Matthew's Beatitudes:

Reversals and Rewards

of the Kingdom

MARK ALLAN POWELL

Trinity Lutheran Seminary
Columbus, OH 43209

THE PRIMARY PURPOSE of this paper is to demonstrate that acceptance of

a two-stanza structural outline for Matthew's beatitudes allows this passage
to be interpreted as a coherent unit that promises both eschatological reversals
for the unfortunate and eschatological rewards for the virtuous. A secondary
purpose is to suggest that these reversals and rewards are more descriptive
of general blessings that God's reign brings to the world at large than of
specific blessings realized within communities of faith. The first goal, then,
is to help resolve an issue in Matthean scholarship about which there has
been much debate, while the second is to challenge one of the few points on
which there has been virtual consensus.
The debate as to whether Matthew's beatitudes offer reversals or re-
wards is well documented in a number of recent commentaries whose authors
also enter the fray.1 The traditional view is that these beatitudes promise
rewards for those who are deemed virtuous.2 It is challenged by Davies and

1
W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the
Gospel according to Saint Matthew (3 vols.; ICC; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1988-) 1. 439-40;
Robert A. Guelich, The Sermon on the Mount: A Foundation for Understanding (Waco, TX:
Word, 1982) 109-11; Ulrich Luz, Matthew 1-7: A Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1989)
229-30.
2
Jacques Dupont, Les béatitudes (3 vols.; EBib; Paris: Gabalda, 1969-73); Georg Strecker,
"Die Makarismen der Bergpredigt," NTS 17 (1970-71) 255-75; Hans Windisch, The Meaning
of the Sermon on the Mount (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1951).

460
 MATTHEW'S BEATITUDES 461

Allison,3 as well as by Guelich.4 These authors construe the beatitudes

as promised reversals for the unfortunate. Neither interpretation is entirely
satisfactory, however, for problem passages arise either way. If mourning
(Matt 5:4) does not appear to be a virtue to which all should aspire, neither
do peacemakers (5:9) sound like an unfortunate class of people who need to
have their situation reversed. Thus, another recent trend in interpretation of
Matthew's beatitudes may be exemplified by Luz, who thinks "it is unlikely
that there is for Matthew a unified religious or ethical meaning."5 This ap-
proach avoids imposition of an interpretive grid (reversal or reward) on the
unit as a whole and allows each beatitude to be interpreted on its own terms.
The problem is that the poetic structure of the beatitudes predisposes Matthew's
readers to expect some pattern or consistency. This structure, reminiscent of
Hebrew parallelism,6 marks the Beatitudes as one of the most carefully crafted
passages in the Gospel. Unless no other option exists, Matthew's readers should
not be forced to decide between finding meaning for the individual verses and
finding meaning for the collection as a whole.
Another option does exist. In Hebrew poetry, synonymous parallelism
normally occurs in sets of two, three, or at most four lines. We should not
expect, then, for Matthew's beatitudes to present us with a pattern that
maintains an analogous scheme for eight or nine lines. Nor is the only alter-
native to organization on so grand a scale a haphazard arrangement that
mixes beatitudes that promise rewards and ones that promise reversals to-
gether without any coherence or overarching framework. Rather, we should
look for patterns that allow the beatitudes to be grouped into two or more
sets, each of which would display internal consistency and contribute to the
overall thought of the unit as a whole.
One such pattern may be suggested by recent studies on the structure of
the Matthean beatitudes. Almost all interpreters recognize that Matt 5:3-10
is a structural unit that must be considered apart from Matt 5:11-12.7 The

3
Davies and Allison, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, 1. 439-67.
4
Guelich, Sermon, 63-118.
5
Luz, Matthew 1-7, 235.
6
James L. Kugel (The Idea of Biblical Poetry: Parallelism and Its History [New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1981] 305) notes a "persistence of parallelism" that continued after the
writing of the Hebrew Bible into the Middle Ages. Semitic writings and liturgies demonstrated
both an "actual continuity and development of biblical style" and an adherence to biblical
pastiche as a popular stylistic model. This is certainly true of the Gospel of Matthew (compare
7:7).
7
The one notable exception is Davies and Allison (Critical and Exegetical Commentary,
1. 429-31), whose arguments for a tripartite outline (5:3-5; 5:6-8; 5:9-12) have convinced few.
Among other nontraditional outlines for the Beatitudes are a chiastic structure suggested by Neil
J. McEleney, "The Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount/Plain," CBQ 43 (1981) 1-13, and an
 462 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 58, 1996

