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 You might begin your study of Luke’s beatitudes with a comparison to
Matthew’s. Not only does the terrain change-from mountain top to plain-but
Luke’s is much briefer than Matthew’s. Other differences between Luke and
Matthew to consider:
Beatitudes in Matthew and Luke
| "Blessings" in Matthew |
"Blessings" in
Luke |
| a.
Poor (in spirit) |
Poor |
| b.
Mourn |
Weep (now) |
| c.
Meek |
|
| d.
Hunger (after righteousness) |
Hunger (now) |
| e.
Merciful |
|
| f.
Pure in heart |
|
| g.
Peacemakers |
|
| h.
Persecuted |
|
| i.
Reviled, persecuted |
Hated, excluded, reviled,
demeaned |
| defamed
on Jesus’ account |
on Son of Man’s account |
Unlike Matthew’s poor "in spirit," and hunger "after
righteousness", Luke is blunt; certainly less spiritualized. A final Lukan addition
include reversals-"the arrival of God will be marked by a complete reversal of
fortunes for the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless, the full and the
empty." [1]
 Blessed are the sat upon, spat
upon, ratted on. -Paul Simon
By proclaiming blessed those who in the human order are thought hopeless, and by
pronouncing woes over those human beings regarded as well off, Jesus opens the kingdom of
the heavens to everyone. -Dallas Willard
Dallas Willard asks who would be on our list of "hopeless blessables" in
today’s world. Can you, following Jesus’ lead as a teacher, concretize the
gospel for those around you? Who would you regard as the most unfortunate people around
you? [2]
 Please see the DPS homily for
this passage that is posted for this week.
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[1] Interpretation Series: Luke (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox
Press, 1990), p. 88.
[2] Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy (Harper/Collins, 1998), page 122.
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