Speech of the Mountain
To begin to preach and thus begin his mission, Jesus goes to Galilee, considered in those days a pagan land. It is precisely from this place that he gives his disciples a sublime message that will first illuminate Galilee, then Jerusalem, and with the increasing fame of Jesus all the Continents and the crowds of Christians.
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Diversity of style between the evangelist Matthew and Luke.
The Beatitudes or Discourse of the mountain are to be considered a teaching of formation to be received for those who want to follow the Master and be in communion with him. In fact, it is not enough to adopt the decision: "I leave everything to follow Jesus", but after this important choice must take place within the depths of the Christian, that transformation which leads him to be in conformity with everything, to the teaching of Jesus.
And these extremely indispensable teachings are precisely the Beatitudes. The Evangelist Matthew reports nine with the following sequence:
- Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Blessed are the afflicted, for they will be comforted.
- Blessed are the myths, because they will inherit the Earth.
- Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
- Blessed are the merciful, for they will find mercy.
- Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
- Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
- Blessed are the persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Blessed you are when they insult you, persecute you and, lying, they will say all sorts of evil against you for my sake.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.
(Matthew 5.3 to 12)
While Luke, in his Gospel, structure the Beatitudes differently in fact lists only four of them:
- Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
- Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied.
- Blessed are you who are crying now, because you will laugh.
- Blessed are you when men hate you and when they banish you and insult you and reject your name as a villain, because of the Son of man. Rejoice in that day and be glad, for, behold, your reward is great in the heavens. In the same way they did their fathers with the prophets.
(Luke 6,20-23)
And compare them with the so-called trouble:
- But woe to you, rich, because you already have your consolation.
- Woe to you who are now satiated, because you will be hungry.
- Woe to you who laugh now, for you will be afflicted and weep.
- Woe when all men will say good things about you.
(Luke 6,24-26)
One can immediately point out that the style between the two evangelists is different because they want to highlight important passages or different spects.
For example, if Matthew reports "Blessed are the poor in spirit" Luke simply says "Blessed are the poor" one wonders what Jesus actually said. The Master meant "Poor in spirit" as Matthew wrote, or "Poor" as reported from Luca?
Some scholars, theologians and biblical scholars have entered this difference, who have preferred to interpret as poor those who belong to the social category of the needy, for the rich who possess a lot of money, creating a lot of confusion in the people of the faithful. However, if we carefully analyze what Matthew and Luke say, the same thing is said in two different ways. In fact, when Jesus speaks of wealth or poverty, he refers to the inner state of man. In fact, who is rich in himself and puts his inner state in a "I centric" way, can not accept God because there is no space for anyone, not even for God.
On the other hand, for Jesus his disciples must maintain a poverty of spirit because only in this way is it possible to know Jesus and be in communion with him.
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