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| I think there’s a verse in the Bible about spiritual zeros. I think it’s in the Beatitudes, the first one. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs in the kingdom of heaven.” I want to be blessed, so this is an important verse for me. But I’m not sure exactly what the verse means. I’m not sure how to get there. So I’ve thought a lot about this. Are the Beatitudes a system of rewards or a reversal of good fortune? Or something else? What does it really mean to be poor in spirit? Let’s go back to the scene of the crime—so to speak. Jesus, in Matthew 4:23-25, has been healing people—people sick to death with terrible diseases, people who are clueless, maybe who are desperate, who are not special to Matthew—they don’t have any special understanding of Torah, or God, or anything. Maybe they are following Jesus just for the miracles and food, I don’t know. Then, seeing the crowds, Jesus goes up on a hill so people can see and hear him better. He does not, as some people think, go up there just to be with the A+ Bible students. Because at the end of the sermon, it is the crowd who responds. No, this stuff is for everyone … Even the spiritual nobodies. Maybe especially the spiritual nobodies. And hey, they were probably mourning and grieving and the meek of the earth too. They were like some of us, floundering around, unable to make heads or tails out of this religion stuff. Now I don’t know this for sure, but what if it’s true? What if Jesus was speaking to the people he just healed? Blessed are the spiritual zeros, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Continued... |
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