January 29, Epiphany 4A (Matthew 5:1-12)
Luke’s Beatitudes are for the poor. What if Matthew’s are, too?
Years ago I taught a preaching course at Duke Divinity School’s Iniciativa de Predicación Hispana-Latina, a program that provides theological and ministerial training in Spanish. In one class, we read Matthew’s Beatitudes alongside Luke’s. My students noticed the differences. They highlighted Matthew’s emphasis on spiritual poverty and hunger for justice, contrasting this with Luke’s claim that Jesus blesses those experiencing material poverty and physical hunger. They also noticed that Luke includes a condemnation of the rich and compares the rich with false prophets. Most of them, especially those who had experienced poverty, preferred Luke’s version. They felt that Luke was talking to them.
Matthew’s version can come off as an affirmation of Christians like the young rich man who is willing to keep God’s commandments of not murdering, not committing adultery, not stealing, not bearing false witness, and honoring his father and mother—but is not willing to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor (Matt. 19:16–22). Meanwhile, Luke’s version affirms what later came to be called God’s preferential option for the poor.
But what if Matthew’s Beatitudes are intended for the poor, too? What if this text is an act of resistance to oppression, a message of liberation for the poor rather than confirmation for the rich?
