What we have here in Luke’s gospel is the grittier version of the Beatitudes we find in Matthew’s gospel. There, it’s the Sermon on the Mount. Here, it’s the Sermon on the Plain! And here, poor means poor. We may want to sanitise it and say that it really means only the poor in spirit, which is a phrase we find in Matthew’s gospel, but not here. Luke isn’t going to do nuance. He isn’t going to spare blushes or avoid offence. He’s grounding the message and driving it home.
