Jesus on Happiness, Part 1 - Humility (Matthew 5:3)

The beatitudes are so called because in the Latin Bible the word for blessed is "beati." The word blessed which sounds so religious, was used by the Greek Old Testament in Jesus' day to describe someone who is deeply happy. Jesus begins to describe the almost inconceivable exhilaration of those who participate in the kingdom of God. This is not a happiness in the everyday sense, but a deep inner joy. It is the kind of delight that only those who love the kingdom of heaven can know.

If we are after true happiness, a study of and daily reflection upon Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is a worthy beginning. No other book or recipe for happiness comes close.

2. A Lesson from the Impoverished

The phrase blessed or happy are the "poor in spirit" refers to a certain attitude of mind that destitute people have. Luke states that happy are the poor, and the two sayings are essentially the same. Matthew is also focusing on their state of mind.

How can the Son of God, who owns all the wealth of the universe, say that poverty is a way to happiness? The phrase poor in spirit must also apply to an eternally wealthy God, or it is a contradiction. Is God guilty of saying do as I say, not as I do? Jesus, as God with us, was willing to give it all up, be born in a dirty stable, live a life of poverty and persecution, and then die in ignominy on a torture stake, for the sake of the whole world. The test is: Do we depend on our wealth or are we willing to give up everything for the appropriate cause?

3. Total Reliance on God

The attitude of being poor in spirit is that of those who are so poor that they are driven to total reliance upon God, because they have no other hope. Very few people who have tremendous wealth develop this attitude. However, there are wealthy people who are lowly and humble and poor people who are arrogant and proud. It is not money that is a root of all evil, but the love of money (1 Timothy 6:10).

Material wealth deceives us into thinking that we are better than others, and we can become snobs with a pompous air of superiority. Jesus taught in the beatitudes that the opposite attitude is what makes us really happy. Even church leaders can be trapped and corrupted by the seduction of riches and privilege. How many of us see money as a mere tool to be used in the service of others, rather than for self-indulgence?

4. Humility

Moses, John Chrysostom and Francis of Assisi willingly gave up their wealth and position to become poor for God. Rich people can be wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked in spirit (Revelation 3:17). When Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit, he was describing more than money—also the attitude of humility. How many of us are willing to give it all up to be scorned by others and mistreated for the kingdom of God? Jesus was.

Is the kingdom of God really that important to us in our affluent western churches? The good news now for the genuinely poor in spirit is that the kingdom is ours. If we willingly give up our arrogant self-reliance to be genuinely poor in spirit, humble, self-sacrificing, totally reliant upon God, then not only have we taken a giant leap towards authentic happiness, but we have the absolute promise that the kingdom of heaven is ours.