Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?
Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• We’ve jumped back to the beginning of Luke’s Gospel, though with the advantage of having already read through it. This is one of Jesus’ initial teachings to his disciples. How have we seen these beatitudes played out in his ministry?
• Unlike the beatitudes in Matthew, which speak of spiritual conditions or attitudes, the beatitudes in Luke speak of real socioeconomic conditions; they declare God’s commitment to the poor and oppressed, a theme in Luke’s Gospel.
• The first beatitude, “Blessed are the poor…” is the second reference of 32 to “the kingdom of God” in Luke. The reference to the poor is an echo of Jesus’ declaration in his hometown synagogue (4:18) that he is the fulfillment of Isaiah 61, the one who has come to bring good news to the poor. These are neither idealizations or glorifications of poverty. Rather, a theme of Luke’s Gospel is the radical reversal of fortunes (ex. Lazarus in 16:19-31).
Works Sourced:
Culpepper, R. Alan. “The Gospel of Luke.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume IX. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.
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