Beauty: Those Who Are Poor at Being Spiritual

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5:3

"Blessed are those who are poor at being spiritual, for the kingdom of heaven is 

well-suited for ordinary people." (Brian Zahnd paraphrase)

In speaking about the first Beatitude, Zahnd acknowledges that his paraphrase isn't the only way to understand these words but suggests that this idea is part of what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying that everyone is invited.

Every culture has people in it for whom it seems that being spiritual comes naturally, and our normal thinking is that it's these people for whom the kingdom of heaven is shaped. Because of this thinking, these words are radical and counter-intuitive and are very good news for

the common ordinary person. The company of people closest to Jesus was comprised mostly of those for whom being spiritual wasn't their primary identity.

"This goes a long way in explaining why Jesus wasn't very popular with the spiritual experts and religious professionals. To them it seemed like Jesus was lowering the standard so that anyone could get in on what God was doing. Jesus seemed to be announcing that the favor of God was now indiscriminate. And for those who had made a long practice of being spiritual, it didn't seem fair to let just anyone in on it. But...Jesus gave several parables to confirm their suspicions that these Johnny-come-lately penitents would be just as welcome and equally rewarded as those who were longtime experts at being spiritual."

Zahnd adds that there's nothing wrong with being rich in spiritual things but we shouldn't think that makes us more welcome than anyone else into the kingdom of heaven. And referring back to his metaphor of the church becoming a "shelter from the storm" (see here), he says that if we want to increasingly be a welcoming shelter from the storm, we must get rid of the "elite forces" mentality. Churches and groups that compete in being more spiritual and more on fire don't tend to attract ordinary people simply because the average person is not good at being spiritual and feels he can't live up to this.

I am sorry to say that for many years of my life, I failed often to make the things of God easily accessible to the "poor in spirit"; without realizing what I was doing, I aligned myself with the elitist mentality that often accompanies Christian religious organizations. Now I'm excited about the fact that the kingdom of heaven is for everyone and we all share and will share in it equally. What good news!

The next post will be about the second Beatitude: "Blessed are the depressed who mourn and grieve, for they create space to encounter comfort from another."