eight beatitudes in vv 3-10 are all addressed in the third person and are
held together by the redundant apodoses of the first and last in the series.
Verses 11-12, on the other hand, are addressed in the second person and are
distinguished from the preceding verses by length, meter, and use of the
imperative mood.
Beyond this obvious division, many scholars also contend that Matt 5:Β­
8
ΙΟ should be subdivided into two stanzas with four lines apiece. Both 5:3-6
and 5:7-10 contain exactly thirty-six words (5:11-12 contains thirty-five), the
protases of 5:6 and 5:10 both conclude with the word dikaiosynë, and 5:3-6
exhibits internal alliteration through the naming of groups that begin with
the letter p: the poor (ptöchoi) in spirit, those who mourn (penthountes), the
meek (praeis), and those who hunger (peinantes) and thirst for righteousness.9
Furthermore, although attempts at reading all eight (or nine) beatitudes
according to one consistent scheme have proved unsuccessful, the verses that
are the most irreconcilable according to such a scheme do not occur within
the same set of four when 5:3-10 is subdivided. Thus, reasonable parallels can
be maintained for the four beatitudes in the first set and for the four in the
second set if each of these two sets is treated as a separate stanza.10 Accep-
tance of a two-stanza structure allows for a compromise solution to the
reversal-reward debate: the first stanza (5:3-6) speaks of reversals for the
unfortunate, and the second stanza (5:7-10) describes rewards for the virtuous.
As indicated above, however, acceptance of this compromise solution
may involve disavowal of a point that most Matthean scholars take for
granted, namely, that the blessings of the beatitudes are intended to express

aural structure presented by Bernard Brandon Scott and Margaret E. Dean, "A Sound Map of
the Sermon on the Mount," SBLSP, 1993 (ed. Eugene H. Lovering; Atlanta: Scholars, 1993) 672-
725, esp. pp. 680-82. Even the last two proposals recognize the distinction between 5:3-10 and
5:11-12.
8
Robert H. Gundry, Matthew: A Commentary on His Literary and Theological Art (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982) 73; Jan Lambrecht, The Sermon on the Mount: Proclamation and
Exhortation (GNS 14; Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1989) 61; Luz, Matthew 1-7, 226;
John P. Meier, Matthew (NTM 3; Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1980) 39; Christine Michaelis,
"Die p-Alliteration der Subjektworte der ersten 4 Seligpreisungen in Mt ν 3-6 und ihre Bedeu­
tung für den Aufbau der Seligpreisungen bei Mt, Lk, und in Q," NovT 10 (1968) 148-61; Eduard
Schweizer, The Good News according to Matthew (Atlanta: John Knox, 1975) 82.
9
On the latter point, see Michaelis, "Die p-AUiteration."
10
Uniformity of content in 5:3-6 and 5:7-10 is noted by Gundry (Matthew, 73), Lambrecht
(Sermon, 61), Luz (Matthew 1-7, 226), Meier (Matthew, 39), Michaelis ("Die ρ-Alliteration,"
148-61), Schweizer (Good News, 82). The first set refers to (passive) conditions, the second to
(active) behavior or attitudes. Guelich (Sermon, 115) thinks the first four beatitudes are aligned
with Isaiah 61. Even Windisch (Meaning, 175-77), who takes all eight as promising rewards,
speaks of two series, one offering consolation, the other clarifying expectations. Donald Hagner
(Matthew 1-13 [WBC 33A; Dallas: Word, 1993] 93) thinks that attitude is primary for the first
four and conduct for the second four.
 MATTHEW'S BEATITUDES 463

God's will for the church rather than for the world in general. I will need to
challenge this assumption on a verse-by-verse basis, as we look at the indi-
vidual beatitudes according to the proposed outline.

I. The First Stanza

All four of the beatitudes in the first stanza may reasonably be inter-
preted as promising eschatological reversals to those who are unfortunate,
and for some of the beatitudes in this stanza this seems certainly to be the
most reasonable interpretation.
Who are the poor in spirit (5:3)? Some commentators accept the popular
notion that this phrase refers to people who are "humble."11 A few have even
taken it as a reference to those who renounce their possessions in order to be
"voluntarily poor."12 In either case, the poor in spirit are regarded as virtuous
persons who are given the kingdom of heaven as a reward for their humility
or voluntary poverty. A majority of modern scholars, however, identify
Matthew's poor in spirit with the cänäwim, that is, with the dispossessed and
abandoned ones in Israel on whose behalf the prophets speak (Isa 11:4; 29:19;
32:7; 61:1; Amos 2:7; 8:4; Zeph 2:3).13 Ernest Best thinks that to be poor in
spirit means to be "fainthearted" or "despondent."14 In either of the latter
cases, the beatitude promises a reversal of unfortunate conditions rather than
a reward.
Association of the poor in spirit with the cänäwim is surely correct, but
the OT concept provides only a background against which Matthew's particular
interests must also be considered. In the OT, the cânâwîm appear to be a
socio-economic class of people within Israel who are noted as much for their
piety as for their poverty. The general thought seems to be that they trust in

