“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)
The sermon on the Mount describes
what human life and human community
looks like when they come under
the gracious rule of King Jesus…
Still today the indispensable condition
of receiving the kingdom of God
is to acknowledge our spiritual poverty…
Thus, to be ‘poor in spirit’ is to acknowledge our spiritual poverty,
indeed our spiritual bankruptcy, before God…
Right at the beginning of his sermon,
Jesus contradicts all human judgments
and all nationalistic expectations of the kingdom of God.
The kingdom is given to the poor, not the rich;
the feeble, not the mighty;
to little children humble enough to accept it,
not to soldiers who boast
that they can obtain it by their own prowess.
– John Stott
We are beggars. This is true! – Martin Luther
The kingdom of God can only be received by empty hands.
Jesus warns against two things:
Worldly self-sufficiency which leads you
to trust yourself and your own resources
so that you don’t need God;
and religious self-sufficiency
where you trust your religious attitude and moral life
and don’t need Jesus.
– Michael Crosby
He only who is reduced to nothing in himself,
and relies on the mercy of God, is poor in spirit.
– John Calvin
Blessed are the spiritual zeros – the spiritually bankrupt,
deprived and deficient, the spiritual beggars,
those without a wisp of religion –
when the kingdom of heaven comes upon them.
– Dallas Willard
