Posted on 12/03/2010 10:38:22 PM PST by Salvation
Advent Ping and Beatitude Ping!
The Greek word for "poor" is "ptochos" - it refers to someone who is totally helpless, such as crippled beggar who cannot even walk, and must be carried to the spot where he begs.
Combined with the word, "pneuma" - "spirit", the context and the words clearly are talking about the spiritual condition of total helplessness. In this case, the total inability of man to find salvation and righteousness on his own.
The Bible talks about the poor in other places, but this verse is speaking of a spiritual reality, not an earthly reality.
I’ve always thought of poor in spirit as someone being deprived of the sunshine of another’s smile, perhaps someone suffering from desperation or discouragement rather than the en-couragement of the Lord.
Does that go with what you are talking about.
**When looking at the poor, we must see the face of Christ who identifies himself with them. **
But I think this is very true also. We must not judge by appearance. Perhaps Christ is passing by. I’m currently reading Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living Your Catholic Faith.
There are several stories in it about someone doing a good deed for a person who appeared to be poor, but after the good deed they look back to see how the person is doing and the person has totally disappeared.
Was that Christ crossing their path? Hard to tell.
Basically, I think we must be kind to ALL people, regardless of their mental, physical or spiritual state of being.
I became poor in my life not so long ago and prayed. I read the bible until the pages were red with blood. I asked for and received understanding. I received a bed with family 2000 miles from all possessions I owned.
It was a sobering experience. I now understand. My life is completely different due to my trust of GOD. My Family gave me a place to sleep. All possessions were lost.
I have a big heart and more than I ever had. It was 7 years.
Your story exemplifies God’s mercy on the poor in spirit. It sounds as though you had lost a job and a home and someone gave you a place to lay your head.
Blessed be God!
Even Jesus didn’t have a pillow to lay his head on!
Another thing I was just thinking of is Christ always comparing the rich to the poor and saying “Blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the earth.”
The first shall be last and the last shall be first.
There are many such examples.
The Lord received my prayer of help as sincere. I was hurting and didn’t have a direction. I prayed. I asked for explanation of scripture and received it. I promised to never hide or turn away from truth. Jesus delivered.
I am incorrect on how that was delivered. You know.
Not really. This is referring to the spiritual condition we are all in before Christ comes into our lives...the total inability, on the part of man, to make himself right with God. We are spiritually destitute...completely, and utterly dependent upon God. And there is nothing we can do, or say, to change that. It is a complete “Grace” transaction, if you will, by which I mean, only God can effect a change in us, not we ourselves.
You say that only God can effect this situation of the poor in spirit.
I beg to disagree — although connected by a thin thread. Those who reach out to the poor and destitute do so through God working through them. But it is still their human actions that shine through. Mother Theresa of Calcutta and the Sisters of Chairity ministering to the poor on the streets comes to mind.
Yes, those people may have been utterly away from God, but they were also covered with sores, dying from aids, hungry and thirsty. There can be a physical element to this picture too. It is not always spiritual or mental. What about someone such as a Down Syndrome child living in a rich home, being cared for adequately?
Is that Down Syndrome child “poor in spirit”? I guess a better example would be a person who is mentally ill.
In my case I was very successful from a meager background. It all was removed. I struggled to understand. I turned to God to understand. Others came into my world, and my final willingness to drop my past possessions enabled me to move forward. The Lord answers, the Holy Spirit is the one that provides the pathway. Jesus provides the example.
I agree. “Poor in spirit” is the phrase, not “poor...in spirit”. Anyone can be poor in spirit.
But could these two: humility and lack of excess material wealth be two sides of the same coin Jesus is referring to? Note in Luke's version of the sermon it merely says "blessed are the poor". I really think Jesus is referring to both here, the point being that those who are wealthy will be so concerned with the material things of the world they will never achieve the humility, the "spiritual helplessnes" you speak of, to enter the Kingdom of God. This is why Jesus says it is easier for camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The rich will always believe they are captain of their own soul. However, it's not impossible - with God all things are possible. This is shown by the incident with Zacchaeus in chapter 20 of Luke. A rich man is completely changed by his encounter with Christ. He basically renounces his attachment to wealth and by extension to himself. He has become 'poor in spirit" by giving away most (if not all) of wealth. He is the exact opposite of the rich young man Jesus encounted in the previous chapter.
Well...yes...but, sorry, I still favor the notion of the "deserving poor"--probably coined sometime in Elizabethean England. The people of that time also took a somewhat dim view of what were called "sturdy beggars"--meaning those who could, but wouldn't work honestly for their living.
This is why, IMHO, charity should be a private matter, not coerced via any level of government. (Which probably isn't what this guy is actually advocating, but I kind of have a problem with the new fangled "social justice" scene pushed in some parishes)
Recognizing the face of Christ in the poor does NOT mean showering them with tax dollars. The poor are poor for a number of different reasons, schizophrenia, addiction, poor judgement, economic downturns, etc. Doing what one can for an individual in their circumstances is to be encouraged and rewarded (at The Great White Throne) but “enabling” them to continue or deepen their suffering will not (IMHO). The “Unintended Consequences” of “Progressive Programs” to promote some bizarre concept of “social justice” falls in the latter category, it seems to me.
Yes - “poor in spirit” is similar to Pauls’s lament about doing things he would not do and not doing things he would do. He knew he could never be even slightly worthy and he anguished over his inability to follow Jesus’ example. This is a beautiful bit of info, because it further demonstrates God’s forgiveness as He knows we can’t earn our worthiness, but repenting and regretting our continued sinful behavior is counted as a plus. Some claim being saved means they don’t do sinful things, I still do what I would not, but I get comfort knowing His love is so great that he “distinctly remembers forgetting my wickedness”.
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