I have spent a fair bit of time examining Luke’s beatitudes and woes, so it is highly possible that I will get carried away in this post and start mentioning the tiniest details. However, I will do my best to restrain myself.
The most distinctive feature in Luke is the four woes which parallel the beatitudes addressed to the poor, hungry, weeping, and persecuted. These are groups of people in real-world situations of deprivation. The woes address groups who are the opposite of those in the beatitudes: the rich, full, laughing, and well-spoken-of. These woes make it seem like there is a swap going on between the groups addressed in the beatitudes and those in the woes. This is not strictly true, particularly if you read the first beatitude and woe:
Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort.
What they are promised in both cases is somewhat cryptic, but the poor are not promised riches nor are the rich threatened with poverty. The poor are promised the kingdom of God, which is the world ordered as God intends, with God in charge. In such a situation, the poor would not remain poor. A cursory look at the commands regarding how Israel was supposed to care for the poor in Deuteronomy 15 makes this clear. By contrast, the rich are told they already have their comfort, seeming to imply that they will not receive anything more as they have what they need now.
When the other pairs of beatitudes and woes are placed side by side, the reversal present between them is striking. On this basis, reading the beatitude to the poor as a promise of some kind of future recompense and the woe to the rich as a warning that they will have very little is consistent.
Blessed are those who hunger now, for you will be filled.
Woe to you, those who are satisfied now, for you will be hungry.
Blessed are those who weep now, for you will laugh
Woe those who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
Blessed are you when the people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and cast out your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in heaven; for according to these things their ancestors did to the prophets.
Woe when all the people speak well of you; for according to these things their ancestors did to the false prophets.
The poor, hungry, weeping, and persecuted are reassured that their circumstances will change, while the rich, satisfied, laughing, and well-spoken-of are warned that theirs will too, but not for the better.
Unlike Matthew’s eight third person beatitudes, all of Luke’s use second person pronouns (you).
20 “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are those who hunger now, for you will be filled.
Blessed are those who weep now, for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when the people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and cast out your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in heaven; for according to these things their ancestors did to the prophets.
24 But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort.
25 Woe to you, those who are satisfied now, for you will be hungry.
Woe those who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe when all the people speak well of you; for according to these things their ancestors did to the false prophets.
The second person address is more direct than Matthew’s third person “they.” There is a greater sense that these people, both the marginalised and the well-off, could be in the crowd Jesus is talking to.
Luke’s beatitudes heighten the contrast between the present situation of the hungry and weeping and their future situation by adding “now.”
Blessed are the hungry now because they will be filled.
Blessed are those who weep now because they will laugh.
The same is true for the woes on the satisfied and laughing.
Woe to you, those who are satisfied now, for you will be hungry.
Woe those who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
This “now” creates a tension between the present promise of the kingdom to the poor and reward to the persecuted and the future promise of food and laughter to the hungry and weeping (a tension also present in the woes). However, the future nature of the second and third beatitudes and woes is not necessarily limited to the distant future. It can also be a much closer, more immediate future. So, the contrast is between the present and future circumstances. For example, the poor are poor now but possess God’s kingdom, which by its nature will provide for them in the future. Their current status as possessors of God’s kingdom implies their circumstances will improve. The hungry are hungry now, but they will be filled at some point in the future. Their current status as hungry will be changed in the future. Luke’s beatitudes are all about encouraging those in desperate situations, while the woes warn those who get too comfortable.
In this post and the previous one, I have talked about some of the similarities and differences between Luke and Matthew’s beatitudes. In the next post, I want to compare the beatitudes they have in common (Luke 6:20-23; Matt 5:3-4, 6, 11-12) to see how they differ and whether it makes any difference.
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