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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved
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RAGS TO RICHES
Matthew 5:3
We love to hear rags to riches stories. A junk collector stumbles upon a buried treasure of priceless artifacts. A server waiting tables in a rundown diner is discovered by a director and chosen to star in a blockbuster movie, leading to fame and fortune. A homeless person digging through the garbage finds a winning lottery ticket and becomes a millionaire.
We often think of poverty as a problem and wealth as a blessing. I suspect that people have always felt that way. But as Jesus spoke on a hillside overlooking the Sea of
Galilee almost 2,000 years ago, he challenged that perspective. He connected poverty with blessing. Matthew 5:3 tells us that he said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
This is the first of the Beatitudes, a series of eight statements that Jesus made at the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount to describe the path to blessing. He begins each one by identifying a characteristic of someone who is blessed. Then he describes the blessing that they will experience. We will work through these statements one at a time, but we need to understand that they go together. They are inseparable. Jesus is describing one group of blessed people who are marked by all these characteristics, and they will experience all these aspects of God’s blessing.
So, for each beatitude we will consider who the blessed are and what the blessing is, but we should also ask, “Why are these connected? And how should we respond?” Jesus did not answer those additional questions at the time, so as people read the Beatitudes today, they tend to create their own explanations. But that kind of speculation can lead to serious misunderstandings. A better approach is to read the Beatitudes
in light of Jesus’ other teaching, the background we have in the Old Testament, and subsequent teaching by the apostles.
Rags to Riches (Matt 5:3)
So, does the first beatitude in Matthew 5:3 contradict our rags to riches fantasies? Do we need to change our perspective on poverty and wealth? What was Jesus getting at?
The Blessed: The Poor in Spirit
Most people would agree that to be poor means that you are unable to acquire the necessities of life. Your pockets are empty. Your bank account is zero. But viewpoints diverge quickly after that. What is truly necessary for life?
Are people responsible for their poverty or are they victims of others? According to Matthew, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” But our perception of economic poverty may influence our understanding of what it means to be spiritually poor. So, we must start there.
The Book of Proverbs helps us understand the background for Jesus’ words. You might be skeptical of the
Rags to Riches (Matt 5:3)
book’s relevance, when you consider that it was written by Solomon, a king who was one of the world’s richest men at the time. But his wisdom is from God, and his perspective is nuanced.
Several proverbs hold people responsible for their poverty. It could be caused by an avoidance of work. Proverbs 6:10-11 warns, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”
Some people appear to be active, but Proverbs 14:23 says, “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.”
Destructive lifestyle habits may also contribute to the problem. Proverbs 23:20-21 tells us, “Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.”
Other proverbs, however, recognize that poverty is also caused by oppression. Proverbs 13:23 tells us, “The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice.”
Proverbs 30:14 is more explicit. It says, “There are those whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind.”
Sadly, such behavior is common, and the Lord condemns both those who perpetrate it and those who support it. Proverbs 17:5 tells us, “Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.”
Proverbs 21:13 even warns us, “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.”
So, poverty does not necessarily indicate guilt or innocence. Proverbs 28:3 even presents the scenario of a poor man oppressing the poor. But several proverbs say that it is better to be poor and honest than crooked and rich. There is also one brief proverb that identifies a virtue in poverty. Proverbs 18:23 says, “The poor use entreaties, but the rich answer roughly.” There are certainly exceptions to this statement. I have interacted with people who have nothing but are rude and demanding. But we should all seek to relate to one another in the humble spirit that Solomon connects with poverty here.
This humble attitude becomes even more important in our relationship with the Lord. There are at least four
occasions in the Psalms when David speaks of himself as poor. Now he may have experienced great material need when he was fleeing from King Saul, but I think that he has something else in mind in these passages. The superscript of Psalm 70 indicates that he wrote it to accompany the memorial offering. So, this was probably during his time as king when he was prosperous. Nevertheless, he concludes the psalm in verse 5 by saying, “But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay!”
