"Life In The New Community”

In Jesus Holy Name February 16, 2025

Luke 6:20,24

“Life in the New Community”

If we are to understand these beatitudes in the Gospel of Luke there are some “first things first” we should know.

1) Luke is probably writing between 58 AD & 64 AD when the Apostle Paul is in prison in Caesarea. It is obvious that in writing his Gospel he was able to interview Mary and many individuals who had experienced a healing from the hand of Jesus. We also know that the brother of Jesus, James, is leading the church in Jerusalem.

2) The Gospel of Luke is the 1st of a two-volume history of Christianity. The book of Acts is the 2nd volume.

3) Luke is aware that Matthew and Mark have been written and so he tends to follow the time line of the life of Jesus.

4) He is writing to the new Christian community made up of both Jews and Gentiles, ordinary working, tradesmen, business people and Pharisees who have come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah.

5) In the context, “Blessed” does not mean “happy”. “Blessed” is one word that means: “people who follow Jesus are privileged recipients of God’s special gifts of grace.” (Fred Danker, “Jesus in the New Age”)

Note: These beatitudes are addressed to the “disciples”, which by the 60’s meant every follower or Jesus because by this time the word “apostles” is used only for the original 12 all others are called “disciples’”. I have to admit when first reading this beatitude I was shocked by the words “Blessed are you who are poor. For yours is the kingdom of God.” He means economically poor. This is different than the beatitude in Matthew: “Blessed are you who are “spiritually poor.”

So, my question… what is going on? These “beatitudes” are about how new Christians are to live together in the “church”. You now have both the economic poor and the wealthy Pharisees in the same church. You have Jews who have become followers of Jesus and Gentiles like Cornealius, (Acts 10) a Roman soldier and his family all in the same church.

Everyone no matter their economic status is a recipient of God’s grace, and in

the church they are to “care” for one another.

Ultimately the answer is found in Acts 2 after 3000 people are baptized Luke writes: (read) The new believers devoted themselves to the teaching of the Apostles, and to fellowship, Communion, and prayer. Many sold some of their possessions to provide for others who were poor, which of course gave rise to the 1st controversy of how the money was being used, when Jews of Greek ethnicity complained that their widows were receiving less bread than the Jews of Hebrew ethnicity. But that is a story for another time.

Returning to the beatitudes in Luke 6. “Blessed are the economically poor” is off set by a warning to those who are well off. But “woe to you who are rich for you have already received your comfort.” (The point, now what are you going to do with your financial blessings in your new community, the “church”?)

“Blessed are you if people hate you and exclude you, even insult you because of your connection to Jesus.” Yes there is persecution, James the brother of John was killed in Jerusalem, Peter and John had been thrown into prison….(which also happened during COVID when churches were closed and when Christians were arrested for praying at abortion clinics…So a reminder …Luke writes: ”rejoice because your reward is great in heaven. Persecution is to be expected if you follow Jesus. This is how prophets were treated. “

The beatitudes in Luke are a reminder that Jesus experienced the hatred of men who refused His offer to live under God’s rules. Jesus experienced the scorn and rejection of Herod who laughed at Him then adorned with a purple robe and sent Him back to Pilot. Peter, and Judas denied Him. Pharisees hated Him because He caught them “defrauding people in the temple, and making God’s house a den of robbers”. Some even accused Him of casting out demons by the power of the devil. Others physically beat Him, slapped His face and then nailed Him to a cross.

In Chapter 12 Luke verifies this 1st Woe with the parable of the “Rich Fool”.

Jesus told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’