11
Dupont, Béatitudes, 3. 462-65, 470-71; S. Legasse, "Les pauvres en esprit et les 'volon-
taires' de Qumran," NTS 8 (1961-62) 336-45; Thaddäus Soiron, Die Bergpredigt Jesu (Freiburg:
Herder, 1941) 146-47; Georg Strecker, The Sermon on the Mount: An Exegetical Commentary
(Nashville: Abingdon, 1988) 31-32. Most of the early church fathers understood the term this
way: see Dupont, Béatitudes, 3. 399-411; Luz, Matthew 1-7, 234-35.
12
Ernst Lohmeyer, Das Evangelium des Matthäus (KEK Sonderband; 2d ed.; Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1958) 82-83; K. Schubert, "The Sermon on the Mount and the
Qumran Texts," The Scrolls and the New Testament (ed. Krister Stendahl; London: SCM, 1957)
118-28.
13
For a sampling, see Guelich, Sermon, 66-75; Hagner, Matthew 1-13, 91-92; M. Dennis
Hamm, The Beatitudes in Context: What Luke and Matthew Meant (Zacchaeus Studies, NT;
Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1990) 80-81; David Hill, The Gospel of Matthew (NCB;
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972) 110-11; Meier, Matthew, 39-40; Schweizer, Good News, 86-87.
14
Ernest Best, "Matthew V.3," NTS 7 (1960-61) 255-58.
 464 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 58, 1996

God more profoundly than most because they have no hope in this world.15
The poor in spirit referred to in Matt 5:3 are like the cänäwim in that they
too have no hope in this world, but Matthew's concept of the poor in spirit
may differ from the OT concept of the cänäwim in two ways.
First, Matthean universalism makes identification of the poor in spirit
with a group internal to Israel unlikely. Matthew's readers are expected to
note that those who hear these beatitudes are called "the salt of the earth"
(5:13) and "the light of the world" (5:14). Likewise, Jesus is identified as one
who proclaims justice to the Gentiles (12:18) and as one in whose name these
Gentiles will hope (12:21). In the context of Matthew's Gospel, then, "poor
in spirit" ought to be taken as a reference that expands the cänäwim of the
OT to include the dispossessed and abandoned people of the world in general.
Second, Matthew's use of the phrase "in spirit" qualifies the notion of
the cänäwim in a way that emphasizes the negative spiritual consequences of
poverty. Notably, the ttxmptöchoi ("poor") alone is used to translate cänäwim
in the LXX (Isa 29:19; 61:1). The additional words "in spirit" would be
unnecessary if the reference were simply to the cänäwtm of the OT. The added
words seem to imply poverty that takes the form of spiritual deficiency or
leads to it.16 Whereas in the OT the cänäwtm are represented as people who
have an unusually strong hope (in God), the accent on spiritual poverty here
redefines them as people who may be on the verge of giving up. Thus, in
Matthew's Gospel the poor in spirit are not people who trust in God because
they have no reason for hope in this world. They are people who have no
reason for hope in this world, period. The presence or strength of their trust
in God remains unaddressed in this beatitude, though, if anything, the impli-
cation of the Matthean phrase would be that it is slight.17
The poor in spirit are declared blessed because "of them is the kingdom
of heaven" (autön estin he basileia tön ouranön). English translators often
render this as a possessive, "theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew's

15
J. David Pleins, "Poor, Poverty: ΟΊ" ABD, 5. 411-13. See also Hans-Joachim Kraus,
Theology of the Psalms (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1986) 150-54.
16
Best ("Matthew V.3") correctly incorporates this nuance of the phrase into his focus on
despondency, but he interprets this despondency as an understandable reaction to the harsh
demands of Jesus' sermon, an interpretation that fails to note any connection to the cänäw\m
and that ignores the use of the third person by assuming that the beatitude refers primarily to
those to whom Jesus is speaking.
17
Most interpreters who identify 5:3 as a reference to the cänäwim think the addition of
the words "in spirit" intensifies the already implicit characterization of these persons as religious
or pious. Such interpretations are curious, for they appear to assume that Matthew is referring
to those who are spiritually rich (in spite of their socioeconomic poverty) rather than, as the text
says, spiritually poor (because of it?).
 MATTHEW'S BEATITUDES 465

