"The poor in spirit"

Written by Harry C. Moorhead 

One of the Beatitudes which often puzzles young students of the Bible is, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their's is the kingdom of heaven." The question often arises with them, How is spiritual poverty to help one in gaining the kingdom of heaven, as promised by Christ Jesus in his masterful Sermon on the Mount? It may be stated that to be spiritually poor will help us in humility, because it causes us to acknowledge our need for divine nourishment, to turn from the false sense of material life, and to seek the kingdom of heaven through spiritual understanding.

When the prodigal son had drunk the last bitter dregs of the sensuous cup and had eaten the very husks of materiality, he realized his plight and exclaimed, "How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!" With this realization of his folly he turned, and in humility went home to the father, who received him with open arms and a heart full of joy and thanksgiving.

We are all prodigals in a greater or lesser degree, because we all have wandered from the Father's house through the various bypaths of mortal belief. In detail, each of us may have a different experience to relate, but the fact that we are not in the kingdom of heaven, which Mrs. Eddy defines in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 590) as "the reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme," is due to the same cause,—spiritual poverty. In proportion to our realization and acknowledgment of this condition, and our struggle to overcome our false beliefs of pleasure and pain, of life and intelligence in matter and material living, are we at home in the consciousness of divine Love, or, as Jesus said, in the kingdom of heaven.

As the eighteenth chapter of Luke's gospel shows, Jesus illustrated this point by relating the parable of the Pharisee and the publican who went into the temple to offer up prayer. The Pharisee thanked God that he was "not as other men are." In other words, the Pharisee had not as yet recognized his spiritual poverty. On the other hand, "the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." We all remember Jesus' words, "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other." The fact that Jesus pronounced the publican to be justified would lead us to infer that the uncovering of error in his consciousness and his humility in acknowledging his faults would lead to reformation; while the Pharisee, who had not yet come face to face with his spiritual barrenness, was still far from the kingdom of heaven, dwelling in the deception of material illusion and mortal sin.

"The poor in spirit" are the meek in heart, the contrite ones, who have washed their robes white with tears of repentance, and are ready to lay aside human will and pride of opinion and to accept the Christ-principle as little children. By such, the Word of Truth is eagerly sought and gratefully received; for they no longer yearn for things material, but welcome with joy that spiritual substance which the inspired teaching of Christian Science reveals. Their growth in the understanding of divine law is rapid; for they drink from the fountain of living water, as those who have traveled through the desert, "a dry and thirsty land, where no water is."

As little children, realizing their inability to find happiness and peace in a material world, separated from their Father-Mother God by their disobedience to His laws, these wanderers, with mingled hope and fear, grasp the Christ, Truth, and are led and sustained by spiritual power, sometimes faintly at first but always sufficiently for their present need, until finally, by continuing in His word, they—"the poor in spirit"—are exalted, and on the summit of the mount of revelation realize the fullness of Jesus' promise, "Their's is the kingdom of heaven."