So Matthew helpfully divides up most of Jesus’s teachings into five large blocks. Which I’m going to start exploring here. These are mostly notes for myself as I start the day and try to actively live the ethic I believe in but can sometimes not be the best at actually doing. I use ‘us’ and ‘we’ because you are reading this. In many cases I really mean ‘I’ and ‘me’. Starting with the most famous, the sermon on the mount.
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
So I think the fundamental question here is: What does it mean to be ‘poor in spirit’? Whose is ‘the kingdom of heaven?’
We will start with the ‘kingdom of heaven’. Luckily for us, we have 30+ other passages in Matthew that mention it.
- 3:2 John tells people to repent because the Kingdom of God is coming.
- 4:17 Jesus starts telling people to repent because the Kingdom of God is coming.
- 4:23 Jesus is telling people about the Kingdom.
- 5:3 here says that the ‘poor in spirit’ will be the ones to have the kingdom of heaven.
- 5:10 mentions that those persecuted for righteousness will also be part of the kingdom of heaven.
- 5:19-20 talk about not abolishing the mosaic law, but that those who say ‘don’t follow it’ will be the least and those who follow it will be the greatest.
- 6:10 we don’t have that phrase, but it does contain a desire for God’s will to be done here as in heaven. For god’s kingdom to be present.
- 6:33 seek first the kingdom, then other things will be added to you.
- 7:21 we have the famous ‘lord, lord’ passage where people who do God’s will are the ones who enter into the kingdom.
- 8:11 we have a centurion who shows with the famous ‘For I myself am a man under authority…’ bit and for this he is commended for his faith and Jesus notes that people from around the world will have their part in the kingdom.
- 9:35 Jesus preaching the kingdom.
- 10:7 Jesus tells his disciples to go and preach the kingdom,
- 11:11 Jesus says that John was great, but that the least in the kingdom would be greater than him.
- 11:12 I take a bit of a different take here that the kingdom of heaven from John to Jesus’s time has been advancing and those who forward the advance of the kingdom get a part of it.
- 12:25 Famous passage about a kingdom divided against it’s self.
- 13:11 Jesus speaks about the kingdom of heaven in parables because some will understand them and some won’t.
- 13:19 Parable of the sower, same seed, different results.
- 13:24 Parable of the Weeds. There will be good plants and bad plants that will be separated at the end.
- 13:31 Parable of the Mustard seed. The kingdom starts small and grows
- 13:33 Parable of the Leaven. The kingdom spreads everywhere
- 13:38 Sons of the evil one not in the kingdom.
- 13:41 People who do lawlessness and cause sin not in the kingdom.
- 13:43 The righteous are in the kingdom.
- 13:44 Parable of the Treasure. Finding the Kingdom reorients your priorities.
- 13:45 parable of the pearl. Finding the Kingdom reorients your priorities.
- 13:47 Parable of the Net. Wicked and righteous separated.
- 13:52 Someone who understands the old testament and grasps the new will be like someone who has both old and new treasures.
- 16:19 The disciples are given the keys of the kingdom.
- 16:28 some will not die before the kingdom of god arrives. (I think at pentecost.)
- 18:1 Q: “Who is the greatest?”
- 18:3 A: To enter you must be like a little child.
- 18:4 A: those that humble themselves will be the greatest.
- 18:23 parable of the Unforgiving Servant. To be forgiven, you must forgive.
- 19:12 If you can live a celebate life for the kingdom, live it.
- 19:14 Kingdom of heaven belongs to people who are like a child
- 19:23,24 impossible for a rich person, but possible for God.
- 20:1 The Parable of the Workers. God rewards those who are early and those who are late the same access to the Kingdom.
- 20:21 Who is going to be greatest? Those that serve.
- 21:31 The Parable of the Two Sons. Those who do God’s will enter the Kingdom.
- 21:43 Kingdom taken from Israel and given to those that will produce fruit
- 22:2 The Parable of the Banquet. Many invited, few come.
- 23:13 Woe to those who don’t let others enter the kingdom.
- 24:14 When the kingdom is preached to all, then the end can come.
- 25:1 The Parable of the Ten Virgins. The kingdom can come at any time.
- 25:34 Sheep and the Goats. Those who care for others enter the Kingdom.
- 26:29 Jesus won’t drink the fruit of the vine again until the Kingdom comes.
That is A LOT. However, I’ve bolded some traits here for us to take a closer look at: ‘repent’, ‘poor in spirit’, ‘persecuted’, ‘seek God’s kingdom’, ‘humble themselves’, ‘those that serve’, ‘produce fruit’, and so on.
I’m a bit mentally tired after making that whole list, so I’ll cut to the chase. To be poor in spirit to me, seems to mean that we are humble and that we understand our own sinfulness. It is looking into the mirror and seeing that we aren’t quite as well groomed as we should be. We have a small growth of beard that needs to be shaved or makeup that needs to be applied.
So how does this work into the practical daily life of the believer? To steal the name of a popular youtube channel, we want to be ‘holier every day’. We do that by recognizing the deficiencies that we have and working to improve them. This can be quite the revelation that we have a lot of sin in our lives that we never saw was there before. Like buying a Subaru and suddenly realizing that there are actually a lot of Subaru’s out there on the road. They weren’t invisible before, but we didn’t notice them. Now that we notice them, we see them everywhere.
So let’s ask ourselves how am I poor in spirit? How am I not living up to the standard that God has set? Those answers will be different for all of us and they call us to take action today.
All quotes from the BSB because they are a modern translation that will let me use it for free.
The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God’s Word has been dedicated to the public domain.