The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of rules and regulations; it is a statement of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is getting His way with us. (Oswald Chambers: My Utmost for His Highest -- July 25)
During His earthly ministry, Jesus did not teach the 10 Commandments. He pre-supposed them and went beyond them. For example, He said, "You have heard it said, 'You shall not kill,' but I say to you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment." When He gave us the eight Beatitudes, they were not "rules" and "regulations" to be followed. In fact, at least half of them represent things that are done to us rather than things we ourselves "do." Rather, they represent attitudes of the heart and mind placed in us by the Holy Spirit, who gives us the power to become children of God, as St. John's Gospel tells us.
We could not make ourselves "poor in spirit" if we tried, for by nature we are more like the church in Laodicea: You say, "I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked" (Rev. 3). When the Holy Spirit comes, He "convicts the world of sin," according to Jesus at the Last Supper. That is, He convinces us that we have nothing apart from the grace and mercy of God. That is not an attitude we can achieve by ourselves. I remember once in my pride thinking that at least I was not as bad as "some people." Now I know for sure that but for the grace of God, I, like Paul, am the worst of sinners.
Before the crucifixion, Peter had confidence in his own loyalty to Jesus -- "even if all these desert you, Lord, I will remain faithful," he boasted. In his heart, he spoke the truth, so great was his love for Christ. But his fear over-rode his great love. Until he knew himself to be the greatest of sinners, he was not ready to lead the church of Jesus, for there would be many, many behind him to deny Jesus out of fear. How could he condemn them now?
Every one of us must move from Old Testament Law to the realization that we live not by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. That is, we are poor, blind, destitute, wretched, and pitiful without the moment-by-moment grace and food given by the Holy Spirit. When we are truly poor in spirit, we "hunger and thirst" for the strength given to us by the Spirit of God; we are empty until He speaks, until He feeds us like He did Elijah, strengthening us to continue the journey.
Paul was a devotee and a custodian of the Law, especially of the 10 Commandments. But until he was 'poor in spirit,' knowing that for him, "to live was Christ," he was not fit for the kingdom of God. All of us need an anointing from the Holy Spirit to go beyond the Commandments to the Beatitudes. We need not to rely on our own virtues and adherence to the Law, but to know that we need to listen daily for the Spirit. Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection once told God that if He (God) did not uphold and instruct Lawrence at every moment, he (Lawrence) would without fail choose the wrong way. That is poverty of spirit -- knowing that we are totally dependent on God's grace at every moment of the day.
There is a reason for Pentecost. The counterpart to the fire and thunder at Mt. Sinai is not the Sermon on the Mount; it is the fire and wind of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Until we experience that "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit," we are still "Old Testament" Christians. Once we allow the Holy Spirit to have His way with us, we begin to be molded after the Spirit of Jesus, to be children of God.
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