gospel of Thomas 54

Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven."

This is one of the shortest sayings in the Gospel of Thomas. And of course, these words of Jesus are reported in other gospels as well.

Blessed are the poor – it's not a message we hear much in the modern world, where material wealth is the focus for many people's energy and aspirations in life. We are encouraged to become rich, wealthy, to make money; to gain material wealth and live a supposedly contented life, based on materialism. But Jesus does not agree with this way – the path that modern civilisations have gone down.

Of course, in his day, materialism would not have been so developed. There were not so many things that money could buy anyway. If one could grow enough food for oneself and one's family; if one could put a roof over one's head; if one had access to clean water – these things were enough.

And I think, when Jesus said, blessed are the poor, what he really meant is, blessed are those who lead a simple life, with just the basic necessities. What he might have said is, blessed are those who do not lust after the things that they don't have, who do not chase after all the trinkets that one could possibly acquire.

Being poor or rich, in the simple sense of the words, is neither a benefit nor a hinderance on the spiritual path. But what is a hinderance is attachment and desire. If one desires to become rich, that is a great hinderance. Whether one is poor or whether one already has some wealth, whilst one is lusting after more wealth, then one's energy is consumed in that desire. And one cannot just relax into one's being. One cannot appreciate what one has.

So the desire for more becomes an obstacle. And similarly attachment to what one has can be an obstacle. If one has great wealth, but fears the loss of it, then that too is enough to stop us relaxing into our essence. So in this sense, the poor are at an advantage, potentially. They have no material wealth to lose anyway. So they're not going to be up late at night, worrying, fretting about the fear of losing things. No.

But, of course, the poor may still be susceptible to aspirations towards wealth. I think in the time of Jesus, this wouldn't have been so commonplace, perhaps. But nowadays, with modern marketing techniques, we are all encouraged, conditioned, into wanting more and more. So nowadays, even if one is poor, it's not really going to help one find the kingdom of heaven. One needs to become immune to the great world of advertising. And then, if one can lead a simple life, without even feeling desire for the complications that money can buy, then the kingdom of heaven is nearby.

And in the time of Jesus, I think the poor people probably did, by and large, lead a simple life without great aspirations. That is what we need to return to. That's what Jesus is offering us in this very short saying: some guidance. Not necessarily to be poor – money itself is not the problem – but to be content with a simple life. That is the way I would put it. And if we can become simple, and content with that simplicity, then without any trouble at all, we will relax into our natural state, into our true nature, into our essence.