Blessed

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:3

This verse introduces the "Beatitudes," the opening section of Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew chapters 5 through 7. The name "Beatitudes" is from the Latin for "Blessed," the word that starts off all nine of them.

"Blessed” (Greek makarios, meaning "happy" or "fortunate") is not the past tense of a verb; it’s an adjective describing a person. “Blessed are the poor in spirit” suggests humility and recognition of one's spiritual neediness and dependence on God. Jesus is teaching his disciples that humility is the foundational attitude for entering the kingdom of heaven. As Isaiah said:

“These are the ones I look on with favor:

those who are humble and contrite in spirit,

and who tremble at my word.” Isaiah 66:2(b)

God looks with favor on the humble, people who come to him without pride or expectation of getting a blessing they deserve. They know they deserve nothing.

That’s us, I hope. Jesus is describing Kingdom People. He’s not telling us so much how to enter the kingdom (i.e., "do these things and God will reward you"), but rather how Kingdom People live, and why they’re so blessed (fortunate, happy). Kingdom people are humble; they are recipients of God’s grace and forgiveness.

Every one of the nine Beatitudes is addressed to Kingdom People. The way to “blessedness” is through the low door of humility. You must humble yourself, admit your inability, and receive Jesus Christ into your life. You must know God’s grace.

What is happiness? What is makarios? Dr. Larry Crabb, a Christian counselor and psychologist, often asks people what it would take to make them happy. They usually answer with things like “a faithful spouse, more money, a rebellious child to come home,” and the like. Crabb says:

What do I need more than anything else to make me deeply happy? There is only one correct answer: Forgiveness from God that brings me into relationship with him, and ongoing forgiveness that makes continued fellowship possible. Every other answer is wrong.

Larry Crabb, Men and Women: Enjoying the Difference

That's the first step. That's the doorway. When you have come to rely solely on God’s mercy instead of your own goodness, you have become the “blessed,” happy, makarios person that Jesus was addressing in the Beatitudes. David alluded to it in the thirty-second Psalm, in a statement that sounds as though it could have been one of the Beatitudes:

Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them, and in whose spirit is no deceit.

Psalm 32:1-2

We could think of these verses as the "zeroth" Beatitude, the one that precedes the nine spoken by Jesus on the hillside. To the person who hasn’t experienced God’s forgiveness, the Beatitudes will tend to sound like more rules to be followed. It will sound like a proposition: You do this, and God will reward you with that. We expect “bless” to be a verb. If I do A, God then blesses me with B.

But that’s not the message of the Beatitudes. Many of the people sitting there listening in as Jesus spoke that day didn’t get it. They heard a mechanical message: “do this and God will bless you with that.”

But the believers, the disciples, heard something else. And we who believe today should hear something else in this. It’s language that is geared to the insider.

Remember, “blessed” (makarios) is an adjective, not a verb. It’s describing a state of being. The one who is “poor in spirit” has already turned to God for help. The one who is “meek” has no pretensions about his or her own ability or goodness; they have already come to faith in Jesus as their only hope. That’s why they’re blessed. They are in a happy condition, having found peace with God by giving up their pretensions, their pride, their egos.

You are already blessed if you have put your faith in Jesus. “Blessed” is your state of being. You’re fortunate, happy (not just a mood, but a good situation), makarios.

Do you see the difference? Jesus isn’t calling people to do better and try harder to get a reward from God; he is saying there are those who humble themselves, admit their inability, abandon their pride and self-reliance. Such people are Kingdom People. And he is assuring the Kingdom People, the forgiven ones, that they are indeed in a new condition, a “blessed” state.