Gospel does contain parables that liken the kingdom to an object (a treasure
or a pearl) that one might obtain (13:44-46), but such imagery may ultimately
fail to do justice to the sovereignty of God's rule which is central to this
gospel's theology. The real sense of the apodosis of this beatitude (see also
5:10; 19:14) may be brought out by taking the two genitive constructions
as objective and subjective complements of a verbal noun. The phrase then
reads simply, "heaven rules them." According to Matthew's Gospel, the
rule of heaven (or God) implies the accomplishment of God's will (6:10).
When Jesus says the poor in spirit are blessed because heaven rules them,
he means that the accomplishment of God's will is going to be a blessing
to those who are poor in spirit. The assumption is that God does not want
anyone to be poor in spirit and that when God's will is accomplished no
one will be poor in spirit any longer. Whether they know it or not, those
who have no reason for hope in the world, who may be on the verge of
giving up, are blessed, for the rule of heaven has drawn near (4:17), and
their situation is about to change.
As indicated above, those who mourn (5:4) must be taken as a reference
to unfortunate persons in need of reversal rather than to virtuous ones
deserving a reward. There are commentators who think Matthew refers to
people who are "sorry for their sins,"18 or who "protest evil and injustice,"19
or who "renounce earthly goods";20 such commentators are straining for
applications that Matthew's readers would not be expected to deduce from
the text. Such desperation is unnecessary, apart from a predisposition toward
finding promises of reward in all the beatitudes. Most recent scholars recog-
nize that "those who mourn" refers simply to people who are miserable or
unhappy.21 In its most specific sense, pentheö refers to grief related to death
or loss, but the term may be used inclusively for sorrow in general. The
mention of mourning (pentheo) and comfort (parakaleo) in this verse recalls
Isa 61:1-3, which in the LXX also speaks of the poor (ptôchoi) and of those
with a faint spirit (pneumatos akëdias). If the poor in spirit are those who

18
Hugo Huber, Die Bergpredigt: Eine exegetische Studie (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 1932) 29-31. According to Luz (Matthew 1-7, 235 η. 64), this view has been prevalent
since Origen.
19
Bruce J. Malina, Christian Origins and Cultural Anthropology: Practical Models for
Biblical Interpretation (Atlanta: John Knox, 1986) 203.
20
Most notably, Augustine De sermone Domini in monte 1.5.
21
Davies and Allison, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, 1. 448; Guelich, Sermon,
79-81; Luz, Matthew 1-7, 235. For Hagner (Matthew 1-13, 92), those who mourn are "those
who suffer," and they do so "because of the seeming slowness of God's justice."
 466 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 58, 1996

find no reason for hope in this life, then the ones who mourn are those who
find no cause for joy. They are blessed because "they will be comforted," a
divine passive that implies God will act so they need mourn no more.
Most interpreters regard the meek (praeis) in 5:5 as an approximate
synonym for the "poor in spirit" of 5:3.22 As such, the meek have been
identified as people who are "humble,"23 with perhaps a nuance of "nonvio-
lent,"24 or of "gentle."25 Once again, however, many interpreters identify the
meek here with the cänäwtm of the OT.26 The case for doing so is at least as
strong here as in 5:3, because the word praeis, plural of prays, is the one most
commonly used in the LXX to translate cänäwfm. As Klaus Wengst has shown
in a book-length word study of this term, the connotation of prays as "gentle"
or "kind" derives from Greco-Roman literature and may be reflected in
1 Pet 3:4 (the only occurrence of the term in the NT outside of Matthew).27
In Matt 5:5, however, the word ought to be interpreted in the Hebraic sense,
for this verse is almost a quotation of Ps 36:11 (LXX; Engl. 37:11). Matthew's
other two uses of the term also have roots in the OT. In 21:5 it is used in a
citation from Zechariah, and in 11:29 it is combined with tapeinos, "lowly,"
in a pairing familiar in the LXX (for example, in Zeph 3:12). As Wengst
demonstrates, prays in such instances does not refer to "the humble" but to
"the humiliated."28 Thus, the trend in recent scholarship has been toward
identifying the praeis in Matt 5:5 as "the oppressed" or "the powerless."29
Such an identification becomes even more likely when we consider the
apodosis of this beatitude, the promise that the praeis will inherit the
"earth" or "land" (gë). In the OT, traditions of both the exodus and the
exile speak of the disinherited (slaves, captives) receiving promised land

22
G. R. Beasley-Murray, Jesus and the Kingdom of God (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985)
158. Gundry (Matthew, 69) traces the synonymity to an interplay between the Hebrew words for
poor (cânî) and meek (cänäw).
23
Luz, Matthew 1-7, 236.
24
Schalom Ben-Chorin, Bruder Jesus: Der Nazarener in jüdischer Sicht (2d ed.; Munich:
Paul List, 1969)71.
25
Ambrose (Expositio euangelii secundum Lucam 5.54) defined meekness as suppression
of passion, and Gregory of Nyssa (De beatitudinibus 2.3) defined it as suppression of wrath. So
also Meier (Matthew, 40), who thinks the meek are "the considerate, the unassuming, the peace-
able toward God and man." Compare Strecker, Sermon, 35-36.
26
Davies and Allison, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, 1. 449; Guelich, Sermon,
81-82; Hamm, Beatitudes in Context, 86-92; Hill, Matthew, 11; Schweizer, Good News, 89-90.
27
Klaus Wengst, Humility: Solidarity of the Humiliated (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988).
28
Ibid., 16. The emphasis in 11:29 and 21:5, then, is not on the pious personality of Jesus
but on his voluntary identification with the lowly (see esp. pp. 36-41).
29
Davies and Allison, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, 1.449; Hagner, Matthew 1-13,
92-93; Schweizer, Good News, 89.
 MATTHEW'S BEATITUDES 467

