Blessed are the poor in spirit. Matthew 5:3
I really like Tom Wrights translation of this opening of the "blessed" people in the Sermon on the Mount.
"Wonderful news for the poor in spirit! The Kingdom of heaven is yours."
Wright gets it right about what Jesus is doing in his ministry. He is trying to turn the world upside down, to turn Israel upside down, to pour lavish blessings on all people who turn to him and accept the new thing he is doing.
There are two issues here.
One is: when do the promises of blessing come true?
Is it only in HEAVEN? This has been a common interpretation. The reward for being poor and having suffered lifes indignities is a safe and plentiful life in heaven. This was the gospel the white church preached to the black slaves....be patient, god is good, you will have shoes to wear in heaven. In other words, this is your state in this life...deal with it!
Those that disliked this message had a cute phrase for it: "Christians are so heavenly oriented they are no earthly good." This interpretation also gets believers off the hook in trying to reverse the injustices in the world. If the reward is in heaven---why correct the way things are now? But I believe the Bible is quite clear that Jesus is beinging God news to the cpatives, the poor, the oppressed...right now!God's blessing are intended for everyone--not just the well to do.
I prefer a different understanding of heaven (once again I borrowed from Wright) that heaven is "God's space" where full reality exists, close by our ordinary "earthly reality" and interlocking with it. When we act as God's people we bring blessing upon ourselves and share it with others so they are blessed during their earthly life.
The Beatitutdes then show us how God intends this world to be---yet acknowledges the full reality won't be attained in our time. We are working with God (interlocking action) towards a time when all people know the blessed life. We won't fully reach it--but we can make considerable progress.
Each week in the Lord's prayer we ask for this: THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS (already is) IN HEAVEN.
The second issues is the audience. We know the poor need the basics of life. What about those of us who already have been materially blessed? Where is the good news and the great need for the "haves?"
The challenge Christianty has always faced was to make the gospel offer something to the people who already have been richly blessed. The Prosperity Gospel says that God wants to make you evern richer! If you live in beautiful surroundings and have a great marriage and good friends and meaningful work, can you really be considered "spiritually poor?" I could use some help here. I know that often people come to trust God and to open their hearts to a deeply spiritual reality when they fall off their comfortable perch and face hardship. Do we only know Christ when we are humbled and open to his help?
Thos two questions seem the most relevant for me. Give me some help?
James
2 comments:
I believe Christ was not talking about what we "have", I believe it has more to do with who we are. We are spiritually poor regardless of what we have, in fact, the more we have sometimes, the less connected we are to Spirit. It takes energy to take care of what we "have". The Buddhist believe Heaven (paraphrasing big time here) is Awareness. To be Awake, to be spiritually alive and open to all without judgement. How many of us who "have" can say we have that? To be like Christ, alive and aware, that to me, is what would make me less spiritually poor.
It is a paradoxical statement, because wouldn't the opposite, being spiritually rich, be wonderful? But then are we excluded from heaven?
I was taught that the "poor in spirit" were those who knew that they needed God. Hardship often makes that clearer to us.
Maybe it just means the humble, those who aren't so religiously sure of themselves, have a better chance of accessing that Awareness. I also think the Kingdom of Heaven is accessible now, here. It is just so simple to get to that it is hard to find.
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