Proverbs 11:2
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble.”
Scripture: Matthew 5:1-12
1When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Sermon: “Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit”
I’d like to begin this sermon with a quote from a prophet of old, who once said, “When you ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose.” The prophet to whom I am referring is, of course, Nobel laureate Bob Dylan, and this is a line from his 1965 song, Like A Rolling Stone. (I won’t sing it for you, because my impression of Dylan sounds even worse than Dylan himself.) For those of you who don’t know the song, it is a song about someone of privilege who has fallen upon hard times and is having trouble getting used to it.
The disciples and crowds, to whom Jesus was speaking in today’s Gospel reading, shared an experience similar to that of the subject of Dylan’s song. Not that most of them had been people of privilege, but all of them had fallen upon hard times. The Roman occupation of the Holy Land had taken a toll on the people of Israel; the enormous tax burden alone had crippled the poor and was wiping out the middle class. The people were trapped in an unjust system that—in the words of one commentator-- was “rigged in favor of the rich and powerful.” (Interpretation Commentary: Matthew, p. 38.)
And to the people who had fallen on hard times, Jesus speaks words, some of which, on the surface, make no sense. He says, “Blessed are the poor…Blessed are those who mourn…Blessed are the meek…Blessed are those who hunger and thirst…” Jesus’ words are so surprising, they are such a reversal of what we might expect, that it is hard to believe we’ve heard him correctly.
But I think PART of Jesus’ point may be similar to Bob Dylan’s, “When you ain’t got nothin’, you got nothin’ to lose,” which, oddly enough, can be an incredible blessing, in some ways. Perhaps Jesus is reminding the people: when you’re not distracted by the material things of life; when things are not going your way; when you suddenly realize that much of what is happening around you is NOT something you can control; then, says Jesus, THEN your hearts and minds can be more free to focus on what is truly MOST important: deepening connection to God and to our fellow human beings.
Over the next several weeks, I plan to preach a series of sermons on this passage from Matthew that is called “the Beatitudes.” (The word “beatitude” being based on the Latin word for “blessings.”) Today, I am focusing on the first beatitude in verse 3—“blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
I learned a lot about the Beatitudes from a little book called The Prayers of the Cosmos--a book I highly recommend if you are interested in gaining new insight into the Beatitudes. The book is written by a scholar and mystic--Neil Douglas-Klotz-- who examines the Beatitudes and the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke and in which he preached and taught. Aramaic, as you may know, is an ancient Middle Eastern Language. It was the language that all middle eastern people had in common until it was replaced by Arabic--a derivative language-- during the rise of Islam (which started in the 7th century CE.) You may have thought, as I did at one time, that Jesus spoke and taught only in Hebrew, but Hebrew was a language used primarily for formal worship in the Temple. Jesus spoke and taught primarily in Aramaic.
Scholars are divided as to which language came first--Aramaic or Hebrew--but either way, Aramaic was the main spoken language of the middle eastern people of Jesus’ day, and interestingly enough, Aramaic continues to be the main language spoken in some parts of Syria to this day and “is still used in the entire church of the East.” (Douglas-Klotz, p. 2)
To go along with Neil Douglas-Klotz book, you can download an album, where the author reads the Lord’s Prayer and Beatitudes in Aramaic and chants them--and teaches you how to read and chant them as well. The first thing that struck me in listening to the Aramaic version of the Beatitudes--and learning to speak and chant the words myself--is that the sound of the words themselves have a mystic quality to them that focuses your breathing and your mind and grounds you in the present moment. The sound of the words themselves remind me of some yoga meditations I’ve done--and some of you may have done as well.
I would have played Douglas-Klotz speaking today’s beatitude in Aramaic but because of licensing issues on the livestream, I can’t play it. But I will speak it for you myself, so you get a sense of what it sounded like when Jesus spoke:
Tubvayhoon l’meskena-ee barukkhh dill-lhoounay maaaalkutah dashmyyyya
-blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven--
Now I want to say a little bit about the meaning of some these words. (The meanings below are discussed on p. 47 & 48 of Prayers of the Cosmos.) Each word in Aramaic has multiple meanings, which is hard to convey in one English translation. But Jesus’ original audience--hearing him speak in Aramaic, the language they all spoke-- would have understood the words and the many meanings they represent.
