Dallas Willard’s handling of the Beatitudes in The Divine Conspiracy simply flipped my world upside down. I had not considered his approach before. He is probably not original to the thought, but the first time I saw this approach it was from him.

How do we see the Beatitudes in Matthew 5?

I remember the title to an old Robert Schuller book was The Be-Happy Attitudes.

Some translations say, “Happy” are those…

The main approach I’ve seen is the Beatitudes are something to gain. They are blessings to obtain.

Dallas Willard says that is the wrong approach. It’s not about “being like that.” He takes the context of the passage and flips it around. What has Jesus been preaching? In this context, coming out of Matthew 4 it has been, “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” The Kingdom is available. Then, he has demonstrated it through the miraculous. Jesus is living out the rule of heaven right on earth. Huge crowds have gathered and Jesus then desires to teach them. He moves up to a higher position (Matthew 5:1) and begins.

Willard’s contention is that Jesus is opening up the Sermon by giving the examples of just how the Kingdom has already appeared. He points to the mass of people and gives them as “Exhibit A.” They had just received from the power of the Kingdom.

What Jesus is really saying is this: “Blessed are the spiritual zeroes — the spiritually bankrupt, deprived and deficient, the spiritual beggars, those without a wisp of ‘religion’ — when the kingdom of the heavens comes upon them.”

Blessed are those who can’t make heads or tails of religion. They don’t know which way is up, but in some way there is a sense one day in their lives that heaven touched them. They are blessed. They are healed of body, mind, or spirit by the hand of God.

It’s not about knowing you are poor of spirit. For Willard, that is the very point. You do NOT know… and all of a sudden heaven bursts upon you. The hand of God touches you, blesses you, and you become alive. You didn’t even know you were dead!

Spiritual poverty is not something to attain. It is a condition. In spite of spiritual poverty, the Kingdom comes down and touches. It is only the gracious touch of heaven. It is not that we “work” to become spiritually poor.

The point of all of it, for Willard, is this: no one is beyond Kingdom blessing. This is what Jesus is saying. “Want proof? Guys, look at that crowd! What a bunch of losers! And God just reached down and healed them. Nothing is beyond the reach of heaven!”