How might you expect Jesus to begin his most famous sermon that comes right after the launch of his public ministry?
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Whatever you expected, I don’t think this is it. The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ account of what Christlike wisdom is, what it looks like to live the good life. But first, Jesus makes a proclamation of who Jesus considers to be the truly blessed ones in the world.
Let’s be clear about something: you don’t want to be poor in spirit. The Church has often misunderstood Jesus’ Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12) in this way, though. “Be poor in spirit (which means something like humility),” this viewpoint supposes, “and God will bless/reward you by welcoming you into his kingdom.” But you don’t want to be poor in spirit. You don’t want to be spiritually bankrupt, disconnected, deficient, or depleted. You want to be full of the Spirit, of course!
So, what is Jesus doing with his Beatitudes? Well, he’s not giving us a standard toward which we can strive and then hopefully receive something nice in return. Wouldn’t that be just another form of works righteousness? Instead, he’s announcing to us who God considers blessed. The spiritually bankrupt. The grieving ones. The gentle, humble ones who don’t feel the need to be noticed. Those who are hungry for the right and just thing to be done, no matter who is inconvenienced and upset in the process. Those who are perceived as weak because they show mercy. Those whose hearts are pure, thus exposing the lack of purity in others’ hearts. Those who create peace when everyone else wants conflict. Those who are hated and mistreated because they want to be like Jesus.
They are the blessed ones. The happy, fortunate ones. Their lives are a picture of joy and flourishing, if you ask Jesus. (Actually, “flourishing” or “happy” would be a better translation here in Matthew 5 than “blessed.”)
Does that sound upside down to us? Probably, but it just means we are the ones living and thinking upside down. The Sermon on the Mount (the rest of Matthew 5-7) is going to turn on its head what we think we know. So, Jesus begins his greatest sermon by informing us that the good life is first and foremost available to those who seem the furthest from it.
This is the reality in which you live. It’s called the kingdom of heaven. It is reality as God experiences it, which means it’s how you and I should experience it as well. You can ignore it if you want, but it will do you about as much good as a fish pretending water doesn’t exist. The rest of the Sermon on the Mount is not going to make sense unless we start here and let Jesus dissect and reverse all our assumptions about who is really well off, and which way is actually up.
Now you know who Jesus considers to be blessed. It makes no sense to anyone except those who will follow Jesus up the mount, sit at his feet, learn from him, and then follow him to the cross. So, who do you think gets to define reality? Who do you think gets to define the word “blessed?” And who do you think is actually blessed?