“We are beggars. That is true.” These were the last thoughts of Dr. Martin Luther on the day before he died. (Martin Luther, LW 54, 476)
Unlike Kimberling City, beggars filled the streets of towns and cities in the ancient world and approached the people walking past them. Most of these beggars couldn’t work because they had some disability—and had to beg because they also had no family who could support them. They had an uncertain livelihood, who depended on the mercy of others to live.
There was an “art” to this begging—if you wanted your words to find a good reception. From experience, beggars knew that they were far more likely to receive some food or money if they approached people nicely instead of being rude or demanding. In Jesus’ day, beggars usually appealed to others for help by saying, “Kyrie, eleison!,” “Lord, have mercy!”
Almost everyone was familiar with the cry of the beggar. The New-Testament Gospels also tell us how people appealed to Jesus for His help.
- Matthew 9:27: As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, shouting, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
- Matthew 17:15: “Lord,” he said, “have mercy on my son.”
- Mark 10:47-48: When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many people told him to keep quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
- Luke 17:12-13: As Jesus was going into a village, ten lepers met him. Keeping their distance from him, they shouted, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
- How did they “beg” to Jesus?
- The earliest liturgies of the Church contained within them the prayer, “Lord, have mercy.” What did the liturgy mean to teach through those words every week?
The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) contains Jesus’ teaching on the life of being a disciple. He starts with “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
“poor”: Greek, ptoxos, although a noun in English, it is an adjective in the Greek, with the object of the adjective being understood. Ptoxos literally means “begging [one].”
- What did Jesus praise as a mark of being His disciple?
Those who are beggars in the Spirit have no spiritual assets or credentials to bring of their own. They have nothing to offer to God the Father. What they have they receive from Him through His Son, Jesus, in the Holy Spirit. The beggars in the Spirit are not spiritually rich and powerful. They receive the Holy Spirit as beggars—and have the Holy Spirit as beggars—who ask for what they spiritually need.
The Father’s kingdom (His rule and reign for us, among us, and in us) is received as a gift, something we always receive.
- Mark 10:15: I assure you: Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”
“receive”: Greek, dexomai. The semantic range includes receive, welcome, accept.
“little child”: Greek, paidion: very young child, infant. The semantic range is from infant to toddler.
- Does a very young child or infant have the ability to welcome or accept the kingdom of God? [hint: when is someone old enough to understand concepts like “kingdom of God”?]
- Thus, what is the only meaning we that this verse has?
- Luke 12:32: [Jesus speaking,] “Fear no more, little flock, for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom.”
Matthew 5:3 sums up Christian spirituality. Even as adults, we never outgrow receiving what God gives us. Even more, Jesus extols us to receive what God has for us like a child!
- Matthew 18:2-3: [Jesus speaking to His disciples:] Then he called a little child [paidion] to him and had him stand among them. “I assure you,” He said, “unless you turn and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
“turn”: Greek, strepho: turn or return. Strepho focuses on the action. Metanoeo (usually translated as “repent”) has a different focus: a “change of mind.” Repentance zeroes in on the inward change, which then results in an outward change (cause and effect).
Being a spiritual beggar, needing to receive, powerless as an infant or child, defies popular, current-day spirituality. Popular spirituality presumes we have an unrealized spiritual potential, which is why it seeks spiritual empowerment by putting the person in the “driver’s seat.”
Jesus is different. He teaches that we begin, continue, and end our spiritual journey with Him as beggars before God the Father, the heavenly King. As we follow Jesus, we do not become more and more self-sufficient. No, we learn, in our Christian walk, the art of begging from God the Father, until at our death we can do nothing but say, “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me!”
Jesus Models for Us a Receptive Spirituality
- John 3:35: [John the Baptizer testifying of Jesus as the Messiah:] “The Father loves the Son and gives everything into his hands.”
- John 5:19: [Jesus speaking to Jews who were thinking of killing Him:] “I assure you: The Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.”
- John 8:28: [Jesus speaking to the Scribes and the Pharisees:] “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM, and do nothing on my own. I speak only what the Father has taught me.”
- If Jesus (“I AM,” God) was on the receiving end of what the Father had to give Him, what does that imply for us, His creation?
The truth that we are but spiritual beggars may be hard to accept, because it takes away the control we want. When we receive, however, our spirituality doesn’t depend on our performance but on what God has to give us, which is always a better deal!
- Mark 10:14-15: When Jesus saw [the disciples trying to keep children away from Him], he became furious and told them, “Let the little children [paidion] come to me. Do not keep them away, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you: Whoever does not receive [dexomai] the kingdom of God like a little child [paidion] will not enter it.”
- 1 Peter 2:2: Like newborn infants, thirst for pure spiritual milk, that you may grow in your salvation.
“grow”: Greek, auxano, grow or cause to grow. Here, the verb is a passive, meaning “that you may be caused to grow [in your salvation].”
- How does Scripture say we are all to become?
- If we are caused to grow in our salvation when we are drinking the “pure spiritual milk,” who or what is causing us to grow in our salvation?
If we want to know what Peter meant by “salvation” (instead of what we think or assume), he tells us in the previous chapter:
Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven for you. By God’s power, you are protected through faith [this can be your faith or the Father’s faithfulness] for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time. [1 Peter 1:3-5]
- How did God give us a “new birth”?
- Growing in salvation means what “at the last time”?
- When or what is “the last time”?
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