Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:3 (NIV)
When Luke records this dictum, he leaves off “in spirit,” so it becomes a saying about poverty. Yet what benefit, what good is there in being poor or in having an attitude of poverty? To answer this, I think we should consider the attitude of the rich.
What does it mean to be rich? What benefits does wealth confer?
Wealth does not make it possible to satisfy all your wants. In fact, there is nothing that can do that. Nevertheless, wealth expands the choices of the rich and provides greater opportunity and access to the means of satisfying more wants. Rich people don’t need anything. Their wealth is sufficient for them.
Consider what Paul tells the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians:
Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you!
1 Corinthians 4:8
Paul’s criticism is that their perception of their own wealth has blinded them to the needs they still have. By becoming boastful and proud, they have lost the sense of dependency that is fundamental to the Christian life. Jesus, in his own life, demonstrated that same dependency. He relied on support from his followers for his livelihood, of course, but he again and again announced that the things he was saying and doing did not originate with him but with his Father, the one who sent him.
Like Paul, John also criticizes the church in Laodicea for the same spiritual myopia:
You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Revelation 3:17, 18
Like the Corinthians, the Laodiceans believed they were rich, and their misapprehension blinded them to their actual poverty and need. Wealth, therefore, comes with a spiritual curse. The rich are less likely to see their own need. This was also the case of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, so rich in their own conception of righteousness but so impoverished in love and care toward their fellow human beings.
The blessing of poverty, therefore, is an awareness of need, of dependence on others, ultimately of dependence on God. To those who are aware of their need, Jesus makes an extraordinary promise. The kingdom of heaven is theirs. That place ruled by God’s love, by mercy and grace, that place which he taught was within their grasp, already belongs to those who know they have needs they cannot meet themselves.