How blessed are the poor in spirit for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 

Simon

The word we translate ‘blessed’ is makarios. There are lots of lists like this in Greek philosophy and in Hebrew culture, so what Jesus is doing is not unique. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which is what people would have read at the time, makarios is used to translate the word ashray, which doesn’t mean blessed, as in ‘God has done something to/for you’. It’s about the good life. If someone is ashray, you would observe that person and see they have their family around them, they have their own farm and their own home and they’re not in debt. They are ashray: they are living the good life.  

And the word baruch in Hebrew, which does mean blessed, is not translated as makarios. All this means that this is definitely a list of what the good life looks like, and not referring to God’s direct blessings. Which is obviously incredibly subversive, because everything Jesus lists doesn’t sound like the good life at all!

Craig

I read that it is related to the Aramaic word meaning ‘being set on the right path’ and that it denotes safety. So it has a very definite communal aspect to it. It is rooted in mercy, justice, humility, and responsibility towards others. So, yes, we are celebrating values that seem to underpin a community, a family. It is also a common phrase in Jeremiah and the Psalms so it’s very rooted in Jewish culture. 

It therefore seems self-evident that if I’m living like this, my family will be thriving. They’re going to gather around me. I have a mental picture of an elderly matriarch or patriarch, approaching the end of life and the family gathering to honour them and show their gratitude.

Helen

I also think that Jesus was acknowledging ‘blessedness’ to be the change of status for these powerless people who could see the coming of the Kingdom of God as a result of His ministry. Almost a kind of ‘blessed are those who have faith’ or ‘Blessed are those who recognise that the blessings of the kingdom have broken into the present day’.

Simon

This first beatitude is probably the one that sums up the others. A problem we have is that when quoting the beatitudes we tend to shorten it to ‘blessed are the meek’ or ‘blessed are the poor in spirit’. You’re not makarios because you’re lifeless or lacking in pneuma (that feels like being depressed or powerless), but rather it’s because a sense of powerlessness is what allows God room to come in.

Roy

It is an invitation to listen for God and enter into what following Jesus and living as God intends looks like and calls for.

Simon

Yes. You’re blessed because your weakness enables God to be revealed in your life.

Roy

It’s contrary to self-sufficiency. It’s counter cultural, isn’t it?

Simon

Yes. Jesus will be sitting in a village, or on a mountain, or on a plain with a group of people who are under a very oppressive ruler in Galilee, a stooge of the Romans. They’re poor, and they’re struggling to get by. He’s saying: you feel like you don’t have the good life. He’s talking to actual people right there in front of him. He’s saying: you do have the good life because in your weakness, in your powerlessness, there is room for God to come and make a dwelling. Whereas these rich and powerful people who have everything, they’re really going to struggle to even look for God because they’re so comfortable.

Craig

So what you’re saying, Simon, is it’s someone who recognises their dependence on others and also other people’s dependence on them?

Roy

And God. To recognise our dependence on God is not a week posture but a recognition and realisation of the relationship into which God invites us live. To acknowledge that it is, “in Him we live and move and have our being”. In the Renovare movement Dallas Willard talked about the ‘With God Life’. 

Craig

And so we’re not talking about passivity. We’re not talking about lack of confidence. We’re not talking about somebody who keeps themselves to themselves and is in fear of this big bad world out there. We’re affirming the complete opposite of that. And of course, in Jewish tradition, recognising one’s limits before God is a virtue, not a weakness. Because if we believe ourselves to be the bee’s knees, then we’re keeping God out of the equation, we’re not engaging with the wisdom of God.

Roy

Whereas, in recognising our dependency upon God, we become the channels through which the Kingdom comes. That’s how God works.

Craig

Absolutely.

Julie

There’s something about making room for God in our lives, about acknowledging our need of God, recognising our weakness, vulnerability and humility – those qualities we’ve already covered. Those who know they need God and so seek God are blessed.

Roy

Which is very counter-cultural to our Western mindset. We can fix it, we can sort it, we can manage it. Self-sufficiency is to malfunction. We become dysfunctional pursuing our own path without God.

Julie

Independence is the big thing in our culture, isn’t it? But we are saying that Jesus is talking about the opposite of that. He is saying that our dependence on God and on community, on other people, is the source of a blessed life.

Craig

Are there any practical tips that help you become rooted in that reality, being dependent on God? I’m guessing Roy, that starting the day with morning prayer is…

Roy

Yes. In the monastic tradition, they talk about ‘the one thing necessary’ – and the one thing necessary is acknowledging and seeking God on a daily basis. That is your work. So yes, I think things like a daily office, prayer, scripture reminds us of who God is – and who we are as well. They’re fairly obvious things because the Christian should be being shaped by them. You see, giving assent to something like the Beatitudes is one thing. Actually entering into life in the Kingdom of God involves is embracing a way of living a certain way.

Craig

Do we think that we can enter into the reality of the Beatitudes by ourselves or is community essential?

Roy

I think we are made in the image of God so we are relational beings. So the idea that we can go it alone, even in relationship with our God, is a false premise. The emphasis on individualism in the Western world has bankrupted us and has made us less than God intended.

Julie

A lot of the words and phrases used here are relational. You can’t be merciful on your own. You can’t mourn the loss of somebody on your own. And when you’re hungry and thirsty for righteousness, that’s often on behalf of other people – where you’ve seen something unfair happen that affects others. It’s a community value so there must be a community involved, so I agree with Roy’s point about us being relational in the way we understand God to be relational.

Roy

This is absolutely foundational. It’s the recognition that we need God, the recognition that we cannot live life independently of God and one another. It’s the foundation upon which the other sayings, other talks, other assumptions are built.

Julie

And I’d add that to start my day means just prayerfully holding my mug of tea in my cupped hands as a recognition of my emptiness and my need of God to fill me, to prepare me for all the day is going to bring – all the interactions with people I know I’m going to see, and to be prepared for those unexpected things that happen too.

Roy

And, not stretch it too far, that holding posture is also a reminder that our lives are held by God.

Craig

So if you were to bump into someone at some point today who would say to you ‘Christians are just weak. Blessed are the poor in spirit – pah!’ How would you answer them?

Roy

Well, a lot would depend on who I was talking to. So, for example, I would say to my neighbour, ‘Michael, I wish I had the faith that you have in yourself to be able to do what you do. Because actually, I need God and I have found God to be completely trustworthy. And for 50+ years of my life, I’ve verified that claim.’ But it might be different for different people, but I would offer him that.

Julie

It definitely depends who I’m talking to, yeah.

Helen

I might suggest – again, depending on who I was talking to – that seeing Jesus as the one who brings the kingdom blessings into our current lives, informs my faith in Jesus. It helps me to recognise people through his eyes; I see the value of those who seem to have no power in our society. I may be weak, but hopefully compassionate!

Craig

There are times when I find myself with a foot in both camps. I struggle to view God in the relational terms that Christians often use. I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I will say it many times, that, for me, there is a thin line between a personal God and a personalised God. And I’ve seen people who would describe themselves as dependent on God, but their dependence looks more like codependency to me. And I would say that this is not healthy. I’m just being real here. So my answer to that question would be to emphasise the inherent wisdom the underpins the Beatitudes. I would dig into the reasons why they simply work, and the kind of communities these values can build.