Blessings and Woes

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

Today's Gospel passage is an excellent example of how each evangelist used the material that was available to him to compose his Gospel for his specific audience. The reading for today's liturgy is the beginning of the so-called "Sermon on the Plain." As we begin to read the passage, we will immediately recognize that this is much the same material as that which we find in St. Matthew's Gospel. However, rather than eight beatitudes, St. Luke's version has only four. In addition, while St. Matthew uses the "woes" in the fifth dissertation toward the end of his Gospel, St. Luke uses fewer of them and lists them with the beatitudes. The similarity in the content is obvious.

Each of the Gospels can be likened to a three-legged milking stool. These little seats have three rather than four legs because they are rarely used on perfectly level surfaces. (Three legged stools are steady on all surfaces while a four legged stool or table would constantly rock on an uneven surface.) Each Gospel is built upon three "legs": a personal experience of Jesus, the author himself, and the audience or community wherein the author lived.

All four of the Gospels have one thing in common; namely, the first element – a personal experience of Jesus. Each evangelist had such an experience. This does not mean that they were eye witnesses to the life, ministry, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. It simply means that they had encountered Jesus either personally or through the testimony of someone who had. For instance, we know with certainty that St. Luke wrote his Gospel based upon what he had been told rather than upon being an eyewitness while St. Matthew obviously knew Jesus personally.

The other two elements, the author and the community in which he lived and for which he wrote, are all different. St. Matthew wrote for a Jewish-Christian community in Jerusalem while St. Luke wrote for a Gentile community, perhaps in Antioch.

The material for the Gospels was taken from a source which is no longer extant. That material is quoted and arranged in each of the Gospels in a way that would appeal to and instruct the community for which it was written. Thus St. Matthew's Gospel quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures over and over again while St. Luke's Gospel includes many incidents and sayings that speak of those who are often excluded from Jewish society.

The sermon material that we read today is placed in the Sermon on the Mount in St. Matthew's Gospel while St. Luke writes of a sermon on a plain. St. Matthew wishes to portray Jesus as a "new Moses"; so he has Jesus seated on a mountain to teach much the same as Moses would do. St. Luke wishes to portray Jesus as someone who welcomes all people of every station of life; consequently, he writes of a sermon given on a level "playing field."

While there are some who might find such differences disconcerting, the lesson that I take from this is that God's inspired word is fitted to its audience and its purpose. It is written on the hearts of the people who followed Jesus rather than on the stone of the Law. "Let the one who has ears hear."