Blessed are Humble Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus sits down on the hillside to teach he is surrounded
by everyday people. People who were not the leaders of the temple and religious
society. They came out by the thousands to find some hope. As they sit on the
hillsides Jesus has good news for them. These are the very people Jesus has
come to find.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom
of God.”
The word Blessed can be translated Happy. The word for “Poor
in Spirit” is the same as humble. So, John MacArthur translates this passage as
“Happy are the humble, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.”
Jesus is saying if you are feeling poor in spirit rejoice
for you have the Kingdom of God. You don’t measure up, others put you down. You
can’t seem to remember all the laws, you seem incapable of following them. You must
earn a living you can’t be in temple praying all day. You do not feel spiritually
clean or strong.
Jesus’ message to them is that they are just the person who
gets to enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Heaven is a gift of God.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own
doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Ephesians 2:9
Only the truly humble person recognizes their spiritual
poorness before God. It’s only those who are poor in spirit that know the vast
gulf between God and man. They are the ones seeking the grace God provides.
This contrasts with the religious people who flaunt their righteousness
and self-sufficiency in the town and in the temple. The leaders who are
evaluating what Jesus says, even as He sits on the hillside teaching. They are
saying “who does this Jesus think he is?”
In Luke 8:11 Jesus put it this way “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other
a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing
by himself, prayed £ thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all
that I get.’ But the tax collector,
standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his
breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house
justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The people on the hillside understand why Isaiah, when he
saw God, said “Woe is me! For I am lost;
for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” For this reason,
because they see their own need God sends seraphim with the burning coal with
the message “Behold, this has touched
your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
At the end of Job in chapter 42 Job says “Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that
no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without
knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too
wonderful for me, which I did not know. but now my eye sees you; therefore I
despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
It is only in our poorness that we can be made rich.
Humility before God and before others is essential to receiving the grace of God.
As Jesus is teaching, where are you? Are you standing off to
the side filling out your evaluation forms? Are you sitting on the hillside desperate
for some Good News? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.” Blessed are you the pour in spirit, for you will enter the kingdom
of heaven.”
