that most people are like me and have been frustrated with our children from time to time. Apparently one of us translated Mark 7:25. It is supposed to read, “Let the children first be filled,” but was printed, “Let the children first be killed.” “Our ancestors” was once translated as “sour ancestors.” I was never a good student in math and started having trouble helping my kids with their math homework when they reached Middle School, so I appreciated the Bible which condemned “fractions.” It really meant to say “factions.” One Bible got hold of Matthew 5:9 and translated it as “Blessed are the placemakers.” (Illustrations takes from www.homeliticsonline.com Matthew 5:1-12, January 30, 2005).
I have read that there are proof reading services out there which read every page of new editions of the Bible in order to find those sorts of mistakes. I am really glad that those services are out there because, goodness knows, the Bible is hard enough to teach and understand without new obstacles being put in the way.
Today is the first sermon in a series on the beatitudes; those first few verses that kick off Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Beatitudes are short statements concerning the state of certain individuals. They announce that some particular folks are fortunate or blessed because of the lifestyle they live or the attitudes they cultivate.
It doesn’t take long to figure out that this is going to be a lot of work. I mean, it sounds like the beatitudes are full of errors. Look down through the list: blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, those who are persecuted. You have to wonder if Jesus made a mistake. If not him, then maybe the mistakes were made at the printers.
Those are not beatitudes that make sense for the 21st century mindset. In today’s world, the fortunate ones are those with lots of disposable income, not the poor. The fortunate ones are those who are assured of themselves and self-confident, not those who mourn. The fortunate ones are those who joyfully paint the town red in their success, those who have the seats of power or access to those in seats of power, not the meek. The fortunate ones are those who give orders rather than take orders from others, not the persecuted. Those values are in direct opposition to the values stressed and lifted up by Jesus
For the next few weeks, we are going to look at these beatitudes one by one. I think that we will find that they are very counter-culture. They really don’t fit mainstream thinking. On the surface, they don’t seem to make much sense. At first glance, they don’t seem to be workable. First impressions tend to convince you that this is unrealistic, pie-in-the-sky stuff.
When we moderns confront the teachings of Jesus, we find that they just don’t make sense to us. Our reality and the reality of Jesus are different. It all begins with “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
Go to the Gospel of Luke and you find this same teaching in what is known as “The Sermon on the Plain.” There, in Luke 6:20, the saying is rendered simply as “Blessed are you poor.”
Now, I don’t know about you, but I would go out of my way to be blessed. I would sit through a year’s worth of Elementary School band concerts to be blessed! I would stand in line all day in a snow storm to be blessed! I would read all of the Minor Prophets in one sitting to be blessed! But I’m not so sure that I want to be blessed if it means I have to be poor.
I’ve been to third world countries. I have seen the poor in places like Israel, Russia, Mexico, and Brazil. I don’t want to be poor. I have been to inner city neighborhoods in the United States. I have seen the poor in places like New York, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Chicago. I don’t want to be poor.
I’m pretty middle class. I enjoy being able to help my children go to college. I enjoy being able to drive a couple of relatively new cars. I enjoy being able to take my wife out to dinner a couple of times a week. I enjoy not having to plan too much if I want to go out and buy a new pair of cowboy boots.
In my ministry, I often have contact with poor folks who are searching for some help. I ache when I talk to some of these people who have to decide between food and heating oil. I always get a hollow feeling in my chest when I talk to people who are part of the working poor; people who honestly work hard, but still find it difficult to make ends meet. It hurts when I know that some people are doing the best they can, but their best isn’t good enough to make it in a difficult economy. I don’t want to be poor.
And Jesus says, “Blessed are you poor.” Our focus today is on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s gospel, where he renders that saying as “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” I fully realize that scholars disagree, but many believe that Matthew, just as Luke, is talking about actual poverty here. Those who are really poor are blessed. Those who don’t know where their next meal is coming from are blessed. Those who don’t know how they are going to heat their houses this winter are blessed. Those who have no chance of enjoying the benefits of this consumer society are blessed. Those who wear hand-me-down clothes and cast-off shoes are blessed. Those who eat Macaroni and Cheese and canned tuna instead of surf and turf are blessed.
But he is also talking about people who have discovered that they are totally dependent upon God. These are people who do not have over-inflated egos or an exaggerated sense of self-worth. He is also talking about people who don’t have answers to their problems, but trust God to provide them. He is also talking about people who have trouble praying, but trust the Spirit to pray for them with sighs too deep for words (Romans 8:26). He is also talking about people who are not among the elite, who are not necessarily the smartest tools in the shed, who may not have all the answers. He is also talking about people who, despite their lowliness, trust God with their whole hearts.
This is a true story. A number of years ago, a young family began attending a neighborhood church. Very quickly, they became involved and active in all areas of the church’s life. After about a year, he began to teach a Sunday School class. A little while after that, he and she began to lead mid-week activities for the children. When the doors of the church were open, you could pretty well plan on them and their children being there. They really were terrific people.
He was an accountant by trade, a CPA. He was working for a corporation which owned a number of restaurants, a couple of auto dealerships, and a few other interests. What no one knew was that he was also in serious personal financial trouble. He had been spending money that they really didn’t have. Their house was a little more than they could afford. They really didn’t need the speed boat that sat in the driveway. They liked to camp as a family, and could have gotten along with just a tent, but instead invested in a large camping trailer. The pastor knew nothing about their struggles. No one in the church knew. They continued to be faithful in their church activities, doing as much as they could to be part of the program.
One morning, the pastor got a phone call before he had even left the house. It was one of the old saints of the church who had some very important news. She truly wanted the best for the church. She and her husband actively participated in the life of the congregation. Both had leadership positions. But she tended to be a little bit of a busybody and a gossip. She was also long on law and short on grace.
“Have you read the morning paper yet,” she asked. The pastor told her that he hadn’t done that yet. She said that he needed to do that because there was some disturbing news on the front page.
The pastor hung up, picked up the paper, and saw John’s picture above the fold on the front page. The CPA family man, Sunday School teacher, youth leader, all around great guy had been indicted for embezzlement. He had cooked the books at his company in such a way that he was able to steal quite a bit of money.
He confided to his pastor that his life just got away from him and had come crashing around his feet. All the time he was stealing from his company, he knew that it was wrong, but he continued to do it anyway. He didn’t understand himself or his own actions. His focus on maintaining his upper middle class lifestyle trumped his ethics. His wife didn’t trust him anymore. His children couldn’t understand why he had broken the law. He was facing real jail time. Everyone in the neighborhood knew what he had done. It is hard to keep that sort of thing a secret when you make page one of the newspaper.
I know that many times we are skeptical of conversion experiences when they happen to scoundrels. We tend to believe that people find religion in order to make themselves respectable in the eyes of others. It is in our nature not to believe such stories of these dramatic conversions. In this case, his experience with God was real. He had no where else to turn. He had nothing else to do. He had no one else who would listen. He knew no one who wouldn’t judge him.
The end of this story is fascinating. He was obviously fired from his job. The owner of the company was, however, a fine Christian man who believed in mercy and grace. He declined to press charges, noting that sometimes good people make terrible mistakes. He only insisted that restitution be made for the stolen funds.
They church rallied around this young man and as of today, he is a lay preacher. He has been forgiven, healed, and restored to the full life of the congregation. All of that came after he realized that he was at an end and could do nothing on his own.
Do you remember back many years ago when K.C. Jones was coach of the Boston Celtics? Kevin McHale played on that team. McHale noticed that the coach was not very generous with his praise. He expected that the coach would reward a good play or a good effort with some sort of recognition: a slap on the back, or a “great job” or something similar. So he asked Jones why he wasn’t more demonstrative when he was happy with the team.
The coach replied, “After you’ve made the winning basket, you’ve got 15,000 people cheering for you. TV commentators come rushing toward you. Everybody is giving you ‘high fives.’ You don’t need me then. When you need a friend most is when nobody is cheering.” (Leonard Sweet, Summoned to Lead. 2004. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. page 90).
There comes a time in everyone’s life when we need a friend. That is the time, according to the Beatitudes, when we are most blessed. That is the time when we realize that we can’t make it on our own. That is the time when we realize that we are nothing without God. That is the time when we are totally and completely dependent upon God.
Those who are poor in spirit are the ones on the inside. Those are the ones who have learned that trusting God is the only thing that gives them life. Those are the ones who are truly blessed.
