10.17.23 - Matthew 5:1-3
I imagine we all feel faithless sometimes. What's the call, the words that ground you in your potential for goodness, compassion, and justice? How can those live at the front of your mind today?
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
In the gospels, Jesus talks a lot about the reign of God.
A … place? A way of being? That comes to us when God gets what God wants.
It is so different from where we are now, how we do things now, that it’s hard to even imagine. But so wonderful that crowds hounded him to find out how to get in on it. What does one have to achieve to get there? Who deserves to be there?
Yet any time Jesus names people who belong there, they are not what I’d call high achievers, and anything but deserving.
The ‘poor in spirit’ here are the cynical, the jaded, the depressed and despairing, the faithless - those who have entirely given up. These, whom Jesus says are not just allowed in the kingdom, inherit it. It belongs to them.
What would a kin-dom run by and for the faithless look like?
I imagine we all feel faithless from time to time. What's the draw, the call, the wondering that grounds you in your potential for goodness, compassion, and justice? What's the word you hear that helps you take that next step?
--Kate Davoli