(Hebr. Deres, Gr. gè) in great reversals brought about by God. No biblical
precedent indicates that the land is given as a reward to people who exhibit
such virtues as kindness or gentleness. The very word "inherit" (klëronomeô)
connotes not a reward that one must earn but a gift for which one must
only wait. The sense of the third beatitude, then, is that dispossessed people
are now regarded as blessed because they are going to receive what they
have had coming to them all along. The reference to gè, furthermore, helps
to identify just what the praeis are envisioned as lacking. This time, it is
something more worldly than hope or joy. The praeis are those who have
not been given their share of the earth. They have been denied access to
the world's resources and have not had opportunity to enjoy the creation
that God intended for all people. Does this mean that the blessing for the
praeis is to be fulfilled in a political or worldly sense? Not necessarily. In
19:28-29 Jesus declares that those who have left lands (agrois) for his sake
will be repaid "in the world to come." Similarly, the thought in this
beatitude may be that those who have been denied their share of the earth
in this life will not be so denied in the future age, when God's rule is
established and God's will is done.30 In any case, the main point is not that
God is going to reward those who exhibit the virtue of meekness, but that
when God rules, the weak and powerless will receive what God wants them
to have.
The blessing pronounced on those who hunger and thirst for righteous-
ness in Matt 5:6 may be interpreted as either a promise of reward for the
virtuous or as a promise of reversal for the unfortunate. When the verse is
taken in isolation, apart from any consideration of the beatitudes as a struc-
tural unit, the deciding factor for its interpretation will be the nuance
attributed to dikaiosynë. This relational term is sometimes used in Matthew
in a way that emphasizes the human conduct expected by God (5:20). Thus,
a number of interpreters believe 5:6 refers to people who long to live according
to God's will.31 The term may also be used, however, with an emphasis on
God's righteousness (6:33), that is, in reference to the activity of God that

30
On present and future dimensions of Matthew's eschatological vision, see Donald A.
Hagner, "Matthew's Eschatology," To Tell the Mystery: Essays on New Testament Eschatology
in Honor of Robert H. Gundry (JSNTSup 100; ed. Thomas E. Schmidt and Moisés Silva;
Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1994) 49-71.
31
Davies and Allison, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, 1. 451-53; Dupont, Béati-
tudes, 3. 361-64; Hill, Matthew, 112; Luz, Matthew 1-7, 237-38; Benno Przybylski, Righteous-
ness in Matthew and His World of Thought (SNTSMS 41; Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1980) 96-98; Alexander Sand, Das Gesetz und die Propheten: Untersuchungen zur Theo-
logie des Evangeliums nach Matthäus (Biblische Untersuchungen 11; Regensburg: Pustet, 1974)
202; Strecker, Sermon, 37-38.
 468 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 58, 1996

establishes justice. Many commentators think this is the sense implied by

Matt 5:6, such that the verse now refers to those who long for God to put
things right,32 indeed that it refers to those who long for vindication.33
Although this verse is ambiguous when it is not interpreted as part of
a structural unit, a number of considerations favor placing the accent on
people who desire conditions that will be established by God rather than
on people who want their conduct to conform to what God expects. First,
the saying's closest parallel elsewhere in Matthew's Gospel is 6:33, where
the dikaiosynë to be sought by humans is identified as the state of affairs
when God rules. Second, the concept of longing to do God's will is actually
somewhat foreign to Matthew's Gospel, in which practice is valued over
intention (21:28-31; cp. Rom 7:14-25). Third, the metaphor of hunger and
thirst signifies not only desire but also deprivation, and the latter con-
notation makes more sense if we envision people who long for vindication
rather than people who simply desire to do what is right themselves.
Fourth, the expansion of this metaphor to include satisfaction of hunger
and thirst connotes provision for basic needs rather than reward. Else-
where in Matthew, satisfaction of hunger and thirst serves not as a symbol
for eschatological reward but as an image of God's overall concern for
creation (6:25-26). Indeed, Matthew affirms that provision of life's basic
necessities reflects the goodness of God in a way that is not contingent on
the dikaiosynë of humans (5:45).
The best argument, however, for taking Matthew's fourth beatitude as
a promise of reversal rather than reward is our recognition that it is parallel
to the three beatitudes that precede it. In view of this context, an appropriate
alternative to the popular English translation "hunger and thirst for righteous-
ness" (RSV NRSV) might be "starved for justice." Those who hunger and thirst
for a justice that has been denied them include people who have no reason
for hope, no cause for joy, and no access to the resources of this world. Such
needs will be satisfied by the eschatological reversals that God's rule brings.

