Luke 6:17-26

The context

The beatitudes are one of the most well-known aspects of Jesus teaching. As in the more familiar account in Matthew (5:1-12), Luke presents these words as Jesus’ first public teaching; his previous speeches have been responding to questions related to his own person and task. Immediately before our pericope, Luke sets the scene (6:12ff). The time and place are left vague; Jesus ascends a mountain at night to pray; when the day comes he is joined on the mountain by twelve chosen apostles; together they descend to a level place where “a crowd of disciples” joins them (v 17) followed by a “multitude of all the people.” The Greek for people (λαος) is often used in the Greek Old Testament as a specific reference to the people of Israel. We begin…