A Mental Mistake
“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3
Theirs – Yesterday we discovered that Hebrew has no direct equivalent for our Greek-based idea of possession. In Hebrew thinking, we are tenants in the house the Lord built. We are stewards, servants and caretakers. Never owners.
If this is true (and it is), then how is it possible that this first Beatitude contains the subtle suggestion that we will be “owners” of heaven? Most of us never realized that this verse translation is in fact subject to a paradigm shift. When we took the Greek text, we moved it into our patterns of thought before we translated the words. And as a result, we made what Jesus says fit our view of the world, not his.
One of the most difficult tasks of the translator is to capture the thought patterns of the writer. The translator’s job is to let the reader see the world through the eyes of the writer, not to convert the writer’s thoughts into the patterns that fit the reader’s worldview. But in this often quoted verse, just such a mistake has occurred. It slipped by us when we weren’t thinking because it is so much a part of our thinking we never saw it. The truth is that if we look at the world from the eyes of a Hebrew, we would never imagine that we could possess the kingdom. It just wouldn’t occur to us. So, in spite of all your church training, this verse as it appears in English is just not right.
If we don’t acquire the kingdom of heaven, then what is this Beatitude all about? Literally, the Greek says, “because of them is the kingdom of heaven”. The construction looks like it should be possessive (“theirs is”), but it only looks that way to an audience that thinks in terms of possession. Take away the idea of ownership and the whole verse changes. Now the phrase answers the question, “Why are these people blessed?”, not “How are these people blessed?” The kingdom of heaven is really the reign and rule of God. It is not something that can be possessed. It is something that we participate in as citizens but it does not and never can belong to us. So, this Beatitude tells us that those who are poor in spirit are jumping for joy because God’s reign and rule arrives in response to their spiritual poverty. That’s why they are the lucky ones.
If we are so deceived by the way we think that we would translate God’s own words in the patterns of this world, what others assumptions have we made that are really nothing more than deep, mental mistakes?
A note: For a complete analysis of the Beatitudes and their upside-down view see my book, “The Lucky Life: A New Look at the Beatitudes”. You’ll have to ask if you want to change how you think about the rest of these Beatitudes.