32
Jack Dean Kingsbury, Matthew as Story (2d ed.; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988) 132;
Hagner, Matthew 1-13, 93; Lohmeyer, Evangelium des Matthäus, 87-88; Meier, Matthew, 40-41;
John Reumann, "Righteousness" in the New Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress; New York:
Paulist Press, 1982) 127-28; Schweizer, Good News, 91-92; Soiron, Bergpredigt, 171-72. Guelich
(Sermon, 84-87) and others cited by Guelich try to combine both elements by speaking of the
desire for a fulfillment of God's will to be brought about by humans and by God.
33
Pierre Bonnard, L'Evangile selon saint Matthieu (CNT 1; Neuchâtel: Delachaux &
Niestlé, 1963) 57; Georg Eichholz, Auslegung der Bergpredigt (BibS[N] 46; Neukirchen-Vluyn:
Neukirchener Verlag, 1965) 43-44; Walter Grundmann, Das Evangelium nach Matthäus (THKNT
1; Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1968) 126-27r; Julius Schniewind, Das Evangelium nach
Matthäus (NTD 2; 12th ed.; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1968) 44; Hans-Theo Wrege,
Die Überlieferungsgeschichte der Bergpredigt (WUNT 9; Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1968) 19.
 MATTHEW'S BEATITUDES 469

In short, all of thefirstfour beatitudes speak of reversal of circumstances

for those who are unfortunate. Contrary to popular homiletical treatments,
being poor in spirit, mourning, being meek, and hungering and thirsting for
righteousness or justice are not presented here as characteristics that people
should exhibit if they want to earn God's favor.34 Rather, these are undesirable
conditions that characterize no one when God's will is done. The tendency
to read Matthew's beatitudes as a catalogue of virtues is so pervasive, how-
ever, that even commentators who agree that these beatitudes speak of
reversals rather than rewards sometimes try to sneak a little virtue in through
the back door. Thus, the poor in spirit may be regarded as the "religious
poor," those who mourn may be identified as righteous people who suffer
when the wicked prosper, the meek may become Christians who are powerless
in an oppressive society, and so on. Nothing in the text of Matthew supports
such specificity of identification. These beatitudes refer only to the circum-
stances of the unfortunate ones whom Jesus calls blessed. They do not describe
the attitudes of those persons.35
The desire of exegetes to identify the blessed in Matt 5:3-6 with religious
people or faithful Christians may be motivated by a common but erroneous
assumption. Many interpreters assume that Jesus is referring here to his own
disciples, who in Matthew's Gospel serve as ciphers for "the church" (16:18;
18:17), but though Jesus addresses these words to the disciples (5:1-2), the use
of the third person implies a distinction between those to whom Jesus is
speaking and the people whom he describes as blessed. This distinction is
emphasized when Jesus suddenly switches to the second person in his con-
cluding comment in 5:11-12, the only one of the beatitudes that is conditional
("blessed are you when . . .").
Some interpreters also think Matthew would not be likely to include
blessings for people of the world in general, since he indicates elsewhere that
those who find the way of life are few (7:14). Indeed, God's ultimate gift of
eschatological salvation may be reserved only for those who acknowledge
God's Son (10:32-33) and do the will of the Father in heaven (7:21). But
Matthew also affirms that some of God's blessings are for all people, be they
good or evil, righteous or unrighteous (5:45). The main point of the latter
affirmation is to reveal the character of God and the nature of God's will.

34
Nor are they presented as "character traits . . . which result from God's approval"
(David L. Turner, "Whom Does God Approve? The Context, Structure, Purpose, and Exegesis
of Matthew's Beatitudes," Criswell Theological Review 6 [1992] 29-42, esp. p. 30).
35
It might go without saying (but probably should not) that the distinction here between
the unfortunate and the virtuous is not meant to imply that unfortunate people cannot also be
regarded as virtuous. From Matthew's perspective, the unfortunate are at least as likely to be
virtuous as anyone else. The point is that Matthew does not in any way establish virtue on the
part of the oppressed as a prerequisite for the removal of oppression.
 470 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 58, 1996

Theologically, then, the point of these first four beatitudes is not to offer
"entrance requirements for the kingdom of heaven"36 but to describe the
nature of God's rule, which characterizes the kingdom of heaven. Previously,
John the Baptist and Jesus have declared that the rule of heaven has come
near (3:2; 4:17), and Matthew has described this announcement as "good
news" (euaggelion, 4:23). Now, in these beatitudes, Jesus' disciples learn for
whom the announcement is good news. The people who benefit when God
rules, Jesus declares, are those who otherwise have no reason for hope or cause
for joy, who have been denied their share of God's blessings in this world and
deprived of justice—in short, people for whom things have not been the way
they ought to be. For such people, the coming of God's kingdom is a blessing,
because when God rules, all this will change and things will be set right.