David models what it means to be poor in spirit. He is humble, not demanding. He comes to the Lord with a sense of dependence and desperation. Earlier in this psalm, he speaks of needing God’s help to overcome his enemies. But in other places like Psalm 51, he expresses his desperate need for God’s mercy. He acknowledges that he is a sinner by circumstance and by choice. He says that he was conceived in sin, but he also claims responsibility for doing what was evil in God’s sight. So, he asks the Lord to forgive him and to cleanse him of his sins.
No matter how much money you have, you can still be poor in spirit. Wealth can make it harder to recognize, but we all stand in desperate need before the Lord both materially and spiritually. The blessed ones of the
Beatitudes are marked by this sense of humble dependence. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
The Blessing: The Kingdom is Theirs
I have read that castles are often up for sale in various parts of Europe. Could there be a better way to impress your friends and family? Haven’t you always wanted a drawbridge to keep out certain people? But owning a castle does not make you royalty. In fact, the cost of maintaining one is so high that it can leave you broke. That is why the previous owners want to get rid of them.
Jesus speaks of a blessing that is far better than a disintegrating castle. He says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” But what is this kingdom, and what does it mean to have it as yours? To
understand this concept, we must begin in the Old Testament.
The Lord’s design for a kingdom is revealed from the outset of creation. Genesis 1:26 tells us, Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
Adam and Eve were to rule as God’s representatives over a perfect little kingdom. There was no poverty. They had an abundant supply of food in Eden. They had access to the tree of life so that they could live forever. But when they succumbed to the serpent’s temptation, they initiated an earthly rebellion against the Lord that continues to this day. God still reigns in his sovereignty, but he allows people to continue in sin and to experience consequences such as scarcity, conflict, and death. This world is a disintegrating castle!
In his mercy, however, the Lord initiated a plan to rebuild his kingdom on earth. He chose to work through a man named Abraham and his descendants. They multiply and become a nation, the people of Israel. Exodus 19:5-6 says
that after the Lord rescues them from slavery in Egypt, he tells Moses,
“‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
The Lord gives them his Law to guide them, and he is present with them in the Tabernacle. But they continue to rebel against him and his word. When they ask for a king, he raises up David and promises that one of his descendants will always be upon the throne. But the nation continues to disobey and to experience painful consequences for their sin.
The prophets, however, proclaim the coming of a Davidic king who will completely transform the world through his reign. For instance, Isaiah 9:6-7 says,
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
Matthew and the other Gospels identify Jesus as this coming king. But Christians disagree over the nature of his kingdom. Some say that it refers to his spiritual reign in the hearts of believers. The first beatitude speaks of the kingdom as a present possession. On other occasions Jesus says that the kingdom is at hand. He also calls it the kingdom of heaven, which seems to suggest that it is not earthly. Later he tells Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world (Jn 18:36).
While this spiritual aspect of the kingdom is real, I don’t think that it satisfies the full scope of God’s Old Testament promises or the analogy that Jesus is making. The blessing for those who grasp their poverty now will be the true wealth of having a place in the Messiah’s future earthly kingdom. This beatitude tells a rags to riches story. The poor in spirit are not there yet, but they possess the kingdom now in the sense that they have become citizens. They have hope. They can rest assured that when Jesus returns to judge, they will not be shut out. Later Jesus presents this scenario in Matthew 25:31-46. He says that he will separate people
Rags to Riches (Matt 5:3)
like sheep and goats, welcoming one group into his kingdom, but banishing the other to eternal punishment.
Entering that kingdom will not mean leaving earth behind to spend eternity in heaven. Christ’s followers will reign with him until the full connection between heaven and earth is restored. Revelation 21 and 22 describe life in a new heaven and earth where all the consequences of sin will have been completely wiped away. It will be even better than Eden. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. But why?
The Reason: The Grace of God
Some people read the first beatitude as a great reversal, a tipping of the scales. The rich become poor, and the poor become rich. Some might even reason that the poor deserve a reward for their suffering. People have told me, “I deserve heaven because I’m living through hell now.” But those understandings are not consistent with what we have learned from this beatitude or with teaching we find elsewhere in the Bible.
The only reason anyone will be welcomed into the kingdom is by the grace of God. Jesus makes this point in a parable recorded in Matthew 18. Verses 23-27 tell us that he begins the story by saying,
