Happy Are the Poor in Spirit Matthew 5:3-10 (According to Matthew's Message in The Context of The Slums In Nairobi)

Abstract

Poverty from the very beginning is something that has not been easy to understand. Generally it has been known as something to eradicate. On the other hand, poverty has been known as a channel through which one can be drawn to holiness. Above all so many religious men and women have taken the vow of poverty, yet there are as many definitions of poverty as the number of those who have vowed for it. Matthew presents to us a prominent teaching in the sermon on the mount, where he promotes poverty in spirit as a means to the kingdom of heaven. But how can we attain the kingdom of heaven if we have not been poor in spirit? And how can we be poor in spirit if we have not first of all understood what it means? Matthew's Jesus calls for our understanding of spiritual poverty. Matthew's teaching of Jesus about the poor in spirit has a background in the Old Testament, especially in the Pentateuch, the prophetic literature and in the psalms. It is for this reason that the first chapter treats the historical background of the poor in the Pentateuch, the prophetic literature and the psalms. The message that Matthew 5:3-10 bears is not only for the Matthean community, but also for us today. Among the many applications of this topic poor in spirit, in this paper 1 will endeavor to apply Matt 5:3-10 to the context of the slums in Nairobi. I believe that this topic of the poor in spirit will help us to understand our brothers and sisters in the slums thereby helping us to love and respect them more. The third chapter deals with this application. I have every hope that this study does not only have a message for the Christians living in Nairobi as a place surrounded by slums, but also for all the readers of this work in so far as we are all called to be poor in spirit.