August 1st - Matthew 5:3

Matthew 5:3 “God blesses those who are poor and realise their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” Robert Powell acted the part of Jesus in Franco Zeffirelli’s film Jesus of Nazareth. He claims that his life was changed by the experience and recalls the day when he was filming the Sermon on the Mount. Powell had no time for Christianity but, as he preached the sermon as an actor, he said that he was so affected by its beauty that he began to cry. The tears were not in the script, but Zeffirelli wisely kept them in the movie. It is easy to see why he was so affected by these words because they take us to the heart of what it means to be alive. They stand before us as a challenge and encouragement as we seek to understand what it means to live the Christian life. Today’s verse is the first of the so-called Beatitudes. Before we start looking at them we need to be clear what Jesus meant by the ‘kingdom of heaven’, which was an expression he often used. The kingdom of heaven comes wherever God is allowed to be in control so, amazingly, it can happen in our lives today. This is why Jesus encouraged us to pray for his kingdom to come here on earth as it is in heaven. The kingdom of heaven gives us a preview of what heaven itself will be like; it is, by definition, life at its very best. Jesus declared that the people who possess this wonderful kingdom of heaven are those who are spiritually poor. The word used here for ‘poor’ in the original Greek language speaks of absolute poverty or destitution. Jesus was saying that the way into the kingdom of heaven is to understand that, spiritually, you’ve got nothing to offer apart from empty hands. We need to come to Jesus in absolute weakness, recognising that we are totally dependent upon him. The moment arrogance and self-confidence creeps in, we spoil everything. From first to last we are dependent on our loving and gracious heavenly Father. Question Where have you seen the kingdom of heaven come on earth? Prayer Lord God, help me depend totally upon you so that in my life your kingdom will come here on earth as it is in heaven. Amen