II. The Second Stanza

With the fifth beatitude of Matthew's Gospel a second set of parallels
is introduced. All of the beatitudes in Matt 5:7-10 are best interpreted as
promising eschatological rewards to people who exhibit virtuous behavior.
The second stanza does not, however, represent a logical departure from the
thought that undergirds the first, for the virtues that earn blessings are vir-
tues exercised on behalf of the people mentioned in stanza 1. In other words,
the people whom Jesus declares blessed in 5:7-10 are those who help to bring
to reality the blessings promised to others in 5:3-6.37
The merciful (eleëmones, 5:7; cp. Heb 2:17) are those who exhibit the
divine quality of mercy (eleos). According to Matthew's Gospel, mercy is one
of the weightier matters of the Law (23:23). God desires mercy over sacrifice
(9:13; 12:7), and Jesus is frequently portrayed responding to the pleas of those
who ask him to have mercy on them {eleëson, 9:27; 15:22; 17:15; 20:30,31).
Many commentators identify mercy in 5:7 with the forgiveness of sins
which is to be practiced within communities of faith.38 Thus, Matthew's fifth
beatitude may be taken as expressing positively the same thought that is
expressed negatively in 7:1 ("judge not that you not be judged"). Such an

36
This persistent label was first applied to them by Hans Windisch in Der Sinn der
Bergpredigt, though the exact phrase does not actually appear in the English translation of his
work (Meaning, 88 n. 31).
37
This seems a more logical construal than Hagner's suggestion (Matthew 1-13, 91) that
the latter beatitudes describe the demeanor of the needy persons in their unfortunate circum-
stances, so that "what the poor and oppressed have not received from the rich and powerful, they
should nevertheless show others" (p. 93).
38
Dupont, Béatitudes, 3. 632-33; Guelich, Sermon, 88-89; Hamm, Beatitudes in Context,
96-99; Kingsbury, Matthew as Story, 132; Schniewind, Evangelium nach Matthäus, 46; Soiron,
Bergpredigt, 179-80.
 MATTHEW'S BEATITUDES 471

interpretation draws some support from Jesus' words to the religious leaders
in 9:13 and 12:7, which imply that if they understood God's preference for
mercy they would not be so quick to judge others. It is also thought to be
illustrated parabolically in 18:23-34, where the servant who is forgiven much
by his king is unable to show mercy on a fellow servant by forgiving him even
a little (18:33). But the real point of these passages goes deeper. What the
religious leaders fail to understand is that a merciful God is not pleased by
religion that prevents people from eating with outcasts (9:10-13) or, for that
matter, from eating, period (12:1-7). Although the cancellation of debt in
18:33 certainly symbolizes forgiveness of sins (18:21-22), we should not pass
too quickly over the immediate, literal sense: economic relief (6:12).39 Else-
where in Matthew, a cognate of the word for mercy (eleëmosyne) is used to
describe the practice of giving money to the poor (6:2,3,4). Thus, many
scholars insist on a broader application for "being merciful," one that encom-
passes deeds of loving kindness and acts of compassion in addition to for-
giveness of sins.40
Several times in Matthew "to show mercy" means to heal those who are
sick (9:27; 20:30,31) or who are possessed by demons (15:22; 17:17). As such,
acts of mercy may represent instances in which the rule of God comes upon
people, and the house of Satan is plundered (12:28-29). Notably, when eating
with outcasts is presented as an example of being merciful in 9:10-13, Jesus
describes this activity metaphorically as that of a person who is a physician
to "those who are sick" (9:12). In a basic sense, then, "the merciful" (5:7) are
healers, people who seek to put right what has gone wrong. They favor the
removal of everything that prevents life from being as God intends: poverty,
ostracism, hunger, disease, demons, debt.
Such a broadened understanding of mercy implies that it is not just a
virtue to be practiced within the religious community. Indeed, in Matthew's
Gospel it is emphasized that mercy is to be shown to outcasts (9:10-13) and
to foreigners (15:21-28). If anything, the fear is that attention to matters
important within the community will supersede concern for mercy (23:23; cp.
9:10-13; 12:1-7).
The blessing pronounced on the merciful is that they will receive mercy.
Surely this means that they themselves will be treated with mercy on the final
day of judgment, but in a broader sense it may mean simply that they will
see mercy prevail. They will receive mercy not only for themselves but also

39
Michael H. Crosby, House of Disciples: Church, Economics, and Justice in Matthew
(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1988) 189-90.
40
Davies and Allison, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, 1. 454-55; Gundry, Matthew,
70-71; Luz, Matthew 1-7, 238; Strecker, Sermon, 39.
 472 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 58, 1996

