Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on 18 February 2024, by Rev. Judy Chan. The scripture readings that day were Isaiah 66:1-2 and Matthew 5: 1-11. 

Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

Isaiah 66:1-2, Matthew 5:1-11

Good morning. As Pastor Phyllis has said, our Lenten theme this year is “Blessed Are You”. We 

chose that theme based on our preaching series on the famous Beatitudes from the equally 

famous Sermon on the Mount. I pronounce the word ‘bless-ed’ here rather than ‘blessed’. There 

are many explanations of the difference between the two, but actually, either is OK. But I think 

bless-ed is the old poetic pronunciation. And it must be right, because in every Bible movie I’ve

 ever seen, that’s the way Jesus pronounced it too. If Jesus were speaking in English…

Now as famous and beloved as the Beatitudes are, they also continue to puzzle and confuse 

people. Even us or maybe especially us in the church. The Beatitudes have been described as

 uncomfortable, countercultural, a paradox, an upside-down reality and one of my favorites – 

some ‘hard blessings’. One parishioner told her minister, “The Beatitudes are harder to live by 

than the Ten Commandments!”

Well, it’s not surprising then that there are many different opinions about what these blessings

 mean. Someone compared the Beatitudes to a well-cut diamond. Every time you turn it, the light 

refracts in a different, yet equally beautiful way. And, just as each facet of a diamond reflects a 

different aspect, so each preacher (and you’ll be hearing 6 of us during Lent), each preacher 

offers a different perspective on these brilliant verses. 

That said, it doesn’t mean there isn’t some agreement about the Beatitudes in general. And one 

thing that most ministers and academics do agree on is this: the best way to understand 

Matthew 5:1-11 is to look at the life of Jesus. He is the perfect fulfillment and model of the 

Beatitudes. He is the ultimate lens through which we make sense of these hard blessings. 

So, let’s get started. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” You may 

recall last month that Katie preached on the Beatitudes in Luke’s Gospel. There it says, Blessed 

are the poor. As she pointed out, Luke’s version is more about material poverty, while Matthew 

emphasizes spiritual poverty. 

Some commentators suggest Matthew’s version waters down or compromises Jesus’ radical 

intention. But, as N.T. scholar Hans Dieter Betz says, both parallels express the same position 

while emphasizing different aspects. Both teach us how God’s love and justice transform the 

human condition.

‘Poor in spirit’. What does that mean? You’re depressed? You lack religious maturity? You’re 

deficient in the Holy Spirit? That doesn’t sound like Jesus at all.  So poor in spirit must have 

some other meaning here. 

We get a clue from Isaiah, Chapter 66, v2. Here the Lord says:

But this is the one to whom I will look,
    to the humble and contrite in spirit
    who trembles at my word.

In other words, the blessing of the kingdom of heaven comes not to the proud and self-sufficient. 

Nor to the ones who think they have so much to offer God and the world. No, the kingdom of 

heaven belongs to those who know they have nothing to offer God that didn’t come first from 

God’s hand. The kingdom of heaven belongs to those who know they have nothing to offer the 

world but that which brings glory to God, not ourselves. 

When we look at the New Testament, we see that’s exactly how Jesus lived on earth. With 

reverence and humility before his Heavenly Father. Always giving thanks to God, always giving 

all the glory to God. 

When we understand ‘poor in spirit’ like that, it doesn’t seem such a hard blessing after all, does 

it? Except….

Except, maybe there’s more to it than that. This beatitude has also been translated as “Blessed 

are the beggars.” And that’s a valid translation too. The Greek word here for ‘poor’ literally 

means to crouch or cower down, to hide oneself for fear, like a beggar with a tin cup asking for 

alms. It was used to describe the poorest of the poor, those with no means of support, those 

completely dependent on the charity of others. 

In short, blessed are the beggars in spirit, the spiritual beggars. Wow. Now that is harder, at least 

for me. It’s one thing to say I owe everything to God and should be eternally grateful. Totally 

agree! But to see myself as destitute and pitiful, having to throw myself on the mercy of God… 

I’d rather not go there, thank you. So again, we have to look to the life of Jesus to make sense of 

this.

Where in the Bible do we see Jesus destitute and pitiful, throwing himself on the mercy of God? 

In the Garden of Gethsemane, right? Where he begged God, if there was any other way 

possible, let this cup pass from him. The cup, of course, being his suffering and death by 

crucifixion. But there was no other way. And as he hung there dying on the Cross, what did he 

cry? “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 

Yes, indeed, our Lord and Savior knew exactly what it meant to acknowledge our spiritual 

poverty. Yes, indeed, he absolutely understood what it meant to beg before God for mercy. But 

he did so, trusting God would never abandon him, trusting God could transform even the worst 

situations we can humanly imagine into good. Friends, believe the Good News: the worst thing is 

never the last thing. The God of love and justice will have the last word. 

Now I know that’s easy to preach but much harder to live out. So let me stop sermonizing for a 

moment and share a story. When we were planning this series on the Beatitudes, I ran upon a 

Lenten video series. It comes from an organization called “Common Grace” in Australia.  One of 

the videos featured someone whose name I recognized – Shane Clifton. I knew some of his 

writings in the field of theology and ethics. But I didn’t know he was in a wheelchair. 

So I looked him up online. And that’s when I found out about his accident in 2010. He was 39 

years old. He and his family were on holiday. They decided to visit a local church that had set up 

a bicycle and skateboard jump, where you land in a big pit of foam. His three teenagers tried it 

and had a great time. Hey, dad, you want to give it a try? 

Clifton said he hesitated, given he was almost 40. He had just recovered from a broken wrist. 

But he was a hands-on father and a keen athlete. What could go wrong? Everything. He got on 

the push bike, went up into the air, and landed on his head. A broken neck. Two damaged 

vertebrae in his spine. He would be rendered quadriplegic. That means all four limbs were 

affected. After months in hospital and intense rehab, he managed to get back use of his right 

arm, thank goodness, he says. But his left arm and his legs are still affected by paralysis. That is 

how he ended up in a wheelchair.

Clifton says when he realized the extent of his injuries, he was in utter despair. Life had changed 

forever.  Permanent disability. Constant pain. The loss of so many of his heart’s desires. He 

would be dependent on others for the rest of his life, a shadow of his real self, an unending 

burden to others, especially to his wife Elly.

At one point, he wrote, “I feel like I’m being steered by a capricious providence that’s taking me 

on a journey into hell…and tossed by endless storms.” I don’t need to go into all the details of 

the rollercoaster of ups and downs that his wife described as exhausting and frightening. 

Yet through this dark night of the soul, this journey he did not choose, he discovered something 

even bigger than his own suffering: And that is we are all dependent, vulnerable, finite creatures. 

That is the human condition. Life begins and ends in dependence. At every point in time, we are 

all vulnerable to affliction and death. So, he warns, if you are not yet disabled, be patient. Your 

time will come. That’s the reality of our earthly existence.  And the sooner we quit fighting it, the 

sooner we truly begin to live in the fulness of whatever time God grants us. 

Today, Shane Clifton is a leading advocate for the disabled in Australia. He doesn’t want to be 

called a ‘hero’ or an ‘inspiration’ in the eyes of the non-disabled. What he wants is for the rest of 

us to listen. To listen to those despised and rejected, men and women of sorrow, acquainted with 

grief. He wants us to listen and learn. And then join them. Join them in building communities of l

ove and justice, where everyone has a chance to flourish. Everyone. Now that does sound like 

Jesus, doesn’t it?  

On this first Sunday in Lent, let us hold fast to the promises of Matthew 5. If the Beatitudes teach 

us anything about life, it’s this: The closer we move to Jesus, the closer we move to the Cross. 

That’s the reality of the kingdoms of this world. But the closer we move to Jesus, the closer we 

move to Resurrection. That’s the reality of the kingdom of heaven. 

So, during this holy season, let us move closer to Jesus and to his communities of love and 

justice. That’s the only way possible to live out the Beatitudes. May this then be the journey you 

and I do choose in Lent.  

Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are you. Thanks be to God. Amen.