While we in Australia continue to enjoy a relatively safe time through this pandemic, the situation continues to be difficult in other places in the world. It functions also as a reminder not to take things for granted- therefore we will continue to follow the regulations so we can provide the people that come to our services with a safe space (well, safe if you don’t consider the sermons!)

But, parts of this world have managed to add something extra to the difficult times that the pandemic and the sub sequential economic crisis have brought to the world. In countries like Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, India, and specially the United States, we have seen political and social crisis developing in vicious ways. As you may imagine, we have family and friends in many of those countries, and in many ways those crises are affecting us personally. Last week I was reading the news coming from overseas and my spirit was taking a beating! I know, I should know better than reading the news, I should stick to receiving news through comedy to make them more digestible. But the more I read the more I felt this increasing sense of discomfort, of hopelessness knocking at the door, of a deep sadness trying to settle in my heart. I had to go to God immediately and surrender those burdens, that weren’t mine to start with, and declare once again that my trust was in Him, regardless of circumstances.

Can you describe that feeling? The feeling that seems to add disappointment and frustration, sadness and anger, hopelessness and revolt all in one? I was left confused and sad and angry all at once and honestly I didn’t know what to do with it all! My decision was take it all to God in prayer and in worship was more an act of holy desperation than a deep spiritual attitude. It was all I can do. The more I think about it, the more I conclude that on that day, at that time, I found myself poor in spirit.

Yes, I love the Lord and I love my life and I love serving the church- but for a moment back there I was in doubt if my work, my efforts, my ministry, my life were making any different in the big context of things. I was thinking about the world I was leaving for my children and their children and all I could see is that it won’t be better than the one my grandparents left for me or even this one we are living in now! One of the mistakes I made was to see the response of some church leaders to the racial struggle in the world, the response of Christian leaders to the efforts to contain the pandemic, the response of Christian people towards others Christians and towards anyone who dared to disagree with them, and honestly, I was left confused and lost and disappointed and angry… and paralysed. As I managed to start processing all those feelings, I realised that this is what Jesus meant by blessing the poor in spirit in Matthew 5.

No, I did not want to be in that place! I would give anything to find answers and solutions and pathways forward… I would give anything to have the certainty that I was holding on to the right faith, the right theology and to be able to focus my energy in writing a great message about it… but in all honestly, for a while, I felt like I was barely hanging on. To be poor in spirit is not something we look forward to, something we can aspire to achieve, something that can be achieved through our efforts. Some people interpret poor in spirit as “humble”, but that opens up another series of problems. To start with, if Jesus is blessing those who are humble… how can we become humble? And if we do become humble and we realise it… are we still humble??? Remember the story of the child that won be the price of Humblest Child at Sunday school and then lost the price because he showed it to other people? No, poor in spirit runs deeper than humility- it’s a state that many of us have found ourselves in life at different times, and that many people in the world experience frequently. It’s the loving God but not knowing where to find God… it’s the loving God but honestly being too tired or frustrated to get to church… it’s the loving God but being left confused by the response of churches and Christians that are supposed to be representing Jesus but sometimes respond in ways that leave you shacking your head, crying or angry… it’s the trying hard with all your energy and passion only to be found tired and defeated, misunderstood and judged, wondering that if good things happen to good people but you are going through a bad time so that it means that I am…bad? So we find ourselves without the energy to try again, to believe again, to trust again… wondering if we haven’t been chosen or loved or allowed in to the party that other people seem to be enjoying while we struggle… we are left poor in spirit.

I imagine that among the people listening to Jesus’ words at the mount there would be a lot of people that would identify as poor in spirit. People that may have tried to belong to the religion of the day giving their best to fulfil all the different laws and expectation and requirements and demands, only to be found lacking, and were left facing the closed doors of the religious system declaring that they did not make it, they weren’t good enough. People that were told to trust harder, pray harder, believe harder, work harder… People that felt like they never had a change to begin with because they were born in the wrong people group, in the wrong region of the world, in the wrong religion, in the wrong family… People that thought they were doing the best with what they could, fighting for chances, believing for change only to be told again and again to conform, to stop struggling, to understand the social system or the religious system or the political system… People desperately searching for a miracle for a disease or a condition that they couldn’t control and were told that they were just paying for their mistakes or their parents’ mistakes or their families’ mistakes, that their suffering was deserved and maybe if they suffer enough in this life they could have a better one next time, but no guarantees… People like you, people like me, people with good intentions and honest questions and a genuine desire to do good but that had to deal with a broken heart in a broken world. And what does Jesus say to this people that were constantly being condemned, judged, misunderstood… people facing the heavy load of their sin, their mistakes, their brokenness? (Take a deep breath and make sure you are sitting, because this one may surprise you!)

Jesus told them that the Kingdom of God was theirs. (Feel free to read that again!) The kingdom of God. Not for the religious that think that they can gain entry by their deeds (while adding heavy burdens on everyone else’s backs!). Not for the well trained and heavily armed Romans. Not for the ones with the right surnames and the right connections. No. It belongs to the ones that know that they come with nothing to offer and needing everything. To the ones that are painfully aware of their brokenness and are not trying to pretend that they have it all together. Beggars that come wishing for the leftovers but are instead invited to sit at the table, where the banquet is waiting for them.  People like you and me, who found a saviour greater than anything they could ask for, a grace that covers their lives with forgiveness and joy, and a destiny that invites to share their gift with everyone around them. Jesus just opened the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven to everyone who is willing to admit their need, their brokenness, their tiredness, admit that they are lost… the invitation, by the way, is still valid. The doors are still open! The party is far from over!

I do not know if Jesus had his arms opened as he said those words, inviting people in. But I do know that one day he allowed his arms to be opened, his hands stretched, and nailed to a cross, so people would know forever that God was inviting us into his Kingdom, where our need is satisfied, our guilt finds forgiveness, our brokenness finds healing, our life finds direction, our lack of meaning finds destiny, our lost souls finds salvation. Maybe that is why people called this message of Jesus the Good News… and they are Good News indeed! And you know what a good thing to do with good news is? To share them around until everyone has heard about this love! What a privilege!