I think that's why Matthew uses that form, because that's the essence of the matter,

blessed of the poor in spirit. But he really wants to encourage those who are sociologically

poor. He really wants to say, there's hope for you. And God cares about you in that condition. That kind of condition moves the heart of God.

There's something really tender about the way Piper explains this because those living in poverty can sometimes feel like no one sees them or even cares.

And here's Jesus basically saying, you're not forgotten.

I'm Dan Kroover.

In this episode of Light and Truth, John Piper shows how the gospel can land with special force

on those the world tends to overlook.

This talk was originally a session on money delivered

at Bethlehem Baptist Church on Wednesday, January 16th, 1991.

Jesus was poor. The texts from which I get that are 1 Luke 2.7, the whole incarnational

scene. There's a virgin with her betrothed. They don't have enough to get into the inn, or at least evidently they

couldn't make their way in with money, couldn't bribe or anything. And so he's born in a stall of

some kind, in a manger, place where cows ate. I don't think that was an accident at all.

I think,

theologically, that was precisely the way God wanted it to be

because of what we'll read here a little bit later.

The next indication that he was poor was Luke 224,

where Mary and Joseph, when he's eight days old, take him to the temple,

and instead of offering a sheep or a goat or a bull, they offered the poor man's sacrifice,

dove, turtle doves, birds. They're cheap. You can get those for a penny in the

temple when they're selling things in the temple. And another indication that Mary and Joseph were

...