Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God

Virgin Mary praying to Christ, detail from Deesis mosaic, Aghia Sophia cathedral, Constintinople, Byzantine Empire (present day Istanbul, Turkey), 13th century

 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.  And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:  Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.

And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits.  And they were healed.  And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.  

Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said:  

"Blessed are you poor, 

For yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now, 

For you shall be filled.  

Blessed are you who weep now,

For you shall laugh.

Blessed are you when men hate you,

And when they exclude you,

And revile you, and cast out your name as evil,

For the Son of Man's sake.  

Rejoice in that day leap for joy!

For indeed your reward is great in heaven,

For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.

"But woe to you who are rich,

For you have received your consolation.

Woe to you who are full,

For you shall hunger.

Woe to you who laugh now,

 For you shall mourn and weep.

Woe to you when all men speak well of you,

For so did their fathers to the false prophets."

 

- Luke 6:12–26 

 

Yesterday we read that it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that Jesus went through the grainfields.  And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands.  And some of the Pharisees said to them, "Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?"  But Jesus answering them said, "Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:  how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?"  And He said to them, "The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."  Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that He entered the synagogue and taught.  And a man was there whose right hand was withered.  So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him.  But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Arise and stand here."  And he arose and stood.  Then Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one thing:  Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?"  And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  But they were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

 

  Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.  And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: . . .  My study cites St. Ambrose of Milan, who comments that Jesus, being the Son of God, does not pray as if to obtain grace or revelation from God the Father.  Rather, as the Son of Man, He prays as the Advocate for humanity (see 1 John 2:1).  It notes that, according to Theophylact, Jesus spent all night in prayer before selecting the twelve apostles to teach us that before choosing a candidate for any spiritual ministry, we should pray that God will reveal to us the one suited for the task.  Note that these men were already disciples of Christ, but now these twelve will also be named apostles.  Disciple is from a Greek word that means "learner," and apostle means "one sent out."

 

 . . . Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.  My study Bible comments that the names of the Twelve are not the same in all lists, as many people had more than one name.   Both here and in Matthew 10:1-4, the names are given in pairs.  Mark's Gospel reports that the apostles were sent out two by two on their first missionary journey (Mark 6:7), so perhaps the grouping represents who traveled together.

 

 And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits.  And they were healed.  And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.  The text tells us that Jesus stood on a level place to deliver the sermon He's about to give.  What follows is called the Sermon on the Plain, and is similar in content to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 - 7, although it is not as extensive.  Let us note the large crowd, both of His disciples and also a great multitude of people from all regions of Israel, and even the Gentile territories of Tyre and Sidon -- and that power went out from Him.  My study Bible comments that Jesus repeated many of His teaching over a period of three years (John reports three Passover feasts attended by Jesus between His Baptism and Passion).

 

Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said:  "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."   As in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus begins by declaring Beatitudes (supreme blessedness).   To be blessed in this context, my study Bible says, indicates heavenly, spiritual exaltation, rather than earthly happiness or prosperity.  In Matthew's Sermon on the Mount, Jesus' first Beatitude declares, "Blessed are the poor in spirit. . ."  In Hebrew, my study Bible explains, poor means both the materially poor and also the faithful among God's people.  To be poor in spirit is to have the heart of the poor, the same attitude as the poor, and total dependence upon God.

"Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled."  Again, turning to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addresses those who "hunger and thirst for righteousness."  My study Bible says that these see the presence of God and God's Kingdom as the most important thing in life.  They have a desperate craving for what is right before God, comparable to a starving person's craving for food.

"Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh."  Those who weep are akin to those who mourn in Matthew 5:4.  They sorrow over the sufferings of this life (Matthew 9:23), the sufferings of others (John 11:35), the state of the world (Luke 19:41), and their own sins (Luke 7:36-38).  All of these will laugh in the sense that they will be joyful through the power of God both in this world and in the age to come.  My study Bible comments that holy sorrow is part of the path of repentance, conversion, and virtuous action  (to weep is frequently understood in this context as well), and is in effect the firstfruit of infinite joy.  This weeping or sorrow is distinguished from ungodly sorrow, which is a sadness that leads to despair (see 2 Corinthians 7:10).

"Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake.  Rejoice in that day leap for joy!  For indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets."  Those who suffer persecution for Christ's sake walk the road of the prophets, saints, and martyrs, my study Bible notes.  See Acts 5:40-41.

