The Holy Spirit records in Luke 18 a splendid
sequence, a many-sided picture of the Kingdom's
requirement: to be poor in spirit.

In this unfolding revelation, Jesus includes even Himself.

From glory unimagined,
He stooped to enter humanity
Not merely taking on a human body,
He volunteered for the entire poverty of
being human and so He lived in this
un-human distinction:
He received all from the Father.
As a pauper.

I assure you, most solemnly, I tell you,
the Son can do nothing of Himself (of His own accord):
but He is able to do only what He sees the Father doing,
for whatever the Father does is what
the Son does in the same way (in His turn).
John 5:19 Amplified Bible 

He left His position, His power, and
(it seems) His very godliness to exist in as
poor a state as any human,
as needy and dependent as all who live.

A certain ruler asked Him,
"Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
The answer was not to "do" but to "be,"
to see, to live in his humanity, vulnerable to God.

Knowing the man needed to see that
poverty alone inherits eternal life,
Jesus answered with the demonstration of
His own self imposed,
deliberately chosen
complete human deficit,
needing even basic goodness from God.
And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good?
No one is good except God alone."

Jesus' secret. All He was, what He said, all He did,
was derived goodness, accessed entirely from God.
He proved in Himself that human deficiency was
but a vacant vessel, ready for
God's overwhelming sufficiency!

And did He beseech as the widow? cry out as the infant?

In the days of His flesh, He offered up both     
prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears
to the One able to save Him from death,
     and He was heard because of His piety.
Heb. 5:7 NAS

Copyright © 2003 Martha Kilpatrick