‘And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said,
“Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingly Rule of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
Blessed are you, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.”
While at first sight, if taken out of context, it might seem that Jesus is saying here that poverty, hunger and misery are to be welcomed as such, that is not what He means at all. It is to take it out of context. Rather He is indicating that He sees Himself as talking to those before Him who are actually experiencing the things He mentions. He sees before Him men and women who are poor, who know what hunger means, and many who are weeping as they listen to His message of hope. And He is assuring them that there is a blessing available for them because in their condition they have come to seek Him. For such things can be a blessing when in reasonable proportions they encourage people to seek God, and are so now in their case, because those who are now before Him are here precisely because of these things. Thus these things are proving a blessing to them. If we allow God to fashion us by such things, He says, we will be truly blessed, and we will then find greater reward in Him.
Furthermore those who do follow Him will find that such a situation continues, and should be glad of it. They will continue to be ‘poor' because they will be using their possessions as He commands (see what follows), being rich towards God (Luke 12:21) and laying up treasure in Heaven (Luke 12:33-34; Matthew 6:19-20). But along with it they will have the joy of already enjoying their consolation (contrast Luke 6:24), by having their present part in the Kingly Rule of God. They will both enjoy Heaven now, and Heaven later. They will continue to be hungry because in following Him they will face shortages and privation (Luke 9:58), but they will receive full provision in return (Mark 10:30), and finally a heavenly inheritance. They will continue to weep because life has its share of sorrows, and they will continue to be aware of their sins, and they may even weep because of persecution, but they will find comfort in their sorrow because their eyes are on Him, and they will in the end have everlasting joy and laughter. By not becoming part of the rat race of those who are always on the lookout to benefit themselves at others expense, they will enjoy greater benefits than such people can ever know. They will experience being under His Kingly Rule. Their hearts will be overflowing with good things. They will have a deeper peace and joy than the world can ever appreciate (Philippians 4:7; 1 Peter 1:8), and then in the end they will enjoy blessing, and fullness and laughter to the full when they are with God for ever. That future compensation is also in mind very much comes out in comparison with the woes, for with the woes all the resultants are seen as in the future apart from the first. The point in it all is that the godly will enjoy in the future, what the ungodly will lose.
He is here thus very much describing the situation in which the godly people who have come to hear Him find themselves because they are not rapacious and greedy. In the Old Testament ‘the poor' regularly means those who are humble and godly (Psalm 40:18; Psalms 72:2-4). And it is to them that the Good News is being proclaimed (Luke 4:18; Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 61:1-2; Isaiah 66:2). They are in contrast to the wealthy who manipulate, and cheat, and use violence in order to ‘better themselves'. For His disciples are not self-seeking but dependent on God and on what He gives them (compare Luke 12:31; Matthew 6:31-32), and are satisfied with that, and humbly worship God. Such are blessed, says Jesus, for theirs even now is the Kingly Rule of God. They are in submission to Him and walk in His ways. They accept His Kingly Rule now. They seek first the Kingly Rule of God and His righteousness (Luke 12:31; Matthew 6:33). They look on their possessions as His (Luke 16:11). They partake at His table. They eat the Bread of Life (John 6:35). They drink the water of life (John 4:10-14; John 7:37). They find their solace in Him (Matthew 5:4). Thus they will continue to enjoy His Kingly Rule now, and will also finally enjoy His everlasting Kingdom. Theirs are the true riches both now and in the future (Luke 16:11). They are truly blessed.
They are blessed (makarioi - enjoy true wellbeing from God) even though, as a result of their godly lives, they sometimes go hungry as they are now, and that because they accept what comes from the hand of God, and do not seek food at any price. They strive to make a living and to wrest from their lands what they can, sharing the burden of life with others, but refusing to follow the paths of greed and violence and dishonesty as ways of accumulating wealth. They are genuine and honest. So one day they will be filled, for in that day the Messiah will have brought in His rule and will bless such people and satisfy them with good things. Above all their hunger of soul will be satisfied.
His hearers might at present weep because of their sins, and because life is hard, food is scarce, and times are difficult, or because of the opposition and persecution that they will face because they follow Him, but the fact that they have come to hear Him indicates their hunger after God. Thus they can be sure that one day, when the Messiah has finished His work, they will laugh and rejoice, and will even now find comfort in Him.
But while Jesus was undoubtedly using the descriptions literally (poor, hungry, weeping), there was also underlying them the thought of their spiritual significance, (a fact which Matthew brings out more emphatically). God's people will often be physically poor, may go physically hungry, will experience physical distress, but they will also be spiritually humble and lowly, they will be spiritually hungry after God and His word His words here are based on Psalms 107:9, compare Luke 1:53), they will spiritually weep over their sins. And that too is what they have demonstrated by being here. Thus the descriptions cover all aspects of their lives.
“Blessed are you, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.” And above all they will be blessed when they suffer for His name's sake (compare Isaiah 66:5), when men hate them and keep apart from them, and reproach them, and cast them out as evil (Isaiah 66:5), because they are followers of Jesus as the Son of Man (even possibly excluding them from the synagogue). For He is here as God's representative, and because the world will not like His message, He and those who respond to Him will suffer. But when they do suffer they will be suffering both for His sake and for God's sake. Note the implication of the close relationship between Himself and God in these words. No Rabbi would have spoken of men's relationships to himself like this. He would rightly have considered it to be blasphemy. By it Jesus is claiming and demonstrating His uniqueness.
‘For the sake of the Son of Man.' In Daniel 7 the Son of Man as representing the people of God is a persecuted figure (Luke 6:25 with 14, 18) and it is only the intervention of the One Who represents them (Luke 7:13), coming from the midst of that persecution, which finally delivers them from it. And while the persecution was there shown to be by external forces, such enemies were always supported by an enemy within who hoped to profit from the situation. It was a similar situation to that in which they found themselves. Thus reference to the Son of man includes the thought of persecution from without and within (compare Luke 9:44; Luke 9:58; Luke 17:25). Let them recognise that He has come as the persecuted Son of Man in order to take up His Kingly Rule. And if they will persecute Him they will persecute them (John 15:20). Those who become one with the Son of Man must expect persecution, for so the Scriptures have made clear.
Jesus was aware from the beginning that persecution awaited both Him and them. His mother had been warned of the sword that would pierce her heart (Luke 2:35). John the Baptiser was in prison, unlikely ever to come out (Luke 3:20). He had nearly been put to death by His own townsfolk (Luke 4:28-29). He knew that as the Bridegroom He would one day be ‘taken away' (Luke 5:35). The belligerence of the Pharisees was on the increase, and they were already plotting Him harm (Luke 6:11). Their continued dogging of His movements were a constant warning (Luke 5:17-21; Luke 5:30; Luke 5:33; Luke 6:2; Luke 6:7). And He only had to consider what had happened to the prophets and had been warned about in Isaiah 66:5, which speaks of ‘your brethren who hate you and cast you out for My name's sake', in order to realise what He must expect. And He was fully aware of the severity of the punishments of the synagogues who would beat those whom they saw as obstinate, and even exclude them. So He emphasises it also here. He wants them to be aware of what they are facing. Let them not doubt that as they ‘build their houses' on the foundation of His words the storms will come. But if they hear His words and do them they need have no fear. Their houses will stand firm. Thus it is no surprise that He later warned His disciples of what their fate might be (Luke 12:11-12).