Poor and Happy

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

POOR AND HAPPY ABOUT IT

Luke 6:20-22

20 Looking at his disciples, he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

NIV

Although this is the same account that of Matthews which we refer to as the Beatitudes the word order and usage in the Greek text is a little different. Matthew records that Jesus said, “Poor in Spirit” and in the Greek text Luke does not include the word, spirit. Is this important? Did Jesus mean the poor in spirit, or just the poor? Is there any significance why Luke leaves this word out of his account? Perhaps we might be making more of this then should be. The point is that it does not matter the amount of material wealth a man has, either the abundance or the lack of it entirely. This word poor certainly carries the meaning of a beggar, one who has absolutely nothing and is public in the square totally dependent on the gifts of others. Here is where spiritual pride must be, in the public square, being seen as a beggar, completely dependent on the gift of God for eternal life. There is not one ounce of any spiritual wealth which will gain the kingdom of God. When we are not poor in spirit, poor spiritually, that in itself implies we think we have some spiritual wealth, which would prohibit our having the kingdom of God. Can we have great spiritual knowledge and still be poor? Is there a difference between being poor in spirit, totally dependent of the gift of God, and being spiritually enlightened? If we understand there is no deeds, no good works, which qualify us for the kingdom, we can have knowledge of the scriptures, have insights in them in order to see the truths for our life. But in that we also know, without any reservation that our only hope, our only source of salvation is Jesus, that our spirit is bankrupt, we have nothing by which we can gain the kingdom. This is the first lesson, all others from here on are dependent on us learning this. Poverty in our spirit, nothing but a beggar seeking the free gift of God. Never having anything is also the truth here. Jesus did not say that we would be happy because our being poor would be rewarded with wealth. That we would become wealthy in spirit, but only that we would be happy because we are gaining the kingdom. This word blessed does in fact mean happy. So no matter what life brings our way, if we know that we are beggars, understanding all we need is Jesus, we will be happy because at the end of this life, we will be in the kingdom of God. It is when we get distracted by the good works, the list of do’s and don’ts of denominational doctrines, or the emphasis on being a good Christian, we may not be blessed or happy. We get so focused on our failure to fulfill all those expectations, either by the church, or ourselves there is no source of happiness in our spirit. We become burdened, weighted down with so much a load which we cannot carry, and any sense of happy escapes us. But when we know there is nothing we can do, or not do that makes us rich in spirit, then we can realize we are truly poor and then we can be happy.  So we can be poor and happy about it.