“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
The beatitudes are some of Jesus’ most important teachings, and they can be found at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5:1-11. The beatitudes are attitudes, dispositions, and virtues that are to define the children of God. Unfortunately, the beatitudes are in short supply these days.
Over the next several weeks, we are going to be focusing on these beatitudes. Each week will focus on one particular beatitude, and that beatitude will be matched with another passage or two from scripture that gives an example of the beatitude.
Today, the first beatitude is “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). And the two passages that give an example of “poor in spirit” are Isaiah 57:14-15 and Matthew 15:47-16:8.
At first glance, a passage about the women at the empty tomb might not seem like it fits with a passage about being poor in spirit. But I think we can learn something important if we simply look a little deeper.
Let’s start with the women in this passage: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. We don’t know much about Salome. Mary the mother of James was likely also Jesus’ mother (see Mark 6:3). And Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus’ disciples.
Let’s focus on Mary Magdalene. She was not a prostitute. That is an incorrect understanding of her that didn’t begin until the 500s. Here’s what we do know about her: she was from the village of Magdala in Galilee, she had seven demons cast out of her (Luke 8:2), she was one of the women who provided for Jesus’ ministry and served him (Luke 8:3), and she was the apostle to the apostles (John 20:11-18).
Think about that. Mary Magdalene was not a morally suspect woman. Instead, she provided for Jesus just like the angels who provided for Jesus when he was in the wilderness, she served just as Jesus himself came not to be served but to serve, she traveled with Jesus to Jerusalem, she stayed by his side at the cross after the disciples fled, she saw where he was laid, and she was the first to witness to the resurrection.
Amazing! For such an important biblical figure, it is a travesty that many people have incorrectly come to associate her with being a prostitute.
But maybe that helps us understand what it means to be poor in spirit.
Mary Magdalene wasn’t in charge of anything. She isn’t even in charge of her own story or of how people remember her. As a likely unmarried woman in the ancient world, she would not have been seen as especially important or valuable. As a woman with a history of demon possession (what we might think of today as mental illness), she would have had a lot of religious and social stigma attached to her. Yet God saw something else in her and used her for a powerful purpose.
That is the essence of being poor. To be poor is to lack whatever material, social, or religious currency necessary to have an influence. Yet it is precisely the poor whom God has a special concern for. It is precisely the poor of the world that God uses for Kingdom purposes.
A question we might naturally ask is, “what does it mean to be poor in spirit?” It’s a good question because it’s not a phrase we use often. On the surface, people might just think it means humble, or gentle, or simply nice. It may have an element of that, but it’s much deeper as well.
In the book of Luke, Jesus simply says “blessed are the poor” (Luke 6:20). While “poor in spirit” sounds like it is more about a person’s inward spirituality, to say “blessed are the poor” speaks more about a person’s life situation.
So is Jesus talking about how pious a person is? Or is he talking about a person with no money? Maybe it’s a little of both.
In the Hebrew understanding, the poor were people who were under God’s special protection. They were not seen as lazy, deficient, or somehow deserving of their lot in life. Indeed the Hebrew wisdom writers understood that laziness and incompetence were equally present among the rich as in the poor. Fundamentally, the Hebrew faith understood that poor people like widows, orphans, and immigrants somehow fell outside the economic and social benefits of the larger group. They were lacking something important, and they were therefore at a disadvantage. Because of this lack, God is particularly sensitive about their need.
Jesus himself was a Hebrew. Any understanding of what Jesus means by “blessed are the poor in spirit” must be understood as coming from this background. Therefore, this first beatitude is addressed to people who have a need. The good news is that God is a God who has a particular concern for those in need, and Jesus has come to announce this good news.
Blessed are the poor in spirit because theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Because of God’s mighty deeds, these people who on earth have a big need will end up with an even bigger inheritance – they will inherit the Kingdom.
Mary of Magdala was poor. Mary of Magdala was poor in spirit. Mary Magdalene certainly had a need, but it wasn’t a need for moral cleansing. She had a need because she fell outside of the world’s system of value.
But she was not outside of God’s system of value. To God, she was a beloved daughter called to great purposes.
Our passage from Isaiah says that the one true God who is high and lofty above all chooses to dwell with the contrive and humble. Psalm 136:8 says that God is close to those who lack influence, but far from the self-sufficient and the proud. Matthew 23:12 says that all who brag about themselves and their accomplishments will be brought down, and all who have an honest assessment of their limitations and flaws will be lifted up.
Mary of Magdala did not brag about herself or exalt herself. It would have had very little impact even if she had. But in this, she was truly blessed. Because God uses what the world overlooks and neglects (1 Corinthians 1). In God’s economy, people aren’t valued for their ability to produce or to make money, but according to virtues like being poor in spirit. God’s GDP doesn’t grow because people spend money and consume goods, but because people give of their very selves to a higher calling.
Mary Magdalene was no prostitute. That title is better reserved for Herod and Caesar and the leaders of the religious establishment who sold their souls for earthly status.
Mary Magdalene was poor in spirit. She inherited the kingdom and told others how they too can inherit the kingdom.
Let us be like Mary.
AMEN.
Joel Shenk is the pastor of Toledo Mennonite Church and lives in Toledo with his wife and two daughters. Originally from Scottdale, PA, Joel studied at Hesston College, Eastern Mennonite University, and Fuller Theological Seminary. He has been pastoring since 2010 and is also an amateur blacksmith apart of the RAW Tools disarming network turning guns into garden tools. He likes baseball and is an avid fly angler.
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