for those on whose behalf they have sought it. The advent of God's kingdom
is a blessing to those who value mercy, because God also values mercy and
when God rules, what God values will become reality.
The reference to the pure in heart (5:8) is a general description of virtuous
people that should not be defined with too much precision. Homiletical
treatments of people with "clean thoughts," even Kierkegaard's famous dic-
tum regarding those who "will one thing," 41 limit the range of application for
this expression. The concept of purity has its background in OT codes that
define what is, and is not, pleasing to God. But the heart {kardia) cannot be
linked definitively with any one sphere of human activity such as cognition
or volition. According to Matthew, the heart is the source of outward speech
(12:34; 15:18) and outward behavior (15:19), as well as the realm of inner
reflection (9:4; 24:48). What is associated with the heart is not intrinsically
good or evil: people lust in their hearts (5:27-28) and love with their hearts
(22:37). Here, and elsewhere in the Bible, kardia seems simply to represent
"the true self," what one really is, apart from pretense. Thus, to "understand
with the heart" (13:15) means to understand truly, to "forgive from the heart"
(18:35) means to forgive truly, and so on.
We may surmise, then, that the pure in heart are those who are truly pure,
opposed to those who are only apparently so. Just as people may worship God
with their lips when their hearts are far from God (15:8), so also may they
appear katharoi to others when they are actually full of akatharsia, "unclean-
ness" (23:28). Thus, many commentators believe the real accent in Matthew's
sixth beatitude is on integrity.42 This appears also to be the sense in Ps 24:4,
where the pure in heart are contrasted with those given to falsehood or deceit
(cp. Gen 20:5-6).
Purity of heart is too all-encompassing a concept to be limited to expres-
sions of inward piety or to virtues displayed within the community. If any-
thing, the context of Matthew's other beatitudes shifts the focus to an integrity
of virtue that is displayed on behalf of others. Taken in isolation, the verse
may pronounce a blessing on any whose virtue is genuine and uncorrupted;
in context, the blessing is primarily for those who, with integrity, exhibit such
virtues as showing mercy (5:7) and making peace (5:9). Indeed, only those
who possess such an integrity will be willing to suffer persecution in order to
see right prevail (5:10).
The blessing pronounced on the pure in heart is that they will "see God."
Since even Moses is unable to see God in this life (Exod 33:20; cp. 19:21) this
promise surely refers to the end of time, when the righteous will be welcomed

41
Soren Kierkegaard, Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing: Spiritual Preparation for the
Feast of Confession (tr. D. V. Steere; 2d ed.; New York: Harper, 1938).
42
Davies and Allison, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, 1. 456; Guelich, Sermon,
90-91; Hagner, Matthew 1-13, 94; Luz, Matthew 1-7, 238-39.
 MATTHEW'S BEATITUDES 473

into the kingdom of their father (Matt 13:43; 25:34) and, presumably, will
enjoy the intimacy of God's presence in a sense that is not possible here. Such
a blessing is especially appropriate for the pure in heart, because as people
who are truly pleasing to God they have offered the world a vision of what
is godly. Those who will see God are those in whom something of God has
been seen.
The beatitude for the peacemakers (5:9) is also interpreted in ways that
are too limited. First, the term may be taken as a reference to those who bring
others to peace with God. Such an application should not be ruled out
altogether, but in general biblical references to seeking or making peace
envision the sphere of human relations (Ps 34:14; Prov 10:10; Mark 9:50;
Jas 3:18; but see Col 1:20). More often, Matt 5:9 is thought to refer to those
who work for reconciliation within the community of faith. Thus, examples
of peacemakers in Matthew's Gospel would include persons who leave a gift
at the altar to seek reconciliation with another member of the community
(5:23-24) and people who respond to a sinful member of the community in
the way described by Jesus in 18:15-18. Such reconciliation implies a gener-
osity of forgiveness (18:21-35), and so this understanding of peacemakers is
congruent with interpretations taking "the merciful" in 5:7 to be those who
exercise forgiveness within the community. A somewhat broader paradigm
identifies peacemakers as those who seek reconciliation with the world at
large.43 Under this interpretation, those who come to terms quickly with their
accusers (5:25) and especially those who love their enemies (5:44) would also
be peacemakers, an application that is appealing, because Jesus describes
those who love their enemies as "children of the Father in heaven," a phrase
that recalls the apodosis of this beatitude. Any interpretation equating peace-
making with reconciliation, however, fails to take into account Jesus' claim
that he has not come to bring peace in this sense of the word (10:34). The
expectation, in fact, is that association with him will create divisions and
evoke hostility (10:35-36; cp. 5:11-12; 10:21-22).
Although the word eirënopoioi is not used elsewhere in the NT, it does
occur in Greco-Roman literature, where it applies to rulers who establish
security and socioeconomic welfare.44 We may assume that this sense of the
term would be intensified in a Semitic document such as Matthew's Gospel

43
Dupont, Béatitudes, 3. 635-40; Dieter Lührmann, "Liebet euere Feinde (Lk 6,27-36/
Mt 5,39-48)," ZTK69 (1972) 412-38; Luz, Matthew 1-7, 241. Direct application to elimination
of war between nations (Davies and Allison, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, 1. 458) or to
nonviolent revolution (Hagner, Matthew 1-13, 94) does not appear to be primary, though neither
should be excluded from the possible range of meaning.
44
See Hans Windisch, "Friedensbringer—Gottessohn," ZNW24 (1925) 240-60, esp. pp. 240-
41.
 474 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 58, 1996

because of the influence of the Hebrew concept of salôm, a word typically

translated by eirënë, "peace," in the LXