By Richard Clifford, S.J.
We are more familiar with the Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5-8 of Matthew’s Gospel than we are to Luke’s Sermon on the Plain in 6:20-49. Both sermons begin similarly – with a series of beatitudes; Matthew has nine, and Luke four. The differences are not only in their number but in their intent. In Matthew, the Beatitudes begin “Blessed are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Many scholars consider the Matthaean phrase “in spirit” to indicate further reflection on “poor” to include a humble attitude. Luke’s version simply declares, “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours”; Luke shifts to direct address, “you who are poor.” Uniquely, Luke follows up with a series of four “woes,” framing the beatitudes with positive and negative states. In Matthew, Jesus gives his hearers an ideal to strive for, whereas Luke pronounces the state of poverty itself blessed. By the word “blessed,” the Lucan Jesus declares fortunate those who are economically poor, whereas those who rich are declared unfortunate. It’s almost as if Jesus in Luke is saying, “You who happen to be poor now– congratulations!”
This interpretation raises an important question, however. Is Jesus telling the poor to be content with their poverty? Is he also counseling a similar acceptance with the other three beatitudes — going hungry, weeping, and being hated? The answer is definitely no! Those who are (economically) poor, hungry, weeping, and hated are in situations they find themselves in. They did not choose them.
But the designation “poor” in Jesus’s time was often a self-description for the faithful in Israel who wait hopefully for the Lord, people like Simeon and Anna in the infancy narratives in Luke. Both Simeon and Anna describe themselves as “awaiting the consolation of Israel.” In the language of that time, they would say “we are among the poor of Israel.” The best statement of being poor in the Gospel of Luke is Mary’s great prayer, the Magnificat.
His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him.
He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.
He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.
The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty.
Note the radical reversal in the lines quoted above and in the entire prayer. The “poor” are blessed in the sense of fortunate, because the Lord is now taking their part, intervening to help them against pressure from the high and mighty. They are “blessed because God is with them as Jesus comes into their lives at this time. The Beatitudes both in Luke and Matthew are meant to encourage us. If we understand them correctly, they certainly do.
Richard Clifford, S.J. former President of the Weston Jesuit School of Theology and Founding Dean of the Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry