Some of the sayings of Jesus recorded in the Bible don’t seem to make much sense when we first read them.  Take, for example, these words of Jesus from the ‘Sermon On The Mount’: “Blessed are the poor for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.”

Blessed are the poor!  Think about that for a moment.  Doesn’t it seem as if Jesus is saying: “Congratulations, on your poverty”?  Doesn’t that strike you as a little odd?  “Happy are the poor!”  Happiness is having next to nothing and scrounging for one’s meals.  Happiness is living year after year on government handouts and even living rough on the streets.  If you’re reasonably well off you would certainly be reluctant to change places with people like that.  Blessed are the poor...?”  No!  It’s crazy to suggest that such people should be envied.  We’re more inclined to say that folk like that are to be pitied.  And yet Jesus turns things right around and says that such people are indeed to be envied.  That sounds almost like nonsense doesn’t it?  What could He possibly mean by that?

Well, it’s interesting that right throughout the Bible God seems to have a special concern for the poor and for the oppressed and down-trodden.  Someone once said, “God must love the poor, He made so many of them.”  But they do have a special place in the Bible.  Listen to these words from Psalm 40: “As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me.”  Or these words from Psalm 70, “I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God!”

I guess the million dollar question is, “Who are the poor?”  Are they only those people who have nothing because life has been unkind to them?  Or does it also include those who are poor because they can’t be bothered looking for work and just find it easier to hold out their hand for others to feed and clothe them?  And then there’s another problem that comes into the picture.  Doesn’t it all depend on with whom it is that we compare ourselves?  In comparison to a company executive earning a six figure salary (plus bonuses, of course) the average Aussie qualifies as “poor”.  But what if we compare ourselves to the thousands of people globally who fill up the refugee camps?

It seems to me that is those who are poor through no fault of their own whom the Lord especially invites to Himself.  Let them come to Him with their needs.  And perhaps it’s easier for them to come to God than it is for the rich and for the well-to-do.  When we come to God we must come with an attitude of humble dependence.  Not with the idea that God helps those who help themselves, but rather with the idea that God helps those who cannot help themselves.

This is what the Kingdom of heaven is all about.  It’s about trusting in God’s resources, rather than in our own.  You see... when it comes to the things of God then the poor have a head start on those who are well off.  Possessions can be a real stumbling block to one’s relationship with God.  We have so much; we can look after ourselves, thank you very much.  For the poor it’s different – they don’t have too much in the way of resources – it’s easier for them to expect everything from God.

Jesus means that when it comes to our relationship with God we must have this attitude: as though we had nothing and had to expect everything from God.  Blessed are the poor for theirs is the Kingdom of God.

John Westendorp