When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:1-3, NRSV)
This past week, one of my friends came up to me and said, “Tod, this series on the Kingdom of heaven has got some people really spinning. In fact a few people in my small group are just not connecting with what you are saying. They just don’t get it. Why do you think it’s so hard?”
That’s a good question.
I know the people in my friend’s small group and they have been in church as much as I have. They are a good folks who earnestly want to grow in their faith (they are even in a small group for that purpose!) They have heard lots of sermons and they are certainly familiar with the Bible. It’s certainly not an obscure topic either. The word “kingdom” shows up in the gospels alone 125 times, more than the words “sin”, “grace”, “hell”, and “prayer” combined. So why don’t they get it? Indeed, why don’t we get it?
I think the reason for the confusion is that most of us tend to think that the point of Jesus’ teaching is really not about the reign and rule, justice and love, reconciliation and presence of God coming to us in Jesus, but really it’s about some other topics.
Like “hell insurance.” We think the “Good News” is that Jesus came to get us out of hell when we die. Nuh-uh. Not really. (Oh that is true, and is some really fine news indeed, but it’s not “The Good News” at all. See here for more on this.)
Or we think that the Christian life is about what Dallas Willard calls “sin management.” Like a new diet, or self-help program Jesus came to help you get the sin out of your life, we think. (Oh, the Kingdom deals with sin, especially on the cross, but Jesus’ teaching is not about managing our sins, but living anew in the kingdom.)
Or we think that sermons are really about “spiritual encouragement.” That is that the whole point of this Christian thing, the worship services we attend, the Bible readings, our prayer life is all about helping us be better, more “spiritual” people—inspired and encouraged to be good parents, better spouses, more successful in work, whatever.
You see, we don’t get “the Kingdom” because we think it’s supposed to be all about me.
And it’s not. It’s about what God is doing in all of creation whether we join him in it or not. Oh we are invited. We each have the opportunity to respond and be part of it. (And that is good news!) But the Kingdom of heaven is so much bigger than me, my sin, and my life.
Maybe “Blessed is the poor in spirit” is Jesus' way of saying, “Congratulations to you who don’t think you matter all that much. For God is coming to call and use you for HIS plans and purposes."
Get it?
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