Luke's presentation of the Beatitudes, the "Blessed are's," is different from Matthew's. Matthew has Jesus ascend a mountain and deliver, like Moses, new directives. Luke has Jesus come down to level ground, to stand shoulder to shoulder with His followers, to speak to them man to man, to advise friends of how things are. I imagine pretty much like craftsmen discuss the pro's and con's of power tools. Luke also balances his Blessed's with Woe's! Things will get better or things can get worse.
But the word 'blessed' carries many meanings: happy, holy, fortunate, blest...it's all the same word. Happy are we who are poor now in spirit. Happy are we who realize that we depend on others for so very much in our lives. Happy are we who realize that we cannot create, manufacture or mass produce happiness. We need to come back to that.
For I have moles in my back yard. And being a gentle, peace-loving man, I have been seeking the most humane way to wipe these pests off the face of the earth. I heard that grubs attract moles, so I eradicated the grubs and the moles changed their diet. My brother-in-law told me that moles detest Juicy Fruit® gum, so I figured Double Bubble® would be even better and now little pink balloons disclose the moles' locations. Finally I figured that perhaps moles think that they are made to fly, to soar above the dirt and clay like eagles. To reach this goal, a mole figures the harder it works, the deeper it digs, then the closer it is to bursting through into the sky above. Happiness and fulfillment lie in the next scoop of dirt. So I buried a set of pilot's wings and heard them scritching their way over and reasoning that they were getting very close to flight. Then I buried, even deeper, an e-ticket. Soon they will die of exhaustion, failure, and disappointment.. Happiness and fulfillment is not in the next scoop of dirt. Even the mole recognizes this and everything it reaches for and attains gets pushed behind it as worthless trash.
Blessed are the poor. Blessed are those who realize that life and love and purpose and acceptance are gifts. Truly blessed are they who realize that everything is has been given to them. God is the author of every good and perfect gift. What is your life is good? It came from the hand of God. Who in your life do you love? Who loves you? God is love and those who abide in love abide in God and God in them. What comes naturally to you? What knack or flair or ability seems second nature to you? What have you worked hard to develop? What have you made of yourself? Even those things, those talents and abilities, are gifts from God. God's gifts are mediated through the hands of others. We cannot discount them but see in them the person of Jesus Christ himself. We cannot short stop the gift at the hand who last touched it but see the face of God working in us all.
The alternative to such poverty is not riches. The alternative is hyper-activity; it is exhaustion, disappointment and failure. The next, larger plasma TV will not make me happy and, once I possess it, will soon become trash. Four times a year we place past purchases and pleasures on the curb and let anybody take them away.. Whatever we possess, we sooner or later dispose of. What we are given, we treasure. When we realize Who the Giver Is, then we come to love the One who has loved us. We return our love to Jesus Christ who made himself poor for our sakes.