Matthew writes for a Jewish-Christian community some decades after the resurrection. He arranges Jesus' teaching as a new Torah on a new mountain — and the first word out of his Jesus' mouth is not a command, but a beatitude. The Beatitudes are the architecture of the kingdom Jesus is announcing.

From the writers we read together

Dallas Willard

philosopher and author of The Divine Conspiracy

Willard's reading reverses how most of us were taught to hear the Beatitudes. They are not prescriptions ("become poor in spirit so that the kingdom can come to you"). They are descriptions ("the kingdom has just arrived — even for you"). Jesus is congratulating the people the synagogue did not congratulate.

The word πτωχοί is the strong word for poor. Not working class; destitute. Poor in spirit, then, is the moment your spiritual self-sufficiency runs out and you reach the bottom of your own pocket. That, says Jesus, is when the kingdom arrives. Most of us spend our day trying not to look poor in spirit. The Beatitude is Jesus telling us to stop.