I heard it many times from many different people that the teaching of Jesus is simple. In a sense, it is true. Yet why in the New Testament accounts we often read that people, including wise scholars and closest disciples, were puzzled by what he said? Should we assume that we are much smarter than they were?

I read the gospels for the first time when I was 21, and I need to admit that I hardly understood anything.  What did I do? I started to look for interpretations of the gospel message, which was readily given to me by religious people. This is not to say that all the interpretations are bad or misleading. We just need to be aware that our understanding largely depends on our cultural background.

Most of those who insist that the gospel is simple have grown in Christian culture and became acquainted with many of Christian doctrines since childhood.  Even if they and their parents weren’t devoted believers, they knew what others believe.

Having a set of preconceived ideas about spiritual reality, it is often difficult to understand what Jesus really meant. For example, what do most of people think about heaven? For them, it is a place where all good people (or “forgiven sinners”) go after they die to receive their reward. It is opposite to earth where we have to suffer and to wage war against trials and temptations. I used to think that, too. Only later I began to see inconsistencies of this theory.

If heaven s a place, why parables of Jesus so often compare “the kingdom of heaven” with the process of growth and development? How it can be likened to a mustard seed? How it can be likened to leaven? And if righteous ones will be rewarded only in heaven, as theologians insist, why did Jesus talk about inheriting the earth?

Blessed are the meek! For they shall inherit the earth.

The logical conclusion is that for him heaven and earth were not places, but realms of ever-expanding divine ideas and their manifestations. There is no dualism between heaven and earth. “As above, so below”. All our inner states of consciousness will eventually become outward demonstrations.

What is meekness? So often it was identified with weakness and resignation, powerless submission to powers outside of ourselves. But again, Jesus did not offer reward in the afterlife in exchange for sufferings here in this life. He spoke about inheriting this earth. So, his words about meekness cannot possibly justify our victim mentality.

Meekness is well defined as our ability to control ourselves – and to trust in God’s order of things.  Yes, we can change our life conditions and “inherit the earth” in our experience. We are not doomed to suffer. But the only way to control our environment is to control our consciousness.

A meek person is strong in mind and spirit, but not boastful or arrogant. That one recognises God as the only source of his/her power, and uses this power in wise and constructive ways. A meek person knows that all visible events are grounded in invisible spiritual reality, and deals with them from inner perspective. He/she doesn’t strive or fight, but develops positive consciousness which attracts positive experiences.

“Blessed are they that mourn! For they shall be comforted”. This is a provoking statement. As a rule, we don’t like to mourn and don’t consider it to be a blessing. We like to laugh and to feel good about ourselves. Could it mean that Jesus denied our rights to positive emotions?

Some religious teachers say that we should always mourn over our sins. They encourage believers to meditate on their failures and shortcomings, realizing their unworthiness before God. But this doctrine becomes less and less popular – not because people in our days are more “wicked” than centuries ago, but because now they are more self-aware and self-reliant. They’ve learned to think for themselves and cannot be so easily indoctrinated into sin-consciousness.

All the successful creators and achievers believe in themselves, at least in the area of their achievements. Using the terminology of Ralph Emerson, they believe in their “genius”. This is why many of talented people were unwilling to accept a doctrine of human sinfulness. On the other hand, clericals often accused them in “rebellion”.

But if we are not to encouraged to mourn over our sins, what this statement is talking about?

This beatitude brings our attention to the truth that in order to be happy we need something more than superficial optimism. Mourning is the fact of human life, and we should deal with it from the spiritual and enlightened standpoint.

Among those who accepted the basic tenets of positive thinking, sometimes there is a tendency to cover up their negative feelings. Such people are proud to demonstrate optimism and enthusiasm, but it is just a mask they wear in vain attempts to fool others and even themselves. They don’t admit their problems and don’t look for constructive ways of resolution, as if it would cause these challenges to disappear.

But the Universe cannot be fooled. Suppressed feelings often manifest themselves as sicknesses, accidents, and troubles of other kind. This is why we need not to suppress, but to transform them – and, first of all, we need to learn lessons which they bring to us.

Nothing happens without a reason. Pain indicates that somewhere and somehow we thought and acted in ignorance and developed a mental pattern which doesn’t agree with God’s laws of being. We did not listen to the still small voice within which suggested us to deal away with it. So, now we have to be brought to our sound mind through pain.

As Emmet Fox wrote, “There is really no need for man to have trouble, because if he will only seek God first, the trouble need never come. He always has the choice of learning by spiritual unfoldment or of learning by painful experience, and it is his own fault if he makes the latter choice”.

Don’t be afraid of your initial emotional reaction. Don’t be afraid of pain if you feel it. It is a sign that recovery processes are taking place. Look up to God’s enlightenment which will bring deeper understanding of your life – and freedom. But unwillingness to face pain and resistance to pain only prolongs it.

We might be comforted, knowing that pain is but temporary. It won’t stay with us forever. It is a violation of the universal harmony, and it won’t be necessary anymore once the harmony is restored. We will be truly comforted not by covering up of our pain, but by learning from it, and by transcending negative consciousness which caused it.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who are engaged in never-ending quest for truth, goodness, and soul unfoldment. Their deepest desires will be fulfilled. As Jesus expressed this thought in the gospel of Thomas,

“Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all”. 

This is why I think that the teaching of Jesus does not encourage blind faith in any way. Are we to seek something to believe blindly? It would be unreasonable. We search for something which we consider true and valuable, for something which makes our life meaningful and increase our happiness. We easily and willingly let go of ideas and mental patterns which block our progress. For searching attitude there are no “holy cows”.

Let no good we have ever stop us from seeking greatness. Let nothing stops us from moving along with the Spirit which is above and beyond all intellectual constructions, visible forms of worship, and codes of behavior.

We will understand Jesus’ idea of “poverty in spirit” even better if we look at His conversation with the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16-22).

This text is a stumbling block for many sincere believers, for it seems to tell us that the spiritual perfection can be achieved only by those who totally renounce all their earthly possessions. Certainly it cannot be true. Giving is a noble and rewarding act, but there are no reasons to expect that it can bring about a complete spiritual transformation to a giver. Let us also note that nowhere else in the Bible we will find a direct commandment to renounce material wealth.

The language of the Bible is symbolic, and we won’t understand Jesus at all without taking this into account. So, when He said to the young man, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in Heaven”, it had nothing to do with money. Why? Because the topic of their discussion was spiritual perfection, not finances. Jesus used vivid images, but never changed the subject.

The rich young ruler was a law-abiding person, just like many of believers in our days. Such people study spiritual laws (which are given in the form of commandments) and do their best follow them. Their life has its own reward. So, at first Jesus referred him to the commandments. But the young man kept all the commandments and still wasn’t satisfied. His soul begun its awakening to true greatness, but he was uncertain about further directions. What did Jesus do? He challenged him to to empty himself, let go of his spiritual and intellectual “wealth” – all of preconceived ideas about life, world, and God. This was the only way to perfection.

To be perfect is to be open at the top, that is to be open for growth. Within a closed system of religious doctrines, commandments, and rules of conduct, an individual cannot always stay in alignment with God. For God is neither dead nor static. God is alive. God’s Spirit always moves, and we are to move along with it.

It is true that some systems of thoughts and rules of conduct are good and useful. They can provide meaningful life and satisfaction to a person at a certain level of his/her development. But let us remember that that there will be the time when the Spirit will call us upward and forward – beyond our borders. When it happens, let us not be like the rich young ruler who was attached to his goodness so much that he missed greatness.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven”, said Jesus. But what did he mean by poverty? Why did he make this quality preeminent? Various interpretations of his statement were given, and perhaps you were taught to believe in one of them.

For example, some believers used to say that Jesus literally meant poverty – that is, lack of material possessions. This doctrine was especially popular during the Dark Ages. Monks and priests took vows of poverty in their desire to follow the Lord – and their example led millions to think that true spirituality implies financial limitations. This delusion exists even now.

But if all the teachings of Jesus has to do with the inner realm of an individual, why should we interpret this saying in such materialistic way? He clearly said that we come to blessed life through “the poverty in spirit”, not in earthly possessions.

Other people assume that Jesus meant humility. Could it be true? It mostly depends on how do we understand humility. Preachers insist that to be truly humble is to recognize that you are a “worthless sinner”. According to them, only those who admit their wickedness and utter helplessness could enter into the kingdom of Heaven. But their arguments do not convince me anymore.

One of the laws of mind action says that like attracts like. It we sincerely accept a notion that we are worthless and miserable creatures, our thoughts about ourselves will become self-fulfilled prophesies. We will create for ourselves unpleasant experiences which will prove our low opinion of ourselves.

As I studied the Bible it became clear to me that Jesus never emphasised human sinfulness. Quite the opposite, he taught about our divinity and intrinsic worth.

“Has it not written in your law, “I said, You are gods?”
“The kingdom of God is within you”.

Let us now consider two parables which will give us better understanding of what Jesus meant by “poverty in spirit”. They illustrate different aspects of the same mental process.

“Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which when a man has found it, he hides it, and for the joy of it goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it”.

What is this “treasure hidden in a field”? It is our divine nature, “the kingdom, or the realm of God within us”. This treasure it is not evident. Looking at ourselves, we see just “earth” of humanness with its failures, shortcomings, and infirmities. But once in a while we ask ourselves: is that all of us?

We might be tempted to answer “yes”. We don’t know our real value and our potential, just like the previous owner of a field knew nothing about treasure. This treasure has to be made available to us through the process of “buying”. So we come to the second parable which describes a merchant.

A merchant in this parable is a searching, seeking, and exchanging quality of our mind. Who is a successful merchant? The one who exchanges items of lesser value to those of greater value. Most of us do the same, whether consciously or not. We look for ideas which seem to be good, true, and valuable to us. The only problem is that this «inner merchant» sometimes becomes inactive. He “falls asleep”, and we are encouraged to “wake him up”.

This is why Jesus said, “Seek, and you will find”. For one reason or another, some people stopped seeking.

A merchant from this parable was willing to sell all of his possessions in order to acquire one pearl of great price. From the outside he could look like poor – yet he made the greatest investment of his life. This is why I think that “poverty in spirit” doesn’t contradict deep realization of our divine worth. But it certainly requires our willingness to let go everything which is less than divine.