Blessings And Woes

"Then, looking at HIS disciples, JESUS said,

'Fortunate are you who are poor, for the kingdom of GOD is yours.

Fortunate are you, who are hungry now, for you will be filled.

Fortunate are you, who weep now, for you will laugh.

Fortunate are you, when people hate you, when they reject you and insult you and number you among criminals, because of the Son of Man.  Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven.  Remember, that is how the ancestors of the people treated the prophets.

But alas for you, who have wealth, for you have been comforted now.

Alas for you, who are full, for you will go hungry.

Alas for you, who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

Alas for you, when people speak well of you, for that is how the ancestors of the people treated the false prophets.'" - Luke 6:20-26 

(Matthew adapts the beatitudes for the members of the church of his time.  Luke, on the other hand, puts the beatitudes here just as JESUS proclaimed them to the people of Galilee.  In the words of JESUS, the beatitudes were a call and a hope addressed to the forgotten of the world, beginning with the poor among HIS people, heirs of GOD's promise to the prophets.

In contrast with these beatitudes, Luke presents lamentations recalling those of Isaiah [65:13-14].  They are lamentations as used for the dead, not maledictions.  For the rich forget GOD and become impermeable to grace.  These lamentations are a sign of the love of GOD for the rich, as are the beatitudes for the poor, for HE loves them all, but in a different way.  To the first HE affirms that HE will destroy the structures of injustice, and to the others HE gives a warning: richness brings death.

The beatitudes do not speak of the conversion of the rich, nor do they say that the poor are better, but they promise a reversal.  The kingdom signifies a new society: GOD blesses the poor but not poverty.)

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