Bible Text: Matthew 5:1-12 | Preacher: Pastor Dorry Newcomer | Series: The Beatitudes | Did you ever leave a worship service asking yourself, “What on earth was that preacher talking about?  Whatever did that sermon mean?”  I imagine a lot of us are asking those very questions right now after hearing this sermon given by Jesus.  “What was Jesus talking about, blessed are the poor in spirit?  And what did he mean when he said theirs would be the kingdom of heaven?”  Even if we are lifelong Christians, this text contains a lot of words and concepts that sound really strange to our ears.

But we know this is an important piece of scripture.  Matthew tells us that Jesus “went up the mountain”, which would have reminded his early readers of Moses and the Ten Commandments.  In other words, pay attention, people of faith!  This is Important Stuff.  Then he tells us that Jesus “sat down”.  This is Matthew’s way of saying that Jesus was giving instruction to his best students.  In Jesus’ day, a rabbi would sit down, and his disciples would gather around him, and he would teach them about the scriptures and about life.  The relationship between disciple and rabbi was very intimate.  These are not the words of a detached professor lecturing on and on to a glazed-over group of students.  This sermon is the work of a teacher who loved his students very much, and chose these pieces of wisdom and truth just for them.

This text is important because it comes from the Lord who loves us.  But it’s also important because of what it promises.  Doesn’t everyone want to be blessed?  Some translations say “happy”, some say “fortunate are”.  But to be blessed is more than to be glad or lucky.  A blessing is a sacred gift from God.  When Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the peacemakers, he is saying that God has a sacred gift for people like that!

Jesus was addressing a group of Jews 2,000 years ago who were living in a unique context.  In that day, there was a sect within Judaism called the Pharisees who were really influencing how the Jewish faith was practiced.  They were completely devoted to the law.  They thought that it was in following the letter of the law, it was through perfect knowledge of the law, and of course then through perfect obedience, that the kingdom of heaven would be ushered in.  The problem, though, is perfect obedience is impossible.  What hope did the average person have of reaching the kingdom of heaven?

That brings up another good point.  What is Jesus talking about, the kingdom of heaven?  You may know that Jews traditionally avoid pronouncing, and even spelling out, the name of God.  The third commandment prohibits misusing the name of the Lord.  So substitute words came into use.  Jesus says kingdom of “heaven” as a way to avoid saying the word God, but the meaning is exactly the same.  We are not talking about heaven as a place.  The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, basically means, anywhere God reigns.

But what will that look like, when God reigns?  Here again is an issue of controversy in Jesus’ day.  There was a group called the zealots who believed that the kingdom of heaven would come through a military victory.  The Romans would be kicked out of Israel.  Israel would become a sovereign nation again.  God would reign on earth as God does in heaven in a geographic and chronological sense, in the here and now.  Under God’s rule righteousness would be rewarded, and justice would be won.

It’s against that backdrop that Jesus gives us this beatitude:  blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Right away Jesus is making it clear that the kingdom of heaven is not going to be established through a military victory.  We may not be able to define exactly what it means to be poor in spirit, but we know “well-armed, victorious army” does not match up with the idea of poor in spirit.  If there were any zealots in that group of disciples gathered at Jesus’ feet, their hearts probably sank as they realized, the kingdom everyone was longing for is not going to come through military power and strategy.

If there were Pharisees in the group, their hearts probably sank as well.  The ideal for them was moral and intellectual superiority.  They did not want to be poor in spirit.  They thought they were richly versed in the scriptures and extravagantly obedient to the law.  They prided themselves on not being like those poor folks who didn’t know or couldn’t follow the law.  They thought God’s rule would come through their own obedience—that by everyone following the law, they would make the world ready to receive its Messiah.

Jesus tells them right off the bat:  it’s not through your physical strength that the world will be changed.  It’s not through your intellectual or moral strength that the Messiah will come.  It’s through your poverty that God will reign.  It’s through your poverty of spirit that you and the world will be enriched.

I know everyone here would like to have the world be a more just and loving place.  And I know we all want God reign in our hearts.  Maybe we don’t want that 100%, but we’re working on it.  Our basic desire is to follow God’s lead.  Our basic desire is to have God reign in us.  Right?  Included in God’s reign are the fruit of the Spirit—the qualities of God and mature faith that Pastor Karen is talking about each week in her Thoughtful Thursday devotions.  If we want God to reign in us, if we want to be people whose lives are marked by love, joy , peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, then what do we have to do?  Jesus tells us, step one, we must become people who are poor in spirit.

But how do we become poor in spirit?  The same way we would become poor financially. By letting go.   By divesting ourselves of everything we “own” spiritually.  By surrendering all of our claims on a life and a world that is what we want, and opening ourselves up to what God wants.  By giving up the notion that we can do this kingdom thing on our own.  By subtracting unhealthy pride and self-sufficiency from our understanding of faithful living.

We become poor in spirit when we realize that no matter what we have, we are not enough.  No matter how strong and clever an army we amass, we will never bring about righteousness.  No matter how sharp our intellects and wits, no matter how perfectly we can obey the letter of the law, we will never make the world a place where love reigns supreme.  On our own we just do not have enough.  We are poor in spirit.

To further illustrate what it means to be poor in spirit, I’d like to talk baseball for a few minutes.  Remember baseball?  Good news—it’s supposedly starting up again later this month, but it’s been a tough spring and early summer at my house.  My poor husband has had get his Phillies fix by wearing his many t-shirts and hats, and recording Korean baseball games on the DVR, and watching games from previous seasons.  It’s better than nothing, but it’s not the same. He can’t wait to hear the crack of the bat from Citizens Bank Park again!

Every time a player makes contact with a ball, there’s a chance it will be a hit.  There’s even a chance it will be a home run!  But for every ball that is hit, very few of them are hit past the outfield wall.  I always feel bad when a hit falls just shy of being a home run.

But that’s actually a pretty good metaphor for what it means to be poor in spirit.  Have you ever heard the term, “warning track power”?  To say a baseball player has warning track power is not a compliment.  What that means is the player can hit the ball pretty far—but not far enough to be a homerun.  When I first heard that term many years ago, I immediately thought, that’s me!  My family just about fell over laughing—according to them, I’m more like swing and miss power.  But I explained.  Warning track power means that on your own you can do some good stuff.  You can hit the ball pretty far.  But on your own, you just don’t enough to score.  You don’t have enough to change the game.

Warning track power.  Poor in spirit.  We are people who are strong, coordinated, talented.  We are people who can do some really great stuff!  But on our own, we cannot hit a home run.  We cannot score.  That is bad news if you are a baseball player.  But warning track power, being poor in spirit, is good news if you are a Christian!  We don’t have the pressure of bringing God’s reign to earth through our perfect obedience.  We don’t have to have it all figured out.  In fact, it’s when we admit that we aren’t perfect, that we can’t figure it out, that we are right at the place where God can bless us the most.

I keep this little water bottle in my office.  It’s filled with dirt from the warning track of Citizens Bank Ball Park.  It was a gift from a man in my first church.  He was sitting in the outfield at the game in 5 of the 2008 World Series, and when the Phillies won, the police officers on the field were encouraging people to throw down their hats.  They scooped up some dirt from the warning track and threw the hats back up so people could have souvenirs of that incredible win.  I have kept it in my office ever since as a reminder that this job is not all up to me.  While I try to do my best, I try to learn all I can, I try to make each of my steps a step toward faithful obedience, I know I am no where near perfect.  I simply do not have the knowledge, skills, commitment, or talent to bring about God’s reign in my own heart, let alone in a congregation or a community.

And so I find that, despite dozens of books, and a couple of diplomas, and a robe and the stole, and even a paycheck—despite being a professional Christian, in the end, what is most valuable in my faith and in my ministry, is poverty.  It’s the ability to say, Lord, I have no idea what to do or where to turn.  Please reign in my heart.  Please bring about righteousness and peace.  Please help me to live in love and joy and hope.  I can’t do it on my own.  All I have is warning track power.  I am poor in spirit.

And it’s in that moment, that moment of confessing our poverty, that we become rich.  There is a famous Jewish rabbi who lived in the 1800’s named Reb Nachman of Bratslav.  He told his disciples that is always fortunate for a person to fall into the pit, because then there is only one direction left—toward God!

Anytime we turn toward God and admit our neediness, there is a blessing.  Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, who turn toward God and rely on God to save them, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!  That is the essence of our sacrament of communion.  We come forward with empty hands to receive the body and blood of Christ.  If it weren’t for our emptiness, we’d have no ability to be filled.  If it weren’t for our need, there would be no way for God to save.

We are living in an anxious time.  I heard a pastor say this week, “If you’re not suffering from anxiety, you’re suffering from denial!”  Jesus did not say, “Blessed are those who are anxious”, but I think anxiety was as much a problem for people in his day as it is for us.  Life is so uncertain!  So much is out of control!  And our very best efforts to get it right do not always make a positive difference.  On our own we only have warning track power.  We have the power to hit the ball pretty far—but not far enough to get us home.  It is only God’s grace that can do that.

I hope you will take some time this week to sit at the feet of Jesus, and think about what it means to be poor.  My guess is we are all part Pharisee, people who want to be able to rely on our own merits to connect with God.  My guess is we are all part Zealot, people who want to change things by being strong.  But Jesus tells us, step one is to admit, our own resources are not enough.  On our own, all we have is warning track power.  May we divest ourselves of our pre-conceived notions, our grand plans, our self-righteousness—and learn to cradle our anxiety and our limitations.  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Amen.