The first word--Tubvayhoon--is translated into English as “blessed.” It doesn’t just mean “happy” or “favored by God,” as we primarily understand the word to mean. In Aramaic, Tubvayhoon also means “aligned with the One” and “tuned to the Source.” So, playing that out, to be blessed means to consciously choose to align ourselves with God, to get in tune with the melody of God’s love, if you will.
Other meanings of the word Tubvayhoon--blessed-- include being “healthy” and “healed” and “resisting corruption, possessing integrity.”
The next words--l’Meskena-ee barukkhh--are translated into English as “poor in Spirit.” The Aramaic root of the word translated into English as spirit is “rukkhh,” which is similar to the Hebrew word for spirit or breath. So, some possible English translations of poor in spirit include:
- those who “live by breathing unity.”
- those who “hold fast to the spirit of life.”
- those who “devote themselves to the link of the spirit.”
Further the words “poor in spirit” taken together are actually an Aramaic phrase that means “humble.” (p. 48) In other words, “Blessed are the humble,” says Jesus,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Delving a little bit deeper still into the concept of humility, Leslie Weatherhead, a minister who was preaching and writing in London during World War Two, has a lot to say on the subject of humility. In a book that examines the meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven, Weatherhead describes the arrogance of world leaders after World War One, who actually thought they had come up with a scheme that would prevent all future wars. Tragically, their scheme, their plan for Peace, did not work. The truth they failed to take into account, says Weatherhead, is that humanity cannot legislate love. REPEAT (p. 21 of In Quest of a Kingdom.)
Or, to put it another way: if we human beings think we can fix the world solely on our own, WITHOUT God, if we think that through the right government programs or social reforms, scientific discoveries or economic systems WE can set up God’s Kingdom of Love on earth, we are sorely mistaken. (p. 13) Blessed are the humble, for they recognize that only God’s Love can truly change the world, and while we and our programs can and should be vessels for that change, the change does not start with us, it starts with God. It starts with prayer.
A modern English translation of verse 3, reads: “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and God’s rule.” (The Message, Matthew 5:3.)
So, what does all of this mean for us? Is it just a bunch of interesting semantics? Or could it impact our lives and our world in some way?
That’s a question, of course, that each of us have to [prayerfully answer for ourselves. But let me share how it impacts me. What I take from this passage and this scholarship is that my primary job as human being--an individual and a church member-- is to align myself with God’s Love, God’s kingdom, God’s rule. (Oh--another interesting thing that is clear in Aramaic is that “kingdom” is a gender inclusive term. The word translated “kingdom”--Malkutah--shares the same root as a name used for “The Great Mother” in the middle east thousands years before Jesus.) (D-K, p. 20)
But let me get back to the impact of this text on my life. I see this teaching as telling me--perhaps us?-- that my/our first job is to take time each day, multiple times a day, to pray and to breathe in God’s love and to first let it change US, body, mind, and spirit. And when we see things in our world that worry us, that trouble us, that frighten us, that anger us, our primary response needs NOT to be blame--as in, how can those other people make the world so rotten?! Our primary response needs to be humility, which is opposite of the contentious spirit running rampant in our world today. Humility gives us the perspective to recognize that WE too are flawed and we cannot change the world by ourselves alone. We must begin by bringing our concerns to God and asking God to first help us change, and THEN, use us to change the world.
Which makes me think of a song by 1980’s pop star, Michael Jackson. (I know Michael Jackson was a flawed human being, but some of his music was amazing.)
The lyrics to the song I’m thinking of go like this, (and again, I will not sing it…)
“I’m gonna make a change, for once in my life
It’s gonna feel real good, gonna make a difference
Gonna make it right... I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change.”
My friends, I know all of us want to make the world a better place. That’s part of why we come to church—to help align ourselves with God, with Jesus and his teachings. So, may today’s Scripture readings inspire each of us each of us to start with ourselves, humbly asking God to change us in the ways we need to be changed. Then, as we align ourselves with those changes, may God make us channels of change and blessing in the world. Amen.
[Earlier versions of this sermon were preached in November, 2011 and January, 2017, and February, 2019.]