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

Matthew 5:3

Spirit is what moves within us, the breath that gives us strength. The community that Jesus looked out on when he sat there on the side of the mountain teaching the people were lacking in that strength, not only in a Spiritual sense, but in a physical and material sense as well. These powerless people were the ones who Jesus proclaimed were the owners, the ones who have a right to claim God’s kingdom of heaven, a Spiritual reign that surpasses their present circumstances.

“Blessed” here is not a mere statement about their abundance of things on Earth, indeed, that would be a contradiction of the earlier statement and not one with a particular poetic or symbolic meaning. This is because it’s not a contradiction at all. Blessings are reasons to praise God, whatever that may be. So indeed, those who lack in power are blessed because the reign of God can be counted as their very own possession.

Ethan Kirl