Poor in Spirit

Today I return to the opening words of the Sermon on the Mount and reflect on the first people to receive Jesus’ declaration of God’s blessing.

First, I pause and prepare myself to meet with God...

God of every blessing, I invite You to shape my soul with Your words and inspire my life through Your works. Teach me to walk in the way of blessing.

Pause and pray

Read Matthew 5:1-3

The Greek word for ‘poor’ in this passage describes total destitution; someone who has nothing at all. The two words for ‘poor’ in Aramaic, the language Jesus would have spoken, refer to someone living in poverty and they can also describe someone who has nothing, but looks to God for everything. Because of this, William Barclay suggests you could reword this beatitude to say, ‘Blessed are those who have realised their own utter helplessness, and who have put their whole trust in God.’*

Where do I put my trust? In my own ability, in another person, in financial stability or in something else?

Jesus, I am poor in spirit. I am helpless. I confess to You the things I lean on instead of You. Help me learn to trust You more completely.

Pause and pray

The prophet Isaiah says that God lives, ‘...in the high and holy places, but also with the low-spirited, the spirit-crushed…’ (Isaiah 57:15b MSG) I think of someone I know who feels low and crushed. Maybe someone facing unemployment or someone who doesn’t have enough to feed themselves or their family this week.

I bless them and ask You Lord, that they would experience the reality of Your presence with them and Your provision for them today.

Pause and pray

I am struck by the similarity of this blessing to the prophecy given centuries before by Isaiah, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.’ (Isaiah 61:1a). In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus declares that He is the Spirit-anointed person Isaiah was talking about (Luke 4:16-21). I wonder if Jesus was thinking of His Isaiah mandate as He proclaimed ‘the Lord’s favour’, access to the kingdom of God, over the poor in Spirit?

Pause and pray

I welcome You, Spirit of the Sovereign Lord, to fill me again today. Meet me in my own poverty. Teach me to trust You completely. Make my prayers a declaration of Your favour. Mould me into someone who shares and embodies good news for the poor in spirit.

Amen.

*William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew Volume 1, p105