“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:3
The Lord speaks to the people. Without explanation he presents the word of God. (This reminds us of how Moses presented the ten commandments to the people – a straightforward reading of God’s commandments.) The people listen attentively to the Lord. But what do His words mean to them?
Blessed are the poor in spirit The Lord’s words are stunning. He uses the word blessed. This refers to receiving God’s blessing – to being accepted by God. This is what every Jew aspired to – to be found worthy to enter into God’s kingdom and to receive all the blessings God has for them.
Poor in spirit The next words are not what the Lord’s audience expected. They live in a religion of works and legalism. They see the best of the best who are so dedicated that they keep God’s commandment to the maximum degree. They strive for holiness that the average Jew could never attain. Yet they see these “super-saints” had a high degree of arrogance. There is pride in their zeal to keep God’s word, they look down on others who do not live up to those standards. They feel they are worthy to enter God’s kingdom based on a lifetime of obeying God, of doing good works, of obeying God in every area of their lives. Suddenly they hear this man many think may be the Messiah say that to be blessed by God requires that one is poor in spirit. The word poor means lacking in everything. It is destitute of the wealth, of learning and intellect. But to “poor” the Lord adds the term “in spirit”. Note the word spirit does not refer to the Holy Spirit. It is the spirit of a man which reflects his mental attitude toward a holy God.
To get the sense of what the Lord is saying we need to look at where else these words are used. Isaiah 61 says “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has chosen me. He has commissioned me to encourage the poor.” Here the Lord is talking about the brokenhearted, those who seek God but know that there is nothing in them that God would or could find pleasing. Isaiah uses the word poor to describe Jews who who were taken into exile. They are financially poor, having had their land and possessions ripped away from them; but even more devastating they are afflicted, oppressed, powerless and without hope. They are desperate. In other words, in every way they are destitute and they know it.
The Lord indicates that to enter the kingdom of God one must be humble before God. He must come to the realization that nothing
in him or his life makes him worthy, nothing in him merits admittance into the kingdom of heaven. To be poor in spirit a person has examined his soul and recognizes he stands fully sinful before a holy God. There is nothing in him that is commendable to n absolutely holy God. There is no pride in who he is or what he has achieved. This, according to Jesus, is the attitude to necessary to enter God’s kingdom. If entering Entering God’s presence is not based on works we do to make ourselves acceptable, how is it achieved? It is a gift from God only – it cannot be earned with good works or bought with ritual observances.
What can we learn? Some in the Lord’s audience would realize immediately this teaching is totally different than the Judaism they observe and practice. Pride created by works stands in sharp contrast to the humble contrition of a person broken over his sin. Thus the Lord focuses the people on the truth found in I Samuel 16:7 “Man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart.”