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

Poverty in spirit heads the list of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). For this reason the earliest interpreters of sacred scripture, the Church Fathers, considered poverty in spirit the foundational virtue upon which all other virtues build. In their opinion, the Beatitudes resemble a stairway or “a ladder-like structure, with poverty of spirit the essential starting point and with the cross at the top.”[1]

If poverty of spirit is the foundational virtue, it makes sense that its opposite, pride, is the foundational sin. If the root of all virtue is humility, then the root of all evil must be pride. Saint Augustine represents the Church Fathers with his statement, “It is pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”

Poverty of spirit is certainly crucial to spiritual formation. But what exactly is it? Ultimately, it involves a particular stance or posture before God and others that arises from an honest perspective of oneself. In order to convey its multi-faceted expression, I will incorporate four words illustrated by four accompanying hand movements: (1) lowly, (2) empty, (3) open, and (4) filled.

Lowliness

Poverty in spirit expressed in lowliness can be pictured with one’s hands toward the ground, emphasizing humility. “Humility” comes from the Latin humus, meaning “ground” or “earth.” It draws attention to our lowly position in relation to God, the Creator.

Lowliness calls us to remember our human limitations. It reminds us of who we are, why we live, and our place in the cosmos. It draws attention to the simple truth: God is God and we are not! We are dirt animated by the breath of God. If not for God’s life-giving Spirit, we would be nothing but mud.

Lowliness calls us to remember our place before God. God is Creator; we are merely creatures. God is infinite; we are finite. We are not self-originating or self-sustaining. God is the Original; we merely reflect God’s image. God is great; we are small. God overflows with spiritual fullness; we are spiritually needy.

Knowing our place before God does not lead to sniveling self-deprecation. Instead, it reminds us of this fundamental truth: All is gift! Ultimately, we have nothing to give and everything to receive (for who can give what he or she has not first received). This is not a cause for guilt, but for rejoicing. God gives freely, fully, abundantly, and lovingly! Every good thing we possess is pure gift. Indeed, we ourselves are gifts – for our very existence finds its origin and source in God.

Although the chasm between creature and Creator cannot be spanned by the creature, the Creator has done something absolutely amazing. The Son of God – the Word made flesh – has traversed the distance between deity and humanity through the incarnation. The en-fleshment of God in Christ finds God descending from the highest heights to the lowest depths to share our common humanity, our suffering, our sin, our shame. This is the ultimate expression of humility!

Wonder of wonders, glorious mystery: the immortal becomes mortal; the infinite, finite; the Creature, creature; the Word, flesh! “In him [Jesus] all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9).

We cannot reach God, but God reaches out to us in the staggering and overwhelming embrace of grace. Put simply, we are saved by the humility of God!

Emptiness

Poverty in spirit expressed in emptiness can by pictured with one’s hands held open at one’s waist – as if one had just dropped everything to the floor. Emptiness invites us to loosen our grip on wealth, possessions, privilege, status, power, physical attractiveness, intelligence and achievements (and anything else you can think of!).

Too often, our possessions make us feel self-sufficient. We cling to them as proof of our value and worth. We delude ourselves into believing that we are self-made and can manage our own world. The result is that we “lose that sense of spiritual poverty, the sense of utter dependence upon God, a humble posture before God and others, the total openness to God, who really is all we have at the end of the day.”[2]

Unlike the financially poor, we who are rich in wealth and opportunities must work hard to wrestle loose from mammon’s hold on our lives.[3] Jesus warned us that we can “gain the world and lose our soul.” In other words, we can have everything and yet, really, have nothing. In contrast, we must realize that we can have nothing, and yet possess everything (see 2 Corinthians 6:10).

Emptiness calls us to embrace the spiritual discipline of detachment. As significant as these things may seem, we are not the abilities or objects we possess. These things are not an essential part of our very self. Life is more than possessions, privilege, and status.

Detachment is not a complete rejection of these things but a proper relationship to them. Everything God made is good. We are called, not to give up the things themselves, but to relinquish the clinging, the craving, the attachment, and the possessiveness that chains us to these things. We are called to gratefully enjoy all God’s good gifts – for all is gift! But our grateful enjoyment and participation in things, abilities, and accomplishments must not become possessive attachments that substitute for our greatest joy – life in God!

Surprisingly, we must even possess some measure of detachment in regard to our own spirituality and spiritual accomplishments. These good things can actually get in the way of life in God. Spiritual pride – a sense of superiority because of one’s spiritual beliefs, practices, or achievements – is one of the most deadly and deceiving sins. To pray as the Pharisee, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people” (Luke 18:11) is spiritual poison in pious wrapping. It is an ugly prayer of smug, self-satisfaction – a prayer that can only be offered by belittling others for the sake of relishing in one’s superiority.

