Luke 6:20-31

This week is the fifth of our six Sundays in Ordinary Time, focused on the theme of Christianity and Empire. This week, for the first time in our series, we turn to the New Testament, to Luke 6:20-31.

This passage may sound familiar, as another version of it appears in Matthew 5:1-12. Look at the two side-by-side. How are they similar? How are they identical? How are they different?

Luke often pairs groups of people in parables and miracle stories — a man and a woman, a Samaritan and a Jew, an upright person and a scoundrel. What two groups appear here? What is different about Jesus’ message to each group?

Scholars talk about “dramatic reversal” as a feature in Luke’s Gospel. Why do you suppose Jesus uses this technique here? How do you suppose the people in the circumstances described will experience a reversal of their status or condition?