Luke 6:12-26
12Now during those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. 13And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: 14Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, 16and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
17Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
20Then Jesus looked up at his disciples and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
24"But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. 26Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets."
Beatitudes
Comparing Matthew's Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-12) and Luke's Sermon on the Plain or a Level Place (pasture, meadow, savannah, farmland) is a classic move that helps us understand differences between Luke's and Matthew's gospels. Jesus' "Blessed" list often is called The Beatitudes. The Greek almost always translated as "Blessed" approximately means happy, well-off, content, fortunate, but not quite, because there's no exact English equivalent.
Matthew's Jesus goes (trudges?) up the mountain and from there he proclaims a series of prophetic if/then possibilities. Among other emphases, Matthew's gospel brings us Jesus of Nazareth as a new Moses. Moses went up Mount Sinai (or Horeb, same place, different name) to receive the Ten Commandments or Words.
Luke's Jesus and his disciples come down the mountain before Jesus gives this talk; that's also like Moses who came down Mount Sinai or Horeb to deliver the Ten Words/Decalogue he'd received from God.
The Gospel According to Luke
Unlike Matthew, Luke parallels four blessings with four "woe" statements. Woes disrupt and disturb our comfortable complacency, tell us to pay attention, to listen up! They're exactly like diamond-shaped warnings along a roadway: it's important to know about falling rocks, dead end, slippery when wet, because if you have the information you can avoid the negative consequences of those dangers. These woes aren't about misery, pain, sorrow, or distress. Luke's Jesus doesn't line out blessings versus curses – these aren't Divine favor versus God's judgment – not realm of heaven versus depths of hell.
Matthew's Sermon on the Mount includes only blessings (no woes or warnings) that result from certain human attitudes and behaviors. In Matthew, these blessings are strongly spiritual; in contrast, Luke reports earthbound, physical benefits.
Earlier in Luke we've seen social and economic leveling in Mary's Magnificat as she celebrates news of God's arrival in our midst (Luke 1:39-55). In his first act of public ministry when he reads Torah in synagogue on the Sabbath (Luke 4:14-24), Jesus picks up Mary's theme; he reads from Isaiah and promises jubilee good news (gospel) to the poor, liberty to imprisoned and oppressed, economic and social justice.
Consistent with Luke's focus on distributive (who gets what, when, where, how, and even "why") justice, common-wealth, and our neighbors' well-being, in Luke's gospel Jesus gives this talk from the same level or elevation as the listening people.
Jesus almost definitely gave many different versions of this homily in many different places, so there's no need to ask which version is more accurate. People back then probably memorized more easily than most of us do now, and for sure Jesus and his peers had committed huge chunks of scripture to memory, but particular events from Jesus' ministry got recorded by the gospel writers because news of those significant actions and encounters constantly made rounds because they were such "gospeled" great news.
I especially love that Luke records the time Jesus offered these promises after he'd been praying with his disciples (taught people) and from a larger group chose twelve apostles (sent people). Notice that he spoke to many persons all told; each one would have understood to a different degree and grasped a somewhat different perspective.
Where we Live: Blessings & Woes
Without a doubt Jesus' Beatitudes were very different from ways most political and religious leaders usually behaved; they subverted the status quo most regular people routinely experienced, too. You know where I'm going?! What blessings and woes can we announce? COVID mostly could have been history by now if only more people and the leaders of those people… If. Only.
I'll insist blessed are those who take their own health and the well-being of their neighbors seriously enough to get vaccinated, to mask up whenever they venture out, and *even* to avoid sizable gatherings whenever possible. Blessed are those who realize every facet of existence intertwines, so the overall economy can't thrive if the individuals who move and shake the goods and the legal tender through the system can't be there to do their things.
Woe to those who don't and won't acknowledge my freedom limits yours – yours limits mine and if I test positive, your cohorts are more likely to do so, and each social and economic move impacts a few hundred in its path.
*Even* from someone (me, your blogger!) who loves worshipping with the people called church in the building we also call church:
Blessed are those ecclesiastical leaders who trust science enough and love their people enough to navigate previous unknowns of Zoom and live streaming, who are more than willing to give up their druthers for everyone's future.
Woe (be careful, people) to those who correctly explain Christianity is embodied and incarnational and sensory, so digital electronic versions cannot ever be faithful. Alternatives?
What Blessings and Woes do you declare?
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