Gather 'Round: Jesus is Starting

Let us begin.  Jesus is establishing the constitution of the Kingdom of God. The Law was given by Moses after the children of Israel were settling down in the desert and then Moses gave it again to the next generation that was to enter the Promised Land. 

God never asks us to do anything that He has not fully informed us about first. In fact, the whole Bible is filled with instructions on how to live as His children.  But why so many rules?  Things to do?  Things to not do?  Things to remember?

Let's make a quick dash back to the Garden for a moment.  There were two trees there: One was the Knowledge of Good and Evil and one was Life. We all know which one Adam picked; consequently, he was bound to his own knowledge, interpretation and the chaos that came from his choices. He would sin, although he thought what he was doing was the right thing.  He would sin knowing what he was doing was wrong, but his corrupted nature drove him on.  Paul put it well: 

"For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.  So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin." (Romans 7:19-25 NIV)

So, thanks Adam: You bequeathed to us ignorance and an inclination to disregard God's words of life.  So, every chance God gets, He reminds His fallen children what is expected of them, and what the consequences will be for transgression.  He is not a permissive Parent; He loves us so deeply that He wants the best for us.  He goes out of His way to guide us, show us and direct us, and yet many times we respond out of contempt, anger and a disregard of His words. 

Jesus is the Word of Life, so what He speaks is life itself--life in His Father while we live in a fallen world. He is letting us know the rules and regs of the Kingdom; He is asking a lot of us, but He also will be empowering us when the Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost.  But for His listeners on the hill that day, He was saying, "I am bringing you a new life, a new way to live in this world. I will lay it out for you and one day, these words will live in your heart."

It's the syllabus on the first day of college.  It's the contract you sign when you buy your first house. It's your first bank loan. Nothing has happened yet; it will, and you will see it unfold because you will know what to look for as it unfolds. 

Here we go. I am going to contrast the first Beatitude, with the world's and religion's reactions. Jesus is being radical here--because the Kingdom of God is. 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:3 NIV) 

The World's Opinion: 

• The poor? Get out of my way. If you're poor, it's your fault; it's some kind of moral failure; some addiction, or some trauma you just need to get over. 
• Maybe if I really cared, (and I really don't) I'd try to help, but indifference works for me. It costs me nothing, I can say you're free in the choices you've made, and I can walk on by. 
• Gotta take care of me, you know?  It's all good.  

Religion's Opinion: 

• You're poor in spirit because you lack faith. 
• You need to work harder on being good. 
• Yes, those are disapproving glances from those around you in church. Your poverty makes us uncomfortable. You remind us our fortunes could fall, so we will ignore you, for fear we could be next.  
• You remind me that things can go wrong and I have a nice, neat theology that says differently. 
• I am blessed.  What's wrong with you?

But the Kingdom of God is about relationships--rules and regs are for guidance and direction, but God is all about relationships--it started in the Garden when He walked in the Garden to talk with His children. 

Let's go deeper into what Jesus is saying.  The word for "poor" is described in Strong's Concordance as this: 

"to be thoroughly frightened, to cower down or hide oneself for fear; hence, ...properly, one who slinks and crouches...often involving the idea of roving about in wretchedness...but it always had a bad sense till it was ennobled in the Gospels; see Matthew 5:3..."[1]

"Ennobled in the Gospels..." Wow!  Everything Jesus touches goes from chaos to order, from ashes to beauty, from mourning to rejoicing. His use of the word, "poor," made it go from slinking in the shadows to being out in the light.  Adam slinked in the shadows--sin does that to us, doesn't it?  You are brave at first, thinking you have this sin thing (it's really tiny anyway, right?) under control and then slowly but surely, the money runs out, a famine hits, and now you're eating pig food.  The shadows are the best place to hide your shame. 

But Jesus ennobles it because He recognizes the ruined relationship behind the slinking, the shame and the self-loathing.  Oh, and don't forget all that loathing heaped on a person by others.  Without Christ on the throne, the self is there, sitting and smirking and all the while casting condemning looks at everyone. But this throne is occupying a dark prison cell. Malcolm Muggeridge talked about the the dark dungeon of the ego--and that it is.   It is a place of only one--one who is lonely and yet in denial about the loneliness.  

But the Kingdom of God is a place of light, not condemnation.  Jesus is seeking to restore your brokenness, by reaching out His hand to clasp yours.  He wants to lift you up.  

To those who were listening to Jesus that day on the hillside, they thought that the poor had, for some reason, missed God's blessing--God rewarded those who loved Him and if you had no visible rewards, well, we all knew what kind of person you were.   

I love how the NIV Study Bible puts it: The poor in spirit are "in contrast to the spiritually proud and self-sufficient." The kingdom that is theirs is not "something earned.  It is more a gift than a recompense."[2]

Can you just hear the "poor" (in all senses of that word) taking amongst themselves, as they listen to Jesus: 

• He's talking about me!  The only time I hear about me and those like me is either with scorn or glances that speak of contempt and abhorrence. 
• I am poor in spirit and in pocket.  It's the first thing He is talking about--I don't know of anyone who starts a teaching about the poor--we are usually tacked on at the end as a warning to not be like us in any way. 
• Yeah, I've got a little money--probably a lot more than those around have--yet, I feel poor. Spent.  Empty.  Alone.
• If this Man is of God, does that mean God cares about me?  Really?  Dare I think such a thing? 
• I work all day, and pay taxes, which leaves me with very little to feed my family on.  Yet, this man says the "kingdom of God" is mine.  Wow. I am this poor person is possession of a kingdom. Wow.  Who is this Man?

As we move further away from the enthralled crowd, we see the religious leaders hovering about on the parameters.  What are they saying?

• What?  What kind of kingdom are you preaching, Jesus of Nazareth?  We already have the Kingdom of God, thank you very much.  It's located in Jerusalem, the city of King David, and God lives there and expects us to honor Him by doing our duty. You earn His approval, Jesus, by offering sacrifices, paying tithes and being a Jew we approved of.  You are advocating these people get something they haven't earned.  We have, for sure, but them? 
•  Look at them, will you?  They never look that excited when we teach.  They are hanging on every word that falls from that suspect rabbi's mouth.  They just glaze over when we teach or look at us with fear in their eyes. That's better than this, I say.  People should fear God and those who are appointed to represent Him.  
• Why is He mentioning the poor?  They are the least worthy of God's notice. We are the ones He's proud of, because unlike this rabbi, we get how God works. 

The crowd must have sat there, stunned. If you recall, at the very end of the Sermon, we learn: "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of law." (Matt. 7:28-29 NIV)

Jesus is just getting started. 

[1] https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4434/kjv/tr/0-1/

[2] The NIV Study Bible. Kenneth Barker, gen. ed. Zondervan. 1985. p. 1449.