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: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. Matthew 5:3
Evidently Jesus was more concerned about meeting with his disciples than with big crowds. I dare say this is not what most church leaders would do today. Jesus was not opposed to big crowds, he had plenty of people following him around. But from this passage, and what we can see in his ministry is that the bulk of his time was spent teaching and training his disciples.
Those crowds set up an opportunity for Jesus to pull his disciples away to show them what is really important to God. It’s not that the Lord doesn’t care about the masses. We know he fed thousands at one time who were hungry, and he taught them as well. But Jesus knew that the key to reaching the many would rest with discipling the few. So discipling his ragtag group of twelve guys was where he spent the bulk of his time. The divine plan was to disciple them effectively, turning them into “fishers of men” who would continue his ministry once he returned to the Father.
We know that the men Jesus chose to disciple were nowhere near perfect. In fact, they were proud in heart, even vying for who would sit next to Jesus once his kingdom was established. But they had it all wrong and the lesson of humility would be probably the most difficult to get across. Many times in many ways Jesus tried to get his bumbling disciples to become humble servants. He said he who wants to be great in God’s kingdom must become the servant of all (Matthew 20:26). He once called a child to stand among them and said: “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4).
So Jesus takes his disciples up to the mountain, away from the crowds, to teach them the most important qualification for inheriting the kingdom of heaven. Humility. This is essentially what to be “poor in spirit” means. He doesn’t tell them them how to get humble but inspires them to be so. He tells them that those who are humble are “blessed” and will inherent the kingdom of heaven. Better to humble oneself than to be humbled by God.
We often say of the proud that they are ‘full of themselves’. Jesus is clearly teaching that if we want what heaven has to offer, we must be empty of self. We must not promote ourselves, our agenda, our way, our expertise, or our ‘wisdom’. We need to take the backseat. We need to avoid bringing attention to ourselves. We need to stop taking offense when opposed, ignored, or forgotten. We may have ‘treasures’ to offer but we must trust in God to promote us, not we trying to promote ourselves. Let’s determine to empty ourselves of all pride and trust in the Lord to do what he wants with us — be it big or small.
One day John the Baptist’s disciples came to him complaining that everyone was now going to Jesus to be baptized. Here’s John’s humble reply: “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven… He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:27,30). Whatever our lot from heaven, let John’s proclamation be ours! The kingdom of heaven is the prize. Being poor in spirit is the threshold. To become poor in spirit is essential for every disciple.
