The Poor in Spirit

Matthew 5: 3, 10

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

Today’s picture of the Kingdom of Heaven comes from a famous and undoubtedly quite familiar passage, namely the fifth chapter of the book of Matthew. The first several verses of this chapter are commonly known as the Beatitudes, and for today’s musings, I would like to focus on the first and the last of these Beatitudes, found in verses three and ten of this chapter.

As I have said before about other passages we’ve looked at, I’m not sure that I will have much that is new or tremendously earth-shattering to say on this very familiar passage. Being as well known as it is, a great deal has been said about it over the years, and much of that by people who are far more qualified than I am to discuss Scripture. But I hope I have one or two things to point out that will be worth our time together today, particularly concerning how these two verses give us a bit more insight into the Kingdom of Heaven.

A Look at the Words

Of  course, being an English teacher, the first thing that always jumps out at me, any time I examine a passage of Scripture, is the words being used. And some of the words and phrases that Jesus uses in these verses are simply fascinating to me, so I want to look at some of these a bit more carefully.

Let’s start with the phrase which is generally translated poor in spirit. The first part of that phrase comes from the Greek word ptochos, which means “utterly destitute, someone who is forced to beg publicly to stay alive.” In other words, this is someone who is so poor that they have completely abandoned their pride; their life depends on the generosity of those around them, and they don’t care who knows it. But of course, Jesus is not talking about physical poverty here. Though some have translated this phrase as “Blessed in spirit are the poor,”[1] that just doesn’t work with what Jesus actually said. No, He is talking about people who are spiritually poor, people who are spiritual beggars. This is like someone who has had a personal encounter with God and who, thus, knows their true spiritual condition. One Biblical example would be Isaiah; when he suddenly finds himself in God’s presence he cries out in despair, Woe to me! I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin[2]. That response is pretty much the standard for almost everyone in Scripture who has a face to face encounter with God. They suddenly realize how far they fall short of His absolutely holy standard and they fall to their knees, crying as Peter did, Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man![3]

And don’t imagine that I’m only talking about the burning bush type of encounter with God. Don’t get me wrong; that kind of supernatural encounter would definitely work to get my attention! But any kind of genuine encounter with God produces this kind of response. If you’re like me, you probably tend to forget, at least at times, that God is omniscient and omnipresent. He sees and knows everything, and He is everywhere. Every moment of our lives is lived in the presence of God. But a lot of the time, we just go blithely along with our lives, willfully blind to the fact that God is right there with us the whole time.

But every once in a while, God breaks through our illusions; He reminds us in a way that we can’t ignore that He’s right there with us. Chances are, some of you reading this today have experienced a moment like that. If you have, then you know what I’m talking about. And in those moments, spiritual pride utterly disappears. We realize what filthy rags our righteousness is compared to His holiness. We realize that we are absolutely and irrevocably dependent on His grace and His mercy. We are forcefully reminded, in other words, that we are spiritual beggars, standing at the gate of Him who alone holds life in His hands, knowing that our salvation will come only if He grants us His grace.

That is what I hear Jesus describing when He talks about the poor in spirit: those who are continually aware of their constant state of utter spiritual destitution before an unimaginably holy God.

Then, in verse ten, Jesus mentions those who are persecuted for righteousness. The word translated here as “persecuted,” is dioko, which is a word used almost fifty times in the New Testament. And in each of these uses, it is always translated as “persecuted,” which makes sense, considering that is what the word means. At least figuratively. The literal meaning, on the other hand, is, “to be tirelessly, persistently, doggedly pursued.” The idea is someone like David, who was relentlessly pursued for years by King Saul, who was unjustly seeking his life.

That is a somewhat interesting comparison, because in the book of Acts, this word is applied to another Saul, who was on his way to Damascus. When Jesus confronted him on the road, He asked Saul “Why have you been persecuting me?”[4] Remember, up to that point, Saul had been zealously seeking to stamp out The Way, zealously seeking to destroy all the followers of Christ. And that is the deeper implication of the word dioko: to zealously seek someone so that you can do them harm.

Don’t forget that these people Jesus is describing are being pursued in this manner because of their righteous character. There are, undoubtedly, uncountable examples of people being pursued like this for perfectly appropriate reasons; they have done something terrible and need to be caught, so that they can be prevented from doing such things again. But the crime committed by the people Jesus is describing here is “being righteous.”

David is, again, a great example of this idea. He knew what it was like to be pursued, to be hated, to be persecuted, simply because he was righteous. In fact, many of the Psalms record his attempts to come to terms with this situation. And his conclusion to this dilemma is very instructive for us as we look at this passage in Matthew. In Psalm 31:4, David says to the Lord, You will free me from the net they hid for me, for you are my place of refuge. And in many other places throughout the Psalms, he calls God, my fortress.

The point, I think, is this. If you are being persecuted because of your righteous character, your only hope for rescue is God. Throughout Scripture, we see people in this situation, like David or Elijah, turning to the Lord for help, because they know their only hope for help is the Lord. And that is the kind of person Jesus is describing in verse ten: someone who is being relentlessly pursued because of their righteous character, who has turned to the Lord for help.

The Connection

But what I find really interesting is the connection between these two people. Both of the people Jesus describes in these verses has recognized that they are completely dependent on the Lord. One, because they have been confronted by the reality of their sinfulness, and the other because they know only God can save them from the persecution they are facing. But both of them understand that their only hope is in God.

And to both of them, Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

Now, I don’t want to read too much into this, but it seems to me that this is an important element of the attitude of those who are part of the Kingdom of Heaven. Citizens of the Kingdom have recognized and accepted that their only hope for salvation is in God, and thus, they have turned to Him, seeking Him with all their hearts as their only refuge.

Final Thoughts

I think it is important to remember that this turning to God is not a one time deal. Granted, that first time is important! That first decision, when we first turn from our sins and claim Him as our Lord and Savior, choosing to follow Him, that is what opens up the Kingdom to us. It is that choice which makes us children of the King, children who have the right to come to Him for protection, children who have the right to share in the abundant life that the Kingdom offers.

But as we move forward in our lives as followers of Christ, we are frequently confronted by this choice. Will we face the trial or temptations that lie before us in our own strength? Or will we remember our spiritual poverty, remember that He is our only refuge, and turn to Him, that we might be saved?

As I almost always do at the end of these musings, I would encourage you to spend a few minutes in silent prayer before the Lord, Who is your refuge. Ask Him to reveal to you those places where you are still standing in your own strength, those areas of your life where you refuse to recognize your spiritual poverty. Then, take the time to ask His forgiveness for those times you have sought refuge in your own strength, or in anything outside of Him.

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[1] Most notably in the Vulgate

[2] Isaiah 6:5

[3] Luke 5:8

[4] Acts 9:4; the entire story of Paul’s first encounter with Jesus is found in Acts 9:1 – 10