Blessed are the Poor…A Picture of Grace

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Envision with me a homeless woman.  Picture the most desperate, destitute homeless woman that you have seen.  She is seated on the ground, near a busy street, but dissolved back into the chilly shadows of a grimy doorway so that she is nearly invisible.  While her dehydrated, malnourished body causes her skin to appear shrink-wrapped to her bones, her yellow-grey, sallow skin tone tells of disease.  The deep lines chiseled on her weary face give a hint of the trouble she has endured.  Yes, she has not only seen grief, hardship, abuse, but also caused pain to others, even to those she loves.    She has no bags or belongings with her; anything of value has been sold long ago.  She wears filthy, tattered, smelly clothes that cannot protect her from the elements.   In fact, as you watch, you notice that she isn’t moving, her eyes are closed.   She is at the end, and has, even just now, passed into death.  She is beyond all hope.

Now, imagine that this woman is not a real, flesh and blood homeless woman, but that she represents a soul: that unseen, inner part of a person.  I think this is the kind of image that Jesus refers to as He begins his sermon on the mount… in Matthew 5:3,   “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”  Blessed are the poor, homeless, destitute, starving, thirsty, troubled, guilty, unclean, dead in spirit…   The spirit without help, without hope.

Why then, is the person with this impoverished spirit called blessed?  Why is this the person from Matthew 5?

Envision Jesus coming to the lifeless spirit described above.  He holds out His hand, but she cannot respond because she is dead.  Yet, He takes her hand anyway, and gives her life, because He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).  She stands, alive, but stares at the ground in shame for her past transgressions in the presence of the righteous one.  As He looks deep into her soul and sees her sin, he offers forgiveness, (Luke 7:48-49) for He alone can substitute His sacrifice for the penalty of sin.  He heals the sickness that has taken her life, because He is the great Physician who has come to heal the spiritually sick   (Luke 5:31-32).  As the living water (John 4:14) and the bread of life (John 6:35),  He forever banishes the spiritual hunger and thirst.    And now, as she stands before Him healthy, renewed, fed, cleansed, forgiven and alive, He shows her the future that is now hers– the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Just like that, the spirit that is made alive in Christ, that has been cleansed and redeemed, is made a joint-heir with Christ.  Heaven is the eternal reward.

What a great picture of the gospel!  Jesus, the Savior, came to offer salvation to the neediest of souls, the ones beyond hope.

“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”  2 Corinthians 8:9

With Joy,

Kathleen

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