[To see what this is all about, go to the first pass at this weekend's Bible lesson, here.]
These verse-by-verse comments are going to necessarily be down and dirty, not as detailed as I would ordinarily make them. There's been too much going on this week for that.
17He 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, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.
(1) For the significance of a level place and to learn where Jesus were coming from, see the first pass at the lesson.
(2) Tyre and Sidon were foreign, that is Gentile, cities. This demonstrates that Jesus' Kingdom is welcoming to all peoples, Jews and Gentiles.
(3) The people around Jesus here were the apostles, the disciples, and the crowds. A disciple is any follower of Jesus Christ.
18They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
(1) This calls to mind the woman with the hemorrhaging whose story we find in Luke 8:43-48. Power exuded from Jesus.
20Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
(1) The sermon starts with three beatitudes. But one, the first one, in v.20, is an umbrella for the other two. This is a sermon about the blessedness of those in poverty, financial and otherwise. Poverty isn't being idealized here. Jesus is saying that those who are poor understand their vulnerability and their need of God. Faith comes more easily to people living on the margins of society. Wealth can insulate us from the realities of life. Wealth causes people to think that they are self-sufficient. See here.
(2) The second and third beatitudes here describe two common elements of impoverished lives, hunger and weeping.
(3) Notice that the first beatitude is in the present tense. The next two are in the future tense. Jesus doesn't promise that all will be well in this life.
22“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.
(1) I think it's fair to say that here, Jesus is including both those who are poor and those among the wealthy who dare to share with the poor. In the first pass, I talk about Luke's emphasis of Jesus' call on those who have money and property to share with those who don't have those things. This isn't a political program. It's a call on the Church to undertake John the Baptist's ministry of leveling so that all can see and experience the Savior. See here.
23Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
(1) You'll know you're being faithful when people are ticked off at you for believing in tough times!
(2) The word translated as leap is the same one used to describe the reaction of the baby in Elizabeth's womb (John the Baptist) to the sound of Mary's voice. See here.
24“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25“Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
“Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
(1) Here, we see the blessings in the foregoing verses reversed. See here for a definition of woe. Throughout Luke's Gospel, we find Jesus turning the world's values upside down, announcing that the Kingdom of God is opposed to what the world values.
(2) Those intent on wealth and attain it have already received their consolations, Jesus says. They have the ultimate blessings which can be given by the god they worship, money. God can't bless those who have made anything or anyone other than Him their god; they've effectively blocked God from their lives by their idol worship.
A passage carrying a similar argument about the consolations offered by an idol can be found in Matthew. There, Jesus talks about those who give to the poor for the sake of being noticed by others. “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward." (Matthew 6:2) In this case, if being applauded for being good is your god, you also have blocked God from your life.
God won't share His throne with any other idol!
26“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
(1) This reverses the beatitude in v. 23.
(2) This doesn't mean that we're to make ourselves obnoxious, as some self-righteous people who claim to speak for Christ do. But it does mean to be fearless in standing with Christ.
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