Luke 6: God’s Yardstick – The Law of Love – Part II
The Poor in Spirit
Wednesday, January 18, 2023
We continue to look for God’s yardstick in New Scripture.
Jesus shows us in the New Testament how to achieve union with God. In his sermons on the Mount (Matthew 5) and the Plain (Luke 6), Jesus lays out quite clearly how we might join him in the true kingdom of eternal, beatific happiness. We will not find him taking the lead in our earthly political, social kingdoms or work kingdoms . . . although he is there nevertheless. To find Jesus, and happiness, we must look along the edges of society among the marginalized, mourning, and ailing. Jesus brings us a unique message of inversion through the paradox of the Beatitudes. Jesus leads us on an exodus from bondage to true freedom. Jesus leads us from dark to light, from sadness to joy, from death to life. The beatitudes do not, scholars point out, occur in a random order; rather, they form a carefully constructed ladder that leads to true blessedness and lasting happiness. They lead to the joy of the kingdom. Today we look at the first of these rungs in the ladder of God’s Yardstick.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus tells us. He speaks of people who are truly humble, who know themselves, and who see humility as the opposite of hubris or overpowering pride. With his own human life as a model, Jesus shows us that it is in our willingness to be poor in spirit for a time that we will experience the serenity of the kingdom. Paul understands this and in his letter to the Philippians, he describes the importance of humility as an essential attitude for entry into the kingdom (Philippians 2, 5-8). Today we use the scripture links to compare and study these verses, and to allow God’s humility to seep into our bones.
Tomorrow, the value of mourning.
Image from: http://tommyeldridge.com/god-opposes-proud/
Adapted from a Favorite written on January 5, 2007.
The Noontimes 
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