Jesus Christ is a superstar! That is what Matthew has told us in his gospel. Matthew portrays this in the fourth chapter of his gospel just before Jesus delivers his Sermon on the Mount in the fifth chapter. There we read that large crowds are surrounding Jesus. They are bringing all sorts of people to be healed, and, lest we miss the full picture, Matthew describes where they are coming from. They are coming from the north in Galilee. They are coming from the east, from the 10 Greek cities called, the Decropolis. They’re coming from the geographic and spiritual center of Judaism: Jerusalem. Finally, Matthew says they are coming from all of Judea—the whole region. They are coming from everywhere to see, hear, and be healed by this man Jesus. Jesus is indeed a superstar.
Today we know all about superstars—and also, superbowls and superstores. Our need for affordable products, all in one convenient location, is met by our superstores. Our desire to see modern warriors do battle on the football gridiron is satisfied by the Superbowl. And the T.V. show American Idol, quenches our thirst for ever new superstars who can sing their way into our living rooms. Yes, we love to be a part of the crowd having our needs met by super things, super people, super savers and a super Savior.
Yet, Jesus wants more than crowds who merely look to have their needs met by a superstar. As the fifth chapter of Matthew opens, Jesus doesn’t focus on the crowds, but instead speaks to a band of lowly disciples who simply come to listen. Moreover, after his sermon on the mount, he again looks beyond the demanding crowds to a poor leper who calls him Lord. Listen now to the Word of the Lord from Matthew 5:1—3 and 8:1—3:
MT 5:1—2 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying:
MT 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
MT 8:1 When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.“
MT 8:3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,“ he said. “Be clean!“ Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.
Do you hear what happens in these passages? Just when Jesus’ popularity is at its peak, just as he sees the large crowds, he turns his back on them to go sit up on a mountainside. Later, when large crowds again follow him as he comes down from the mountainside, Jesus turns his attention aside to an unclean outcast of society: A leper. How odd! Now, I know that he is Jesus so we expect him to care for the outcast. But how could he turn his back on the crowds?
Most preachers and teachers long for the crowds. In fact, most of us on at least some level long for popularity and the attention of others. In Junior High nothing was quite as important as being popular. As adults, we want people to like us and many of our careers depend upon the crowds. Whether we are in the entertainment industry, the sports industry, marketing and sales, or the restaurant business, we want crowds! We do everything we can to advertise our products, fill our stores, pack our stadiums with people, and draw crowds to our sanctuaries. We count attendance, monitor our sales, and track membership numbers. But Jesus turns his back and goes up on a mountainside. How odd.
Now we know that Jesus cares for the crowds. He has healed them and cast demons out of them. He will feed them, have compassion on them, and even weep over them. Still, he seems to want more than just the crowds.
For example, notice what happens when Jesus gets up on the mountainside. He sits down and his disciples come to him. He speaks directly to his disciples. The crowds are still there but it is the disciples who are specifically mentioned as coming to him, not the crowds. Many of us would think that for Jesus, the more people who could hear his message the better. Instead, the focus is on a few: The disciples. Jesus doesn’t want mere crowds, he wants more. He wants people who are willing to step out of the crowd and be his disciples.
My question for you today is: Are you part of the crowd? Are you simply going with the flow? Are you someone who has simply been raised to believe in Jesus, to listen to the Back to God Hour and other good Christian broadcasting? And so when you hear a good sermon, when you hear a good song on Christian radio, when the hymn is just right on a Sunday morning, when there’s a good Bible Study….you’re there with the rest of the crowd. Well, all of that is, of course, very good. But, Jesus isn’t like a superstore, a superstar, or a superbowl; that is, he doesn’t come just to fulfill our wants. Jesus comes for more. Jesus doesn’t play to the crowd. He comes for his disciples who come to listen. So, do you step beyond the crowd to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear what he is saying to you?
Many of you, along with me and millions of Christians around the world, have come to Jesus to listen to his word. What does he say to us? Among the things he says are the first words of the Sermon on the Mount, the first words that he spoke to the disciples of old sitting at his feet on the mountain. He says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.“ Jesus blesses the poor in spirit. Now I know that we have heard that saying, that beatitude, so often that perhaps it has lost some of its impact. So listen to it again, “Blessed are the POOR in Spirit.“ Poor—not rich, but poor. That’s odd, isn’t it?
Do you want to be poor in Spirit? I don’t think so. In fact, don’t you want to be RICH in spirit? Don’t you want to be an optimist? Don’t you want to be full of Christ? Don’t you want to be full of the Spirit? Don’t you spend much of your life striving to get ahead both materially and spiritually? In fact, for Christians, aren’t we supposed to be rich in the Spirit? We want to move forward and up. That’s what we cultivate. But Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.“
Jesus has turned the table on his disciples. He has turned the table on the crowds. He has turned the table on us. While we are hoping to move up to bigger, better, richer, more spiritual things, he says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.“ Most of us do not cultivate poverty. In fact, we do just the opposite. We look for wealth.
