Luke 6:17 – 23 The Great Discourse

Luke 6:17 – 23 The Great Discourse

And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all. And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.

The Great Discourse starts off with some of the most famous words in the Bible – “Blest are you poor . . .” These are known as the beatitudes. And then after the Blessings are the Woes: “Woe to you rich, woe to you who are full . . .etc.” which are left out of the other Gospels. Let’s start with the Blests.

Blest are you poor, the reign of God is yours. What is so blessed about being poor? Is this an observation or a promise? An observation in that Jesus is stating that the poor have less “things” to get in the way of their relationship with God? This could be what Jesus meant after all in the second half of the passage he does say woe to you rich, you full, you laughing. But to me this kind of clinical, dispassionate approach does not seem like the Jesus I think I know – a Jesus who is loving, compassionate, involved in the lives and troubles of his followers and the poor people around him. So I think I am coming to the conclusion that these are promises – promises that those who struggle, those who are poor, down-trodden, hated, discriminated against, held down by indifference, greed, violence, etc., will find justice, mercy, love, fulfillment, and peace in the Kingdom Christ is committed to bringing about.