The sermon begins with the Beatitudes; a series of eight affirmations that begin with the word blessed.  Jesus said,

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

You get the idea.  The key to understanding the Beatitudes is right there in the first blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  In a way that doesn’t make any sense at all. You would think that those who are rich in spirit would be the ones who would be blessed.  You would think that those who are rich in spirit would be the ones who get into heaven but no.  Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Poor in spirit?   Poor is a word that you usually don’t want to hear.

For example, the last thing you want your doctor to tell you is that your health is poor.   You’re also not going to feel very blessed if you’re too poor to go on a cruise or pay your bills. If your child’s teacher sends you a note telling you that little Johnny is doing poorly in school you’re also not going to rejoice and be glad.  Although they do say that every cloud does have a silver lining.  That’s that strategy that one teenager decided to use when he brought home a report card with a C, two D’s and an F.  When the father saw the report card he hit the roof.  The son tried his best to calm his father down and encouraged him to look on the bright side.  “What bright side?” the father fumed.  “Well,” the son said, “At least you know I’m not cheating.”

Usually when something is poor it’s means something’s wrong.  So what did Jesus mean when he said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The answer to that question will be found in the Greek that was used to convey what Jesus said. The Greek word for poor that is used here means someone who is humble. So, as far as Jesus was concerned someone who is poor in spirit is someone who is humble, but what does it mean to be humble?  Unfortunately, a lot of people have the wrong idea about what it means to be humble.  They think it means you have to be completely self-effacing.  They think that when someone pays you a compliment you have to deny and deflect the affirming words.   You have to say, “I’m glad you liked the cake but it really wasn’t that good.  It was a little dry.”  You have to say, “I do enjoy playing the piano but honestly a lot of people play the piano a lot better than I do.”  They think it means you have to be just like the husband who put a for sale ad in the newspaper a couple of months after he got married.  The ad read as follows:  “For sale one slightly used set of encyclopedias.  No longer needed just got married.  Wife knows everything.”

That’s not what it means to be humble  When it comes to being humble Norman Vincent Peale had the right attitude.  That great preacher and positive thinker once said that “humble people don’t think less of themselves.  They just think of themselves less often.”

When you look at it that way being humble means you can affirm your God given gifts but you also don’t go around blowing your own horn and calling attention to them.    I think that Jesus would say that when you’re humble you understand in your heart that as far as God is concerned you’re no more important than anyone else and at the same time you’re no less important than anyone else.

That by the way is really what lies behind the lack of common courtesy these days.  It’s the unspoken belief that I’m more important than you are which is why it’s okay for me to shovel the snow from my driveway out into the middle of the street.  So what if your car skids on that snow and ends up hitting a telephone pole. It’s the unspoken belief that I’m really more important than you which is why it’s okay for me to park in that handicap space.

So, that’s the problem. What do you do about it?  What does a Christian do about it? Well, let’s go back to the problem that we began with this morning.  What do you do when you hold a door for someone and the person doesn’t say “thank you.”  You could do nothing and just go on with your day but does that really make the world a better place in which to live?   No. You could let the person know that he or she is being rude by saying “You’re welcome!”   Here’s the question though.  Is that being poor in spirit?  Is that being humble?  Or is that your ego getting the best of you and basically making a bad situation worse?   Someone in the weekly Bible Study this past week also made an interesting point.  Maybe the person who doesn’t say “thank you” isn’t being rude on purpose.  Maybe the person is preoccupied because she just lost her job?  Or maybe the person is preoccupied because he just had a big argument with his wife or found out that his child has cancer? You just don’t know.

With that in mind here’s a suggestion. Why not preempt the rude behavior with a smile and kind word?  So, instead of just holding the door, you smile and say, “After you” or “How’s it going today?”   When you do that it makes it harder for the person to completely ignore you and if they do?   Then you just smile and go on with your day knowing that Jesus was right.  The poor in spirit will inherit the kingdom of God.

Being poor in spirit can make so many bad situations better.  In the book Random Acts Of Kindness there’s a story about a husband and wife you were on vacation in Italy many years ago with two small infants.  Late one afternoon they found themselves in a small village with two very unhappy infants.  It was hot. One of the babies had been throwing up and the other had a touch of diarrhea.  The husband and wife needed to get something to eat before starting a three hour drive back to the hotel.  So, they stopped into a little restaurant hoping they could keep the cranky smelly babies quiet long enough to grab a quick meal.  When the owner of the restaurant saw them he said, “You wait-a-here.”  He then he disappeared into the kitchen.  The husband and wife wondered if they should leave before there was a scene, but before they could do that the owner reappeared with his wife and teenage daughter.  The tourist wife later wrote, “Beaming as they crossed the dining room, the two women threw out their arms, cried, “Ah bambini!” and took the children from our arms, motioning us to sit at a quiet corner table.  For the duration of a long and hospitable dinner, they walked the babies back and forth in the back of the dining room, cooing, laughing and singing them to sleep in gentle musical Italian.  The proprietor even insisted we stay and have an extra glass of wine after the babies were asleep!  Any parent who has reached the end of his or her rope with an infant will appreciate that God…indeed sent us angels that day.”

That’s what happens when you’re humble and poor in spirit.  That’s why you can also be sure that I’ll hold the door for you.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes                                                                                  January 30, 2011