A lot of churches including my own have value statements that declare that we will strive for excellence in all we do. Would you have it any other way? But Jesus seems to be teaching something different here. This is an odd teaching. Imagine a church which boasted that it was striving to do everything poorly. Imagine sending your kids off to school saying, “Strive to do poorly today.“ Most schools work and boast about building up children’s self—esteem. Imagine a school that declared that their vision was to instill a “poverty of spirit“ in their children. That would be odd, and this teaching of Jesus appears to be odd. How is it a blessing to be poor in spirit?
Now perhaps you think that maybe the blessing comes in the here—after, up in heaven after we die. Maybe Jesus is saying that it is better to be poor now, so that you can be rewarded in heaven. The problem with that idea is that it doesn’t agree with what Jesus actually says. Jesus speaks in the present tense, not the future tense. He says, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.“ It would appear then that the blessing is in the “here—and—now“, not just the here—after. So what are we to make of this odd teaching?
I think the leper can help us understand what it is to be poor in spirit. You remember the leper—the one who comes to Jesus right after his sermon is done. In the midst of all the crowds that are once again surrounding Jesus, it is a leper who comes out of the crowd and calls him “Lord“. It is the first time in the Gospel that anyone has called Jesus “Lord.“ The Leper, this unclean, poor loser, calls Jesus, “Lord.“ Then he says, “If you are willing,“ (let me say it again) “if you are willing, you can make me clean.“ It strikes me that the leper personifies Jesus’ statement that the poor in spirit are blessed.
“Lord, if you are willing,“ the leper says. He doesn’t come before Jesus with demands. He doesn’t demand to know why a good God would give him such a disease. He doesn’t demand his rights as a victim of the disease of Leprosy. He simply says, “Lord, if you are willing.“
The truth is that the leper knows that he has no rights in that society. He has no ability to demand. In fact, in the culture of his day, even by approaching Jesus he has violated the common decorum of the day. Coming that close to a rabbi in the midst of a large crowd was a big “no, no“ for an unclean person suffering with leprosy. Yet here he comes and says, “Lord, if you are willing.“
Are you ready to come before your Lord and say, “Lord, if you are willing“? I am afraid that many of us come before our Lord and make demands. Or perhaps we recognize that we are forgiven by grace, but then go on to try to prove ourselves to our Lord. We pray, we read the Bible, we attend worship, we use our gifts in service to our churches, and we give our offerings. We cultivate all of the goodness and richness that God gives us. In short, we want to be rich in the Spirit and in spiritual disciplines. This spiritual richness is exactly what preachers, including myself, very often encourage you to do. But, too often, we all make the mistake of thinking that our good works of the faith and our spiritual disciplines will somehow impress God and earn us favor. Jesus isn’t interested in crowds who merely make demands, nor disciples who just try to score points with him.
Yes, coming to Jesus to have our needs met and then doing the good works of our faith is virtuous, but these things do not earn us a blessing from God. In fact, when you truly come to Jesus and cultivate the virtues and disciplines of the faith, you will find that your humility increases and you know that you can never do enough. In short, you will recognize your spiritual poverty.
To be poor in spirit is to be like the leper. We must simply realize that we desperately need God, physically and spiritually. We can never rise to a position where we don’t need him anymore or can make demands regarding what we righteously deserve. There are too many of us serious Christians today who have a hard time accepting pure grace. We want to do something, fix ourselves up a little bit, and earn something. We reach the place were we feel like we are above grace. But Jesus wants us on our knees, demanding nothing, in simple poverty of spirit. The danger in rising above being poor in spirit is that we will simply become a part of the crowd. Jesus doesn’t want the crowd. He wants you.
Now note what Jesus does for the poor—in—spirit leper. He reaches out and touches him declaring, “I am willing! Be clean!“ Jesus eagerly grabs the leper to heal him. It is almost as if Jesus has just been waiting for someone to come out from the crowd so that he could touch a person and bring the kingdom of heaven. The poor—in—spirit leper knows the kingdom of heaven. For Jesus has said to him, “I am willing, be clean.“
Has Jesus said that to you? Has he said that to you in the poverty of your sin? Has he said it in the midst of your brokenness? Have you come to him as a poor—in—spirit person, falling on your knees and asking if he is willing? If you have, then know that Jesus also says to you, “I am willing. Be clean!“ Then, you know the reality of the kingdom of heaven right now.
I don’t know what diseases he may cure you of. I don’t know what spiritual strength and riches he may give to you. Nor do I know what diseases he may leave you with, or what spiritual poverty may remain in you even after Jesus has touched you. But I do know this: He will grab hold of you and you will never be the same. You will know heaven on earth.
Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Amen.
Prayer
Pray with me, please.
Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you with nothing. We are poor in spirit. We kneel at the feet of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ and we say ”Lord, if you are willing.” Fill us Lord, heal us, and welcome us in to the Kingdom of Heaven. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Paul DeVries
Rev. Paul DeVries, most commonly referred to as “Pastor Paul”, is the Sr. Pastor of Brookside Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is married to Diane (nee Vanden Akker) and the father of four children. He graduated from Calvin Theological Seminary in 1989 and served for 12 years as the pastor of Unity Christian Reformed Church in Prospect Park, New Jersey. As a pastor his first love and greatest joy comes in the honor of bringing God’‘s Word to his congregation on a weekly basis through his preaching. He enjoys reading, camping with his family, watching his children’‘s sporting events, and working on home improvement projects - inside and outside his home.
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