¹⁷ And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;
²⁰ And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
²¹ "Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. "Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh.
²² "Blessed are you when men 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 so their fathers did to the prophets.
²⁴ "But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation.
²⁵ "Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger. "Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
²⁶ "Woe to you, when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

• In this narrative, Luke incorporates part of the material Matthew had included in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:1-12). But instead of staying on the mountain to deliver His discouse, Jesus came down on a level place to join a great multitude of people who came to hear Him.
• Luke's version of the sermon is shorter than Matthew's. And unlike Matthew's nine blessings and no woes, Luke has four each, set in parallels: poor-rich, hungry-full, weeping-laughing, and rejecting-accepted.
• It is widely held that although Luke explicitly says in v.20a that Jesus is speaking to his disciples, He cannot be addressing these same disciples in 6:24, for they are hardly "rich". Sharing possessions, lending without expecting a return, forgive debts (6:34,35,37,38) are instructions given to people with possessions.
• (v.22) "hate you, set you aside and scorn you". The three verbs move from attitude (hate) to action (setting aside), to speech (scorn). The exprerience of rejection is complete.
• (v.24) The "consolation" of the rich is their wealth, contrasting with the consolation of the poor which is the kingdom of God.
• In the cultural context of ancient Palestine, "rich" and "poor" have different meanings than for us in our time. Power was the means for acquiring wealth. The person who had power took wealth from those who were weaker and unable to defend themselves. By contrast, today wealth bestows power.

Jesus' Beatitudes are words of consolation and also are moral qualities that we should strive to achieve.

1. In what way are you rich or poor today?
2. Which of the promises means the most to you? Why?
3. With which woe do you most identify with at the moment? Why?

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A synthesis by the Vietnamese Christian Life (Dong Hanh) Community