Danny Taylor: Skinny Guy Thinking it Through

I had previously stated that the Beatitudes (those attitudes we are supposed to be ) are the sort of “front door” to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Discipleship, then, starts with spiritual poverty.  In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus gives contrasting images of someone who is poor in spirit and another who may be “rich” in spirit: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other.” It is this tax collector who is “poor in spirit.”  It does not mean he is sad, lonely, or depressed....

I’m not a big fan of cheesy plays-on-words.  You know, like saying that “history” is “ His -story”.  They’re cute, clever, and downright cheesy.  I heard a preacher once say, “Let me write you a prescription for healthy spiritual living:  I’m going to give you four ‘pills’, the ‘Gos-pills’!”  Of course, this preacher’s point was that a continual reading of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is good for one’s spiritual life.  I, however, have a hard time trying to suppress that voice in my head shouting, “LAME!”   And so it is with great remorse that I am about to break a self-imposed social taboo.  Hopefully this will help get the point across with respect to Matthew 5.1-12.  In the meantime, please try to suppress that voice in your head shouting, “LAME!”   The introduction to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.3-12 is commonly known as the “Beatitudes”.  If I may bore you with a linguistics lesson, the word “beatitude” itsel...