I used to have a long commute to work (“long” being defined as “I had to drive south of 380”). There are a lot of reasons to hate driving that far south, but the primary reason I hated it was because at rush hour, a million cranky people all tried to cram into four northbound lanes. That obviously meant none of us were going anywhere fast, so on my way home, I had plenty of time to look around. Odds are good that if you were singing along with your radio, texting while driving, or performing various hygienic functions on northbound US-75 between 4-6 pm, I saw you doing it.
One thing I saw on that commute was a billboard for a church. It wasn’t all that unique, and could have been for any large suburban church in the Bible Belt. It had the church’s name, their website address, and a slogan of some sort. The main thing on it was a picture of a family. This family could have come straight off a catalog cover. They were perfect examples of a 1980’s sitcom version of a “suburban family” (I say 1980s because that was before sitcom families all became completely dysfunctional). Anyway, the billboard had a Mom and Dad, a boy and a girl. They were all very pretty people, with bright smiles, nice clothes. It was the perfect upper-class American Family. I don’t think the church intended this, but the message I got was, “if you’re successful, good-looking and generally have it all together, this is the place for you!”
Before we all pile on and bash this church, though: what’s your definition of “blessed?” Would you consider your family “blessed” if it didn’t look pretty much like that billboard? Be honest.
For most of us, just like the Jews of Jesus’ day, we operate under the assumption that “God’s favorites” are easy to pick out based on their positive circumstances. They look like the family on the billboard. We might have expected Jesus to put it this way: “Blessed are the healthy, the wealthy, the beautiful. Blessed are the famous, the strong, the successful.” If you doubt you think this way, who are your heroes?
But this isn’t what Jesus says in Matthew 5, is it?
His “blesseds” include the poor, the hungry, the meek, the persecuted. These people don’t look (or probably feel) very blessed. “Blessed are those who mourn.” Huh?
For this to make sense requires a different value system, one where blessings aren’t limited to “health and wealth.” This is why Jesus’ gospel is so very hard for us in prosperous America to really “get.”
For example: take a closer look at that first line: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Like many Greek words, the word translated “poor” here is pretty specific, and it means more than just “things are a little tight.” It means “bankrupt.” Poor in spirit here means “spiritually bankrupt.” It’s when you’ve got nothing. And Jesus says those are the “blessed” people.
Later, in a confrontation with the “spiritual elite,” Jesus explains this:
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
(Matthew 9:12-13 – also in Mark 2:17 and Luke 5:31).
This is why the poor in spirit are called blessed: because Jesus came to save them, to offer the very Kingdom of Heaven to the spiritually needy. The “good news” of Jesus is that God became man to meet the needs of the spiritually broke.
The reality, of course, is that we all fall in this category. Whether you’ve never acknowledged your need and aren’t yet saved or you’ve been a believer for decades, we’re all poor in spirit, we’re all spiritually needy. Like the Israelites in the desert, God alone can provide the kind of manna our souls require. After all, you don’t have to tell a financially poor person or a hungry person that they need something.
But it’s one thing to get the theological concept that we’re needy and an entirely different thing to acutely feel a need in your soul for what Christ alone can offer. Do you long for Him? Spiritual poverty, spiritual neediness is only a blessing if you know how to properly fill that need. When you want Christ to fill that need more than anything else, then you’ll understand why it’s such good news for Jesus to announce that God incarnate has come to meet that need. It will make perfect sense for Jesus to call you “blessed” – even when the outward circumstances of your life don’t look “blessed.”
Add Your Comment