"Blessed are the poor in spirit." In Luke’s version of the Beatitudes the words "in spirit" do not occur (Luke 6:20). Therefore, many have used Matthew’s version to point out that the poverty Jesus is speaking of here is not material but rather spiritual poverty. He is not praising physical privation. He is not saying that the materially poor are closer to the kingdom of God than the materially rich. What Jesus is commending is the opposite of a person’s being rich in pride.
If a producer of a popular movie, a director of one of today’s successful television shows, or the editor of a widely circulating news or fashion magazine were to rewrite the Beatitudes from a contemporary point of view, I suppose they would go like this: Blessed are the rich and powerful; blessed are the sexually liberated; blessed are the beautiful and handsome; blessed are the famous; blessed are those the world looks up to. This is the exact opposite of what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are those who mourn; blessed are the meek; blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; blessed are the merciful; blessed are the pure in heart; blessed are the peacemakers; blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness" (Matt. 5:3-10).
Jesus told the educated Nicodemus that he must be "born again" (John 3:3, 7). If he was not, he could not even see the kingdom of God, much less enter it. Regeneration is from above. However, once the work of regeneration has taken place, the individual is no longer as he or she was. The person is now Christ’s man or woman. He or she is one who sees the kingdom and strives with every effort to enter it.
What was wrong with Lot's wife? It is no mystery. First, she was disobedient to God's Word given through the angels. When the angels came to Sodom with the announcement that they were about to destroy the city and that Lot and his family would have to leave, they said, "Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!" (Gen. 19:13, 17). Those commands were as urgent and explicit as any found in Scripture. Yet Lot's wife disobeyed them. She began by delaying. Delay then erupted into outright disobedience as she disregarded the angels' command and looked back.
In his classic treatment of The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer makes a careful analysis of Luke 9:57-62, in which he examines each of the excuses. He spends the most time on the third since it is most critical. When Elisha went back to burn his farm equipment and kill his oxen, it was to make that break clean and irreversible. He was a true disciple. In this case, it was the opposite. The man was clinging to old relationships and life patterns.
