Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven...Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Matthew 5:3,5

At our Wednesday morning Bible Study group, we are in the midst of a study of the Beatitudes. Most scholars agree that the beatitudes go straight back to the historical Jesus--words that Jesus actually spoke and words that were at the very heart of his teaching. As a group, we have spent a good amount of time working through the statements "Blessed are the poor in spirit" and "Blessed are the meek." And we've been wondering: Are blessed Christians supposed to be a downtrodden, timid lot? Is that what Jesus had in mind?

As part of the study, we read different translations of the text from a variety of Bibles. One of the most instructive was the translation of these verses of the Beatitudes in the New English Bible (1970). In that version, the text reads: "How blest are those who know their need of God; the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs" and "How blest are those of a gentle spirit; They shall have the earth for their possession." Ah, "those who know their need of God" and "those of a gentle spirit." Yes, that is more like the Jesus I know.

In Esther de Waal's excellent spiritual classic, Living with Contradiction: An Introduction to Bendictine Spirituality, she notes that the monk Benedict took up the spirit of the Beatitudes in his famour Rule. In particular, Benedict asked his monks "to never lose hope in God's mercy." (Rule 4.74) I have spent some time in this part of the Rule and want to share these quotes from Esther de Waal:

Like Atlas trying to carry the whole world, I have been mistakenly trying to earn (God's) love, and putting upon myself the vast burden of making myself worthy to be loved. Peter van Breeman, in making this anology, says, "I would like to say to Atlas, 'Put down that globe and dance on it. Lay down your load...' We do not have to earn God's love; neither do we have to support it." We have simple to receive it. This is the mystery of the Christian life, to receive a new self, which depends not on what we can acheive but on what we are willing to receive. Here is another paradox. I gain my true identity by losing myself for Christ's sake. I let go of the false self, with its claims for full autonomy, and instead I find my true self. Here is God's reversing action once again: The empty are filled. The poor are made rich. To ascend means to descend. (p. 95)

On our faith journey, Jesus calls us to "a radical demand for disengagement." (de Waal, p. 98) This does not means disengagement from living life fully and with gusto and great joy, but rather disengagement from the forces inside oneself and in the world that keep us from receiving God's love. These forces generally have the qualities of a drivenness that leads us to think that we can control and fix everything--and if we don't, we are not worthy of God's love. The more driven we become, the more we need to fix, and when we are unable, the more unworthy we feel. That's not the kind of meek or poor in spirit that Jesus is talking about. Rather, a Beatitude wisdom recognizes this: We don't lay down our burdens so we can give endlessly; instead, we first and foremost lay down our burdens so that we can receive God's love. So, when life seems to be overwhelming, remember God's "radical demand for disengagement." Remember that you are loved. When the anxiety rises, that is precisely the time to let go of that one-more-thing, and rest in God's love. The good news is that you don't need to carry the whole world--ever. Being poor in spirit and meek truly means to know our need of God and gently lay our burdens down. That is the way to the Kingdom of heaven--to realize that you are loved. Period. The end.

Text: Matthew 5:1-12

Pondering: Where is God calling you to disengage? Where are you like Atlas, carrying the weight of the world?

In Christ's Love,