Blessed Are The Poor

For the next four weeks we’re going to be talking about Jesus’ speech in Luke 6 on Blessings and Woes, which is the prelude for his Sermon on the Plain. We balk at some of these. Some of them make us uncomfortable. Some are hard to understand. So it is time to dig into them to understand the context in which they were written, in some cases to examine the translations, and to relate them to our world today.

We’re beginning with the first three blessings. We hear that one night Jesus had gone up the mountain to pray, to get centered, and perhaps to find some respite from the crowds and renewal of his connection and commitment to the divine. When he returned, he chose 12 men from all the disciples who had been following him to be his key guys, the ones he wanted to be his apostles, those he would send out into the world. After this they all went with Jesus while he stood on a level place (probably why the next section would be called the Sermon on the Plain) to meet the crowds of people who had come from all over to be healed and to hear his teaching.

I imagine Jesus looking around at the crowd that has gathered and seeing a group of people that he, as a Jewish man, has been taught all his life to stay away from: the poor, the ill and infirm, the widows, the children, the Gentiles, the marginalized, the oppressed. These were the unclean and the unenlightened.

Then [Jesus] looked up at his disciples and said:

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.

Blessed are you who weep now for you will laugh. (NRSV Luke 6:20-21)

Megan McKenna, in her book, Blessings and Woes, states that when she used this passage in workshops and retreats with North Americans and many other countries, people couldn’t get past the first line: “Blessed are the poor.” She said that it evoked “reactions of revulsion, anger, and outright rejection.” Why? Perhaps because our typical understanding of the word blessed is “happy” or “favored by God” or “special.” And, clearly our poor, hungry and sorrowful don’t seem to have God’s favor or be especially happy about their circumstances. It makes no sense.

Interestingly enough, when McKenna uses this passage in poor areas of the country, the reaction is the complete opposite. First there is disbelief, and then there is rejoicing and renewed hope. Yes, God does care about the downtrodden. No, God isn’t causing it, nor does God want it.

McKenna points out that these words emerge directly out of Jesus’ experience with people in pain, people in distress, people who are economically and socially condemned and outcast. These words are about seeing others with clarity, as God sees, in a radically new way that seeks to bring all people onto a level playing field where we are all simply people walking this earth together.

So, here’s the spin I want to throw at you. All of these statements of blessing are passive. It sounds as if Jesus is offering comfort and a future hope for those who are poor, hungry, grieving or persecuted. But if we look at the actual word used for blessed right here, it is much deeper. Keep in mind that Jesus spoke Aramaic, but the New Testament was written in Greek. So, what if something was lost in the translation between Aramaic and Greek?

Elias Chacour points out that “blessed” or “happy” in Greek is markarioi… but if we look back to the Aramaic, it appears to come from the original word, ashray This does not have a passive quality about it at all but instead means “to set yourself on the right way for the right goal, to turn around.”

So, Chacour said that when he reads these words of Jesus, it isn’t a platitude to try and make people feel better… “Awww, don’t worry about being poor, the reign of God is yours. Awww, don’t worry about being hungry, because you will be filled.”

Instead (and remember, this speech isn’t directed to the crowd, but to his disciples, ones Jesus has chosen to follow in his footsteps in teaching and healing), it reads something closer to an injunction. I know that we’ve all been taught that the poor are unclean, that they are being punished for something in their lives, or the lives of their parents. I’m telling you this is wrong. They are just as loved and worthy in God’s eyes as you are. Now, get up, go ahead, do something, move, so that the poor and hungry will experience the kingdom of God right here, right now. Get up, go ahead, do something for those who are weeping and in despair, so that they will know light and laughter again. Get up, go ahead, do something, build a world of justice and equality where there isn’t this disparity between rich and poor, where violence isn’t done to one another, where people aren’t laughed at and ridiculed, where some have more than they will ever need and others starve and suffer.

I have lumped together the poor, the hungry and those who weep, because so often the three go hand-in-hand. Stereotypically we see the poor as lazy, unmotivated, dirty, stupid, mentally ill. But who are the poor, really?

 As McKenna states so succinctly, “The poor are all those without power, without influence, without rights, those falling through the cracks in society. The poor are welfare recipients and immigrants, all those who are blamed for the economic problems of the day. They are the victims and casualties of violence, those caught in political cross-fires, made homeless, landless, nationless.

Just as the social and political systems of Jesus’ day were designed to aid the wealthy to the detriment of the poor, so too the same is happening today. Here are just a few examples:

Reduced food assistance (SNAP) due to stricter requirements (this is the nation’s largest anti-hunger program serving 42 million people. Cuts will strain food budgets at a time when grocery prices are dramatically rising.)

• Loss of healthcare coverage from Medicaid changes (uninsured expected to rise by 15 million)
• Tax cuts favor wealthy; sales taxes hit poor harder
• Decline in affordable housing funding
• Higher prescription drug costs
• Closure of community health centers
• Stagnant minimum wage and weaker labor protections
• Less funding for public schools; increased voucher/charter support
• Harder access to student loan relief
• Stricter rules for immigrants’ benefits; reduced refugee support
• Criminalization of homelessness and poverty
• Stricter disability benefit requirements
• Weaker environmental protections increase health risks
• Poor disaster relief after emergencies

In 2024 poverty rate was almost 11%, 35 million people, and with these changes in policies, the number is expected to rise exponentially.

Let me add a note about those who weep. Obviously, while the poor and hungry have much to weep about, there are many others who are sad, depressed, grieving. Sometimes we fear these people, we don’t know what to say or how to be. It’s easier to avoid them. But an active blessing commands us to get up, get moving and do something to bring them comfort, maybe even a moment of joy and hope. A card, a call, a hug, a listening ear, a text… all let people who are sad know that they aren’t alone and someone cares. Sometimes that is all a person needs to get through the day.

The Blessings and Woes (as it has become known) was a radical message of Jesus at the time, and perhaps is still just as radical a reminder that we are ONE. ALL people are created equal in the eyes of the Divine. All people deserve to have enough to live happily and productively. And, because those who don’t also don’t often have the power to change their situation alone, as followers of the teachings of Jesus, we need to get up, get going, do something to change the situation. We must stand with them. We must seek programs and policies that help the least of these. We must reach out and speak up when and where we can.

Love & Light!

Kaye