Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Jonah
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Luke 6:20-21
Jesus: All you who are poor, you are blessed
for the kingdom of God belongs to you.
All you who are hungry now, you are blessed
for your hunger will be satisfied.
All you who weep now, you are blessed
for you shall laugh!
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
I always find it interesting to compare the various stories and sermons in the different gospels. We now come to the famous Sermon on the Mount as Luke records it, and particularly the first section known as the Beatitudes. Matthew and Mark record these first verses in a much more spiritual context as they share that those who are poor in spirit are blessed and those who hunger after righteousness will be filled. But Luke leaves out the object of those longings in his gospel.
Luke, the physician thinks about the physical aspects of those Jesus addressed that day. The poor did not fare well in Luke’s day. They labored hard for little. The poor were considered lesser beings than even slaves. Slaves belonged to their masters and were well fed, clothed, housed. Good mastered took good care of their slaves. But the poor, that was another matter. They didn’t have enough to afford adequate shelter from the heat and cold so suffered injury because of it. They didn’t have enough clothing to keep it clean and in good repair to protect them from the elements during the day. They didn’t have enough to eat and so malnutrition was always just around the corner. Sickness took a harder toll on the poor because they didn’t have the means to care for themselves or their family. Life was hard for the poor.
Luke recorded the words that those who suffer in poverty in this world won’t carry that burden into the next if they follow God’s commands. They will have the riches of heaven at their disposal. No one will be able to call them poor. In fact, if you think you are poor now, but you are a child of God, you are anything but poor. The kingdom of God belongs to you. Can you imagine what that means? No, you really can’t. It’s really beyond anything we can imagine.
Not many of us know hunger. We talk about being hungry, but few of us in the country know real hunger. The Army took me to a few places where I saw hunger, though. Children with empty, vacant looks in their eyes not knowing when or where their next meal would come from. Even then, their meal would consist of just a few scraps, nothing compared to the feasts we enjoy at every meal. As a physician, Luke dealt with the hungry often. Hunger leads to malnutrition, illness, and diseases.But the hungry now, if they believe in Jesus for their salvation, will not carry that hunger into the world to come. Their hunger will be satisfied. They will eat until they want nothing else to eat. The hungry will be satisfied.
Luke also saw many who mourned. In his day, physicians couldn’t save as many as they do today. Luke didn’t have the technology or the array of medicines we have today. Many died. Many became permanently disabled. Health became a cause for much suffering and as a physician, Luke was in the middle of it often. It’s never easy to console those who have lost loved ones or who struggle through the rest of their life with disabilities they know will never improve. The grieving process is real. But Luke hears the message. Knowing Jesus as Savior can turn mourning into laughter because we know this is not the end. We can face the suffering of these few years in this life because we know a better one is coming.
Matthew and Mark, notably heard the Beatitudes from a spiritual perspective. Jesus spoke the words as He shared the good news that God’s kingdom is near. His kingdom is not of this world, but is housed in and entered through a spiritual realm. His kingdom is not seen in this place. It exists everywhere, just as He does, but we cannot see it with our physical eyes.
Luke on the other hand, dealt with the physical maladies of people every single day and heard Jesus’ message with a promise for relief from the physical maladies of life as much as the spiritual maladies of life. Jesus gives us hope for a future absent the plagues of this physical frame. It is no wonder Luke recorded the sermon differently than Matthew and Mark.
So what does this difference in how the gospels record the Beatitudes mean to us today? We can know that our future home with Jesus touches every aspect of us. The Jews understood we cannot separate our body, soul, and spirit. We are one entity and each part influences the others. And as we give ourselves to Christ, He gives us hope for the future. We will someday live with Him with new bodies absent the poverty and hunger and grief we experience now. We are blessed because of Him.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.