This episode in Luke's gospel is the second of a unit of six running from 6:12-7:50, which deals with the nature of membership in the kingdom of God - who enters the kingdom and how they get in. The section begins with the choosing of the twelves apostles and is followed by our episode for study known as the Sermon on the Mount. Interestingly, in Luke's gospel the sermon is on a plain. The picture presented is a simple one. Like Moses, Jesus comes down from the mountain to speak to the people gathered on the plain and there he reads the Covenant (agreement) that is about to be established between God and his people.

v17-19. The sermon is introduced by signs of the kingdom - healings and the casting out of demons. On this occasion it is accentuated. "Power was coming from him." Moses was radiant when he came down from the mountain and Jesus exudes the same wonderful power.

v20-26. Jesus addresses the disciples. Clearly the kingdom of God has dawned. God is right now gathering a people to be with him for eternity; a new creation, a new Israel. The "time is fulfilled", that is, the signs which announce the establishment of the kingdom are being acted out by Jesus - "the blind receive sight, the lame walk...." At this very moment, those entering the kingdom are blessed, but woe to those who remain outside.

Who then are these "blessed" ones who stand now in a new relationship with the living God? They are the "poor" who "hunger", "weep", and whom "men hate". Today, there is a tendency to interpret these qualities in a socioeconomic way. The poor are therefore often seen as materially poor, even "voluntarily poor", Schubert. Yet, it is most unlikely that this is what Jesus is saying. The poor are the "poor in spirit", cf. Mt.5:3. They are the ones broken before God; they know they are sinners, lost before God and desire to be restored. They hunger and thirst for their vindication, they weep for their state of loss in the sight of God. They are hated, yes, by the world, but more so by their brothers. The haters are the religious churchman, the self-righteous, those who condemn and judge the evil in others. "Woe" to such, those who are satisfied in the self-righteousness, "rich", "well fed", "who laugh" and whom "men speak well of", for they stand outside the kingdom.

Here then are "the qualifications of those who are admitted as members of Christ's kingdom...... and the fate of those who, on account of their life and attitude, will have no share in His salvation", Geldenhuys. Jesus addresses his disciples and virtually says to them, "happy are you poor." The disciples are God's broken little children. They may be persecuted and condemned by the righteous ones (the self-righteous), but they are eternally blessed in God's sight and that's all that matters.

The beatitudes have always worried me because if God blesses the people who do it rough in this world and curses those who get a good run, then I am in trouble. So, is God the God of rough times? Is he the God who redresses balances; a little here gets allot there, while allot here gets little there?

Gladly he is not such a God. He is a God who brought his people out of slavery, a "no" people, who became his people. He is a gracious God, and that's what the beatitudes, the blessings, are all about. As Moses descended from the mountain and declared the gift of God's love ("you are my people"), so Jesus descends to the plain and declares a similar blessing to his people, to the disciples - "blessed are you".

When we look at the substance of the blessing we are reminded that God's blessings are not just words. The blessing is about possessing "the kingdom of God", being eternally "satisfied" in union with God, of experiencing "joy", of possessing "reward in heaven."

Yet, what marks out the blessed? It has nothing to do with worldly loss. The blessed are disciples. "Looking at his disciples, he said: blessed are you ...." The disciples were marked out from the crowd, and particularly from the "woe to you" crew, because they possessed a certain quality. They were "poor", poor in spirit, humble, broken before God and desiring, before all else, their salvation. Theirs was a poverty hungering and thirsting for vindication; they desired to be right before God. Theirs was a poverty that weeps for their lostness in the sight of God. Theirs was a poverty of rejection, hated because they followed Jesus.

So, we friends of Jesus, who have so little to commend ourselves before the living God, are welcomed by Him. Happy are we, fortunate are we little broken ones, because God's divine favour is now eternally ours. This blessing is ours, not because we are "voluntarily poor", but because He is voluntarily kind.

The renowned theologian Jeremias argues that the beatitudes proclaim grace, not law. Discuss this idea.