Wasted Sermon Prep: “Poor in spirit” flows from “bind up the brokenhearted”

Working on the sermon for this coming Sunday morning when I noticed a dynamic parallel between the first line of the Beatitudes and Isaiah 61:1:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).

“to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted” (Isaiah 61:1b)

​Many have noted that the Sermon on the Mount as a whole is fulfillment of or stems from the Isianic promises and in particular Isaiah 61. Matthew's Sermon on the Mount is his version of Luke's use of Isaiah 61 in Luke 4:16-19. You can see the connection between "poor in spirit" and Isaiah's parallelism of "to the poor" and "to bind up the brokenhearted."

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