Walk This Way: Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
Matthew 5:3-4; Luke 7:36-50
I. A new way of living; Matthew 5:3-4 NIV
In life it’s very easy in one moment to feel like you have everything together, you know who you are, you know where you are going and you know how to get there, but in the next moment feel entirely lost. This happens to everyone and is normal because we live in a sinful and fallen world. When Jesus came, He came to change everything. He didn’t come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people alive and that takes being reborn into a new life. This new life includes a new way to live life that is absolutely contrary to anything this world has to offer. The question is how do you live this new life?
Jesus starts laying out this revolutionary new way of living in His first sermon that we call the “Sermon on the Mount”. This Sermon starts out with cause-and-effect statements that are called the Beatitudes. They all sound something like, “Blessed are the ________ for they will _______.” All of the Beatitudes build on one another like steps to a path. Let’s look at the first two.
Matthew 5:3-4 NIV
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Jesus says “blessed are the poor in spirit”, so let’s first look at what it means to be blessed. I think a good definition of blessed is a mixture of grace (God giving us good things that we don’t deserve) and mercy (God withholding punishment that we deserve). While the effect of these blessings might be felt immediately, we will benefit more from them in the eternal sense. But what does “poor in spirit” mean? It does not mean that we are blessed when we are poor in a financial sense (even though He can use it in a financial sense for His glory), but rather in a spiritual sense when it comes to salvation. It’s the realization that nothing we can bring can help us be saved at all. It’s like the old hymn, “Rock of Ages” says, “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling”. Being spiritually poor means to realize our utter hopelessness and desperate need for Jesus as our Savior. The second beatitude goes right along with the first one in the sense that we mourn not for those who have passed on, but rather for our sins because they are what separated us from God in the first place. Those two go hand in hand and are the first step in living out this life that starts with being reborn, just as Jesus told Nicodemus. But what does being “poor in spirit” look like in the real world? I can think of no better example of this being played out than in Luke 7:36-50 when Jesus encounters a sinful woman.
II. Being poor in spirit means giving everything to Christ; Luke 7:36-38 NLT
36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. 37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
Here we are first introduced to the immoral woman. She had evidently heard Jesus speak before this encounter and had put her faith in Jesus, but she could not hold herself back from coming and worshiping Him for what He had done for her. Notice that she gave up her identity. As an immoral woman or a prostitute, her identity was known by everyone and was personified in the jar of expensive perfume that she had brought to anoint Jesus with. That was who she was before, but she knew that due to Jesus that was not who she was going to be, so she gave it all to Him, no matter what it cost her. We also need to understand that not only was her profession her identity (hence her being referred to as the immoral woman) it was also her livelihood. As she left her old life for Jesus, not only did she leave it behind, but it also caused her to leave her method of making money. However, it did not matter. The only thing that mattered to her was giving it all to Jesus. How could she make it? How would she feed herself? She might not have had the answers, but she knew Jesus did. Not only did she give up these two items, but she also gave up her pride. Multiple times in these few verses this woman committed huge social improprieties, but she never cared. All she cared about was making her way to Jesus and giving Him the lavish worship that He deserved because of who He was to her, and that He was her Savior. This woman showed how to be poor in spirit by giving up her identity, her livelihood, and her pride all for Jesus. Again, I will quote the old hymn, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling”. But after this brief interaction with the woman, we see the narrative switch to the host of that evening’s dinner - a man named Simon.
III. Being poor in spirit means to not be spiritually blind; Luke 7:39-43 NLT
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!” 40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.” “Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied. 41 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?” 43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.” “That’s right,” Jesus said.
As the narrative now focuses on Simon, we get to see into his thoughts and how he regards the event that just took place in front of him. He was not in awe of the love this woman had for Jesus. He wasn’t in awe of how Jesus treated this woman who the world had written off as worthless. Instead, the pride of this man blinded him to the facts of the wonderful act of grace that he had just beheld. Jesus then begins to show him his errors by sharing a parable with the man. Once Jesus had finished, He asked the man who would have shown him the greatest love. The man answered correctly but did not seem to realize that the parable had played out right in front of his own eyes. This man named Simon was showing that he was spiritually blind - blinded by his own pride, blinded to the grace this woman had received, a sinner loved and accepted by Jesus, and he missed who Jesus really is. Jesus came to seek and to save the sinners. Simon was just thankful that he wasn’t as bad as the woman.
IV. Being poor in Christ means to have all your faith in Jesus; Luke 7:44-50 NLT
44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. 47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?” 50 And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Again, the narrative shifts, but this time to both the host Simon and the immoral woman. Jesus addressed and affirmed the woman’s actions and admonishes those of Simon. He compares and contrasts their actions and motives. Then Jesus proceeds to tell the woman her sins are forgiven, but I think the most important part is to understand why. Being poor in spirit means understanding that your actions will not save you, even though actions such as these are a result of salvation as we see with this woman. We see that it’s not your status in the world that saves you and has your sins forgiven. She was one of the lowest on the social ladder, yet Jesus said she was forgiven. If compared by the world to Simon, the world would have easily said it was Simon who should have been forgiven because of who he was, his devotion, his affiliations, his status, and his power, but she was the one who was forgiven. Why? Jesus said it in verse 50, it was because of faith. It is through faith by grace that we are saved and that is faith in Jesus and Jesus alone.
When Jesus came, He brought a way of life that is not natural to this world. As a matter of fact, it’s supernatural and contrary to the ways and customs of this world. Today’s look at the first step in walking with Jesus is no different. Utter hopelessness outside of Jesus is looked down upon. We are supposed to be strong and self-reliant. We are supposed to do it all ourselves. But Jesus said no. Those who are poor in spirit will be blessed. Blessed with the Kingdom of God because our only hope of heaven is Jesus. We have nothing we can give God, but He gave everything to us in Jesus. Are you poor in spirit? Do you mourn your sins? Those are the first two steps in living a life with Jesus and that life can start today.
