Some
Thoughts on the Beatitudes
The
beatitudes are no doubt one of the most familiar of New Testament
passages. At least, they are familiar in the broadest sense. Often
they are called the "Sermon on the Mount," and they are often quoted as
beginning with “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” It may come as
surprise, therefore, as we read Luke’s gospel closely and compare it
with
Matthew’s gospel, that while there are similarities in the two records,
they are
very different in tone and in detail.
The word “
makarios" (makarios), which
is often translated “blessed,” was associated
with the Greek gods. They were beings who above mere mortals, and thus
had power
and happiness. To be truly blessed, according to this use of the word,
you had to become one of the gods. By extrapolation, the
word was applied to the elite, upper classes of society, both the
religious authorities and the wealthy and powerful. Blessing was
attached to those who were rich and powerful.
In Hebrew Scripture, the prophets speak of a God whose favour falls
upon the
poor, the widow and the oppressed. The Israelite tradition, differently
than much of Greek religious understanding, sees that God’s blessing is
afforded particularly to the poor; the rich and powerful are often
singled out as oppressors, and those who walk a path in opposition to
the
ways of God’s justice (zdekah) (
hakedz).
An old rabbinic story brings this
home:
The old Rabbi said, "In olden
days there were men who saw the face
of God."
"Why don't they any more?" a
young student asked.
"Because, nowadays no one stoops
so low," he replied.
The story illustrates both a spiritual and a social view of the
prophetic
tradition. Those regarded as “Outcast” or “Lowly” or “Poor” are seen as
the chosen of God.
Given this background, the beatitudes are not so surprising in their
reversals, perhaps. But they would have been none the less as
difficult for
the original hearers as they are for us. They go to the root of the
matter, and they
are “radical” (meaning of the roots) in the sense that they disturb our
deepest
assumptions about success and the judgments of history.
The cutting edge of the Beatitudes is particularly sharp
and clear in Luke. Unlike Matthew, Luke has Jesus speak not on a
“mount” but on the plain, symbolically in the lower places and common
realities of human existence. They are proclaimed after Jesus has
already been
in conflict with the religious leadership, both in his home
village and in the surrounding region. In Luke, the setting for
the
beatitudes falls just after he has yet again enraged the
leadership of a synagogue by performing an act of healing on the
Sabbath.
Luke has Jesus “head to the hills,” in order to escape the rage and
anger
of the religious leadership. He goes to pray in a high place and spends
the night in meditation in the “presence” of God.
On his way down from this time of prayer and meditation, he calls his
followers to him, and names some of them as apostles or messengers and
leaders, a leadership in contrast to the religious leaders he has
confronted in the synagogue and villages. These are leaders who appear
to be made up of militant revolutionaries (Zealots), fisherman and
others
who appear to be of a lower class than the traditional leaders. The
contrast between Jesus’ apostles and the leadership of the religious
community is strongly emphasized. The Jesus movement is made
up of those who are amongst the “cursed,” disenfranchised, and
ostracized; those who oppose the Roman, local and religious authorities.
Luke also notes that the sick, the demon possessed and those tormented
by
unclean spirits, gathered round Jesus. Again, this is a reversal of
expectation. The Holy and pure would take care not to be touched
by the unclean, the
sick and the demon possessed. Luke has Jesus surrounded by these
unclean
outcasts, and even more shockingly, they touch him. Their reaching out
to
him causes them to be made clean. Again, the influence of Jesus is one
that breaks all barriers, even those between the clean and the unclean.
In
telling the story this way, Luke’s gospel sharpens the edge of the
beatitudes.
Given the setting in Luke, the beatitudes come as a direct address to
Jesus’ followers. In Matthew it is
the poor,
the hungry, etc. These are general categories. In Luke
the address is
you poor,
you hungry, etc. In
Luke Jesus address those who surround him directly. His
disciples/followers and those he has named as apostles are clearly
named
as “poor, hungry, mourning, and despised.” They are the outcasts and
those who have lost status in their culture, society and religious
world. Jesus is naming them as blessed of God, in opposition to the
surrounding
culture; he is turning cultural norms on their head.
The intent and the force of the beatitudes is often blunted and
spiritualized. They are made into a call for the religious
follower to submit to the injustices of the world. Tragically,
they have been used
to counsel women to accept beatings by their husbands, and to suggest
that the poor and
destitute should accept the injustice of their situation. But Jesus, in
Luke, is clearly reversing the order of things as
practiced by Imperial Rome and the local village economy and religious
understanding; the beatitudes become a challenge to the accepted order,
and more deeply to the accepted presuppositions of how things “must”
be.
When we attend to their
context and intent, the Beatitudes disturb our spiritual complacency.
Our
blessedness is both a gift given and a call to “turn the world upside
down.” To see God, we need to look to the lowly and accept our own
frailty and human dependence. To bring the blessing of God to all, we
must turn the order of the world upside down.