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The Greek word which is translated as “blessed” is MARKARIOS. The sense of the word is primarily “happy.” It does not refer to “laughing happy” or to a silly type of happiness but to a peaceful satisfaction. Most of us do not really understand “blessed,” but we understand peace and inner joy. That is the sense of the word.
Homer said that a man was MARKARIOS when he had wealth, a good wife, and children. Others said that one was MARKARIOS when they had power, fame, a life of pleasure, and were not suffering. Aristotle stated that one was MARKARIOS when he was virtuous. The word does not refer to laughter and humor. If we are honest, we are always pursuing MARKARIOS or peace and inner joy.
Happy are the poor in spirit? Wow! That does not seem to be true. Yet when we read Matthew 5:3, we discover that Jesus says one has peace and inner joy when he/she is poor in spirit. But what does it mean to be “poor in spirit”? So what is Jesus saying? Some believe Jesus' “poor in spirit” refers to humility and that the verse should read as “Blessed are the humble in spirit . . .” But Jesus did not say humble. Jesus did not use any of the Greek words that mean “humble.” Instead, He used one of several Greek words that mean “poor.”
One can be humble and not be poor in spirit. Yes, we need to be humble just as Robert Morrison illustrates for us in the following:
Out of His wisdom Robert Morrison of China wrote, "The great fault, I think in our mission is that no one likes to be second." The world has yet to see what would happen if everyone lost the desire to get the glory. Wouldn't it be a marvelous place if nobody cared who got the credit? (J Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership)
A joke is also sometimes told about two men who were waiting at the gate into heaven. St. Peter arrived and announced that there was space for only one person. So St. Peter asked the men, “Which one is the most humble?” If this event really occurred, I would not want to answer the question. Yes, humility is important; but Jesus was not talking about humility.
Blessed Are The Poor. So what does “poor in spirit” mean? The answer is found in the Greek word that Jesus used for “poor.” There are six Greek words that are sometimes translated as “poor,” but only two are important in this study. The two Greek words are PENAS and PTOCHOS.
The Greek word PTOCHOS means more than just being poor. We can discover the rich meaning of this word in the gospel of Luke since it is used to describe Lazarus.
There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. (NIV) Luke 16:19-21 Lazarus was not just a poor man. He was a beggar who was diseased and longing for any crumbs that might fall from the rich man’s table to the floor. He was not looking for loaves or slices of bread; he was just hoping for crumbs. Now that is poor! Lazarus had absolutely nothing. Here we discover that the meaning of PTOCHOS is “beggar.” That is the basic meaning of the Greek word which Jesus used. |
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