"But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger.  Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.  Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets."   My study Bible notes that Luke reports for "woes" which are not found in Matthew's Sermon on the Mount.  Woe, it says, is an indication not merely of sorrow, but of unspeakable destruction (Isaiah 5:18-24; Amos 5:18-19; Revelation 12:12).  According to St. Cyril of Alexandria, those who prize the vices listed here are liable to the "utmost misery"; but find hope when they sacrifice their earthly blessings in showing mercy to others.

There is one point in today's commentary from my study Bible that leaps out at me, and that is this final citing from the writing of St. Cyril of Alexandria.  He comments that those who prize the vices listed in Christ's Woes are liable to the "utmost misery"; but find hope when they sacrifice their earthly blessings in showing mercy to others.  This seems to me to be exceedingly illuminating.  That is because St. Cyril cites a way in which what we do in this world, how we use our worldly goods (in which I would include time, our health, our initiative, etc.) as a way of transfiguring our lives.  Even those consigned by Christ to this "woe" are capable of expressing mercy through whatever resources they have.  This is clearly what it means to repent, to "change one's mind" in the literal meaning of the word for repent in Greek (metanoia/μετανοια).  Now let us note that this comment from St. Cyril effectively correlates repentence with the practice of mercy.  Mercy is a way of turning around our lives from one way to the other.  That is, turning away from a false path, and turning toward Christ.  It's important to note that this practice of mercy is something that comes from the heart, and is not merely some form of what is popularly called "virtue signalling," nor a way of jumping on a political or social bandwagon, nor conformity to popular ideas or to follow a crowd, or some other ulterior motive.  To practice mercy, St. Cyril is effectively saying, is to have a change of heart, or change of mind.  And therein we find something akin to a shaft of light in a dark tunnel.   Earlier in Luke's Gospel, the people ask John the Baptist what they must do to practice repentance in preparation for the coming of Christ.  "What shall we do then?" they want to know.  John responds by instructing the people of various walks of life what they can do, and in particular is mentioned those Jews notorious among the people for taking what they can get through authority and power, the tax collectors and soldiers.  See Luke 3:10-14.   Looking at this passage, we note that each word of advice given in response to this question by John is offering things that can be done as acts of mercy.  We might also think of the practice of mercy as acts of compassion, as our Lord so often shows us that He is "moved with compassion" and that compassion plays such a great role in His ministry (see Matthew 9:35-36; 14:14; 15:32; 18:27, 33; 20:34; Mark 1:41; 5:19; 6:34; 8:2, 9:22; Luke 7:13; 10:33; 15:20).  St. Paul speaks of Jesus as our great High Priest as One who has compassion:  "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:15-16).  What St. Cyril offers us, then, is a way out of our "woes" that is enlightening even in its simplicity.  We must think of the practice of mercy as our way to repent, in whatever form that comes to us to practice.  Note that mercy is neither sentimentality nor pity, but a true sense of what is helpful and needful.  A practice of mercy is also the act of creating community; it has been called "love in action."  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus extensively cautions us not to use such acts as public spectacle, but rather prizes those which are done in secret.  One might read all of Matthew 6 in relation to this particular teaching regarding mercy and the things Jesus names as Woes.  Let us note also that the practice of mercy can be constituted by the smallest of seemingly minor acts, such as a smile when someone needs it, a good word, encouragement, even a tiny and intimate kindness, a touch on the shoulder, a reassurance.  We need not "save the world" in order to save the world, for in so doing in the name of Christ we participate in God's love which brings salvation to the world (John 3:16-17).  Let us remember the heart of the poor in the spiritual sense explained here, which is neither grandiose nor leaping ahead of itself, but humble and seeking the way of Christ, even when no one else knows it.  Above, I post a portion of what remains of a mosaic of the Aghia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom") cathedral, built in Constantinople, the capitol of the Byzantine Empire.  It is a detail of what is called the Deesis mosaic.  In the center is Christ, and on either side the Virgin Mary (called Mother of God) and St. John the Baptist pray on behalf of humanity.   Both of these figures constitute a picture of what it means to be blessed in the sense Christ gives in today's reading.  She is called the most "blessed among women" (Luke 1:28), while John is called greatest "born to women" (Matthew 11:11).  The portion in the image above is the face of Mary the Mother of God, in whose expression we can surely see the compassion Jesus teaches for us all.