Pastor's Column March 7, 2010

Last week we looked at the Beatitudes, Mt. 5: 3-11, during the sermon. It was a lot of info, so for the next few columns, here’s a recap:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, vs. 3. ”Poor in spirit” has nothing to do with not liking ourselves or not being confident or not having a personality or being a wimp. What Jesus says here is that we’re on the right path to the kingdom of heaven, or the fullness of God’s rule over our lives, when we know that we’re not the masters of our own destiny. To be “poor in spirit” is to understand that we’re not in control of our lives, God is. We come from God, we belong to God, we will return to God. Live with this reality.

Ours is to rely on the guidance and support of God’s Spirit at work in our lives. What did Jesus say? “The spirit of the Lord is upon me…” Jesus lived by God’s agenda, and we are to do the same. God’s spirit (same word as wind in the Bible) is to fill our sails and take us where God wants us to go rather than our spirit. We’re to be rich in God’s spirit and be poor in our own willfulness.

The “rich in spirit,” in this context, would be those who think of themselves as self-made men and women, persons in control of their lives. The “rich in spirit” are not on the path to the fullness of God’s rule, but are trying to make for themselves a life in which they’re in charge and God can be ignored most of the time. The author of the Letter of James says that we cannot do this. Rather than boast of ourselves regarding tomorrow, James says, “You do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil,” James 4: 14-16.

To be “poor in spirit” is to be humble rather than arrogant, to rely on the guidance and support of God rather than try to go it on our own, and to be headed for the fullness of the kingdom of heaven rather than being full of self.