The Beatitudes in Matthew and Luke

As any reader of the Gospels will have noticed, there are two beatitude lists spoken by Jesus; one in Matthew and one in Luke. They are similar, but also different. For instance, both begin a major section of teaching by Jesus, in front of a crowd of his disciples and people from the surrounding countries. But in Matthew there are nine beatitudes and in Luke only four. What is more, Luke contrasts his beatitudes with four woes, whereas Matthew has none.

So let’s have a look at these two lists of beatitudes. This is my translation of them, but you can always read them in your preferred translation of the New Testament:

Matthew 5:1-12

1 Now seeing the crowd he (Jesus) went up the mountain, and after he sat down his disciples approached him; 2 and after opening his mouth he taught then, saying,

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs in the Kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 Blessed are those persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are you whenever they mock you and persecute you and say all evil against you falsely on account of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven; for in this way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Luke 6:20-26 

 

20 And he (Jesus) lifted up his eyes to his disciples, saying,

“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 whenever the people hate you and whenever they exclude you and revile you and distain your name as evil because of the Son of Man; 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in heaven; for in accordance with the same their fathers were doing to the prophets.

24 But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort.

25 Woe to you, who have been filled now, for you will be hungry.

Woe to those who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

26 Woe whenever all people speak well of you; for in accordance with the same their fathers were doing to the false prophets.”

Exploring these Beatitudes

 

By reading these two lists of beatitudes side by side, so many differences jump out. Matthew’s list is more focused on spiritual things; poverty of spirit, meekness, strong desire for righteousness etc. And Luke appears to be focused on the physical situation of people; poverty, hunger, wealth and so on. 

Even from just reading these lists it is clear that Matthew and Luke had two very different purposes in mind when they recorded the beatitudes in these different ways. Matthew’s list reads as a list of virtues which the devout Christian should aspire to for life in God’s Kingdom. They are spiritual ideals that are presented; purity of heart, peacemaking, meekness etc. As with all virtues are attainable by almost anyone who makes a habit of practicing them. So Matthew’s beatitudes present a picture of the virtues that Jesus’ followers should aspire to. 

The exception is the final beatitude in Matthew’s list. This is one of those he shares with Luke – the blessing on those who are persecuted for following Jesus. In both cases this beatitude encourages Jesus’ followers to face persecution courageously as their loyalty to God through this persecution will be rewarded, giving them a reason to rejoice rather than despair.  

By contrast to Matthew, Luke’s list reaches out to those in marginalised conditions and declares that they are blessed despite the fact that they are poor, weeping and hungry because it is from this condition that they have reached out the God for help. And Luke doesn’t stop there, going on to attack the rich, laughing and satisfied, because they have all they ever need and don’t need any help from God. 

Luke’s beatitudes and woes turn the expectations of society on their head in a way that Matthew’s don’t. Even today, when we look around, we are more likely to call the rich blessed than the poor, those who have food rather than those who don’t, and those who laugh rather than those who weep. Luke’s Jesus upends these expectations, saying, “No, this is not how things are.” It is those whose situation has lead them to depend on God and follow him, who are blessed. 

Now I am not advocating Luke’s beatitude list over Matthew’s. I admit that I have spent more time studying Luke’s beatitudes than Matthew’s as it is part of the focus of my thesis. As a result I have read through a fair quantity of scholarly work comparing and contrasting the two lists. Particularly they try to determine the form which was present in the source shared by both writers, Q (see my post on the Synoptic Problem), by closely examining both Gospels and making a judgement call on which language is more original or less typical of the Gospel writer and which has features indicating it is more likely to be original. While such research does yield some useful insights, I also think it retracts from reading each beatitude list on its own, without reference to the other, and in relation to the different sermons which Jesus preaches to the crowd afterwards in each Gospel. 

I know I began this post by placing the two lists alongside each other for comparison, so in some ways I too am guilty of setting the beatitude lists up in opposition to each other. However I did this in order to notice just how different they are, rather than to go into a detailed comparison of the two and determine whose list is more likely to be more original. I think that each Gospel writer has formed this list from whatever source material he had – be it first-hand eye-witnesses or written accounts of such sermons taught by Jesus – and shaped it to fit within the way he tells the gospel story. If you read through the two Gospels, it is obvious that, though they share a lot in common, they have different emphases, different themes and ideas that they highlight (this is also true of Mark and John). This is clear in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7) and the Sermon on the Plain (Lk 6:20-49). An example from Luke is that the situation of the poor in contrast to the rich also appears in stories such as the rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31), the Great Banquet (Lk 14:15-24) and the generous widow (Lk 21:1-4). These stories don’t all appear in the other Synoptic Gospels and when they do, it is to fit into the way each writer is telling the story (the banquet appears in Mt 22:1-14 and the widow in Mk 12:41-44).

So when you are next reading one of the stories shared by the Synoptic Gospels (and there are many), take the time to read it carefully and notice if it differs from how it is told in the other Synoptics. It is remarkable how often there are subtle changes and different details as well as considerable divergences, much like there are in the two beatitude lists. Through this close reading of these Gospel stories, it is possible to begin to notice the different aspects of a story that the different writers will focus on and the ideas that they bring up time and time again. Noticing these differences can change the way you read and understand the Gospels, seeing them as four different ways of telling the same story, as well as one big story.