Clinging to privilege, status, and achievements – even those labeled “spiritual” – is in conflict with Jesus’ gospel of grace. The Apostle Paul possessed the right cultural and religious resume to wow his audience, but he considered all these things to be “dung” in regard to knowing Christ (Philippians 3:4-11). With great humility, he considered himself a constant beginner in knowing God in Christ. He did not necessarily call others to model his behavior as much as he invited them to share his passionate – yet imperfect – pursuit of God in Christ (Philippians 3:12-16).

Openness

Poverty in spirit expressed in openness can by pictured with one’s hands held open in a posture of receiving. Our hands our not just empty, but open and receptive to embracing God. Empty of self-will, we are open to God’s will. Through openness, we quit trying to make something of ourselves and throw ourselves into God’s arms that God may make something of us!

With less of self we can know more of God. By dying to self, we experience the life of God. By relinquishing the things that possess us, we are liberated to be fully possessed by God’s Spirit. “We become like vessels that have been emptied of water that they may be filled with wine.”[4] Mary summarizes this openness in her beautiful words of faith: “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

Poverty of spirit is a foundational virtue because without it we cannot truly be open to God. In City of God, St. Augustine argues that our ultimate choice in life resides between two possibilities: the godless love of self or the self-less love of God. C. S. Lewis makes the same point in The Great Divorce: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’”[5]

Because authentic poverty of spirit is self-less, a truly humble person will not be focused on themselves. It is pride that is obsessed with self. An authentic expression of poverty of spirit will look a lot like Lewis describes in Mere Christianity:

Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call “humble” nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.[6]

Fullness

Thus far, we have considered three words that help convey the multi-faceted nature of poverty of spirit: lowly, empty, and open. There is one final word that is at the heart of the blessing of poverty of spirit: filled! This word can be expressed by raising one’s hands up to the sky in joyful praise.

Every beatitude is about deep union with God’s blessedness. The beatitudes describe Christ – his life, his values, and the rewards he enjoys and cherishes. The ultimate blessing we share when we embrace the beatitudes is the joy, life, and fellowship of God.

Each beatitude represents a unique way of participating in the self-emptying love of God. In particular, poverty of spirit invites us to reflect the humility of God in Christ. “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest; for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). By sharing Jesus’ yoke, we “learn from him” (Matthew 11:30) – and the fundamental lesson he teaches is humility.

Jesus’ life expresses all the qualities of poverty of spirit. He embraced the lowly status of a slave (the lowest social status in his culture) and invited his followers to do the same (Matthew 20:25-28). He emptied himself of all divine rights and privileges in order to completely embrace humanity (see 2 Corinthians 8:9). He was completely open to God, living in continual dependence upon God, submitting to complete obedience to God’s will, and committed to completely expressing God’s love to everyone. His lowliness, emptiness, and openness allowed him to be filled with the life of God for the sake of others. And because Jesus fully reveals God to us, we see in Jesus the very humility of God.

The Apostle Paul offers us a further window into Jesus’ poverty of spirit. He calls us to express self-less humility patterned after the incarnation of Christ: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…

who, though he was in the form of God,
   did not regard equality with God
   as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
   taking the form of a slave,
   being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
   he humbled himself
   and became obedient to the point of death—
   even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him
   and gave him the name
   that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
   every knee should bend,
   in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
   that Jesus Christ is Lord,
   to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)

This passage highlights the four qualities of poverty in spirit we have discussed: (1) Jesus humbled himself; (2) Jesus emptied himself of status, possessions, and divine privilege; (3) Jesus opened himself to God’s will, submitting to the shameful, violent death of crucifixion; and (4) God highly exalted him because of his poverty in spirit. In summary, it was Jesus’ poverty in spirit – his willingness to embrace lowliness, emptiness, and openness – that led to his being raised to the highest place. Poverty in spirit pleases God the Father and, in contrast to all the deceptions of the world, is the only path to true greatness.

If we go all the way to the beginning of the sacred canon and compare Jesus – the second Adam – with the first, we find a striking contrast. As Adam fell through pride, so Christ raises us up by humility. When Adam rejected lowliness, he fell to the lowest depths. When Christ embraced lowliness, he was exalted to the highest heights. The difference between the two Adams hinges on humility. It is for this reason that the Church Fathers argued for humility as the foundational virtue.

The One who showed the greatest humility, the greatest emptiness, and the greatest openness has been exalted to the highest place. The humble king reigns! And he invites us to share his reign by sharing his heart, and leaving everything in the hands of God.

© Richard J. Vincent, 2006