Funeral Giggles

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
    “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 5:2-3)

Jesus loved to take conventional thought and flip it upside down.  I suppose the abruptness that was often used as He did such was in part for effect--it's a great way to get peoples' attention and He was the best Teacher of all time, after all.  (I've only copied the first couple verses of this section, but you can read verses 2-11 to get the fuller picture by clicking here.)

Each statement begins with a "blessed" and is followed up with a statement of why such an attitude or practice is a blessed one, often by pointing to what such positions yield either in this life or in the life to come.  Verse three is but one example of this.  Jesus says that it's a blessed thing to be poor in spirit.  That seems an odd thing to say because who at any given moment wants to be lowly or the one who feels "underneath" things deep down in their soul and in need of help?  But if you're listening to the Savior say this and looking to Him to be that help, there's exciting news: you get the kingdom of heaven.  That's right; you receive an inheritance in which you will come out light-years ahead of where you dwell on this earth as one "poor in spirit."

Really what Jesus is doing with these verses is building within us a different kind of excitement.  It's one that challenges us to quit striving to be on the top in this world, seeking victory in things that last only for a little while.  He says instead that it is a beautiful and happy and blessed thing for us to live with an anticipatory quietness inside that, even when things are the pits on the outside, still bubbles out to produce that kind of over-the-moon grin that you can't quite wipe down...that kind that creeps up at funeral when you get the inappropriate giggles and just need to look at your feet in hopes that you'll hold it together.

That's where things start with the God motivated spirit.  Those are the words that we need to hear from Jesus, the One who's being and words are the foundation on which we must build our lives if we want to survive the storms.  Meditate on "the blesseds" today.