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

—Matthew 5:3

Yesterday morning, my small group leader taught an entire lesson on Matthew 5:3, the first beatitude. It’s a grand total of thirteen words in English and only six words in the original Greek, but he unpacked a whole treatise of meaning. 

He talked about how the word for blessed means happy and refers to someone who should be or is being congratulated for doing a good job. He talked about the idea of being poor in spirit and that wasn’t just talking about being sad or depressed. Instead, it speaks of a deep humility that comes when we really understand how hopeless we are without Christ.

I was in the middle of considering how strange the idea of Christ congratulating us on getting to the point where we know we can’t make it on our own sounds when he suddenly skipped ahead in the chapter to verse 20 when Jesus said, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

I gotta tell ya, if I was an atheist looking for proof that there are mistakes in the Bible, this would be one of the first verses I’d point to. I genuinely did not know this was in the Bible, because it’s pretty well known that Jesus wasn’t the biggest fan of the Pharisees and vice versa. He told them they only practiced empty religion and they accused Him of being demon-possessed. Generally speaking, that was how things went between Jesus and the Pharisees, so this verse seems like Jesus changing His tune.

But if we look a little closer, there’s more going on here than meets the eye. Jesus’s audience was well acquainted with the Pharisees, who were the religious leaders of that time. They were especially well known for their strict adherence to the law. The Pharisees tithed well, ritually washed their hands before every meal, made sure not to associate with sinners, memorized copious amounts of Scripture, fasted publicly on a regular basis, and made a show of praying in public… and therein lies the problem. It was a show.

On several occasions, Jesus called the Pharisees out for making their religious practice a show. It may have afforded them money and power, but the show didn’t impress the Messiah. 

So if the Pharisees were only practicing a surface-level form of religion, why would Jesus seem to make them the standard for salvation? If they were getting it so horribly wrong, how come they were the marker the people would have to beat? 

I’m sure the people in the crowd who heard this were at least a little bit concerned. The popular opinion would have been that the average person probably stood little chance of living up to the standards set by the Pharisees. While they spent their time studying Scripture, your regular Joe had to work for a living. I’m sure it could have seemed hopeless to some, but if we look back at the first beatitude, we can find the answer and some hope to boot.

Remember what it means to be poor in spirit? It doesn’t mean down on your luck or down in the dumps. When we are poor in spirit, it means we’ve given it all we’ve got and discovered we don’t got enough. 

Not seeing the hope yet? Let’s go a step further because when we get to that place where we discover we don’t have anything left, where we have hard evidence that we can’t make it on our own, we suddenly find there’s someone else there. And it happens to be the only Someone who is strong enough to carry our burdens and bridge the sin-gap that stands between us and the Heavenly Father who’s waited for us much more intently than the father of the prodigal son.

Let that sink in. Because that’s the point. The reason Jesus used the Pharisees as a standard was because their faith was only skin deep. They were whitewashed tombs, cups that were clean on the outside but filthy inside. The Pharisees put all their effort into making sure they looked squeaky clean on the outside, but they never let it sink in. To do that, they’d have to let down the barrier that stood between the truth that they were sinners and their pride—they’d have to become poor in spirit.

Even as I write this, I can see that same pride in me. Mine takes a slightly different form. I know there is nothing I could ever do to atone for my sin. I know Jesus is the only One with that power and I am so thankful for the gift of His willingness to do so, but I do still have that Pharisee-pride in me. It just looks a lot more like believing I can accomplish the work God has for me on my own, like all He needs to do is hand me the case file and I’ll take care of it.

If you see that same pride—the belief that your strength is good enough—whether it be the belief that you’re a good enough person without Him or the belief that you can handle your assignment on your own, I pray that you’ll join me this week in letting the attitude of being poor in spirit really sink in. There is such freedom in it—the freedom of letting go of the need to make yourself good enough or successful enough, and the freedom and relief of letting your Father take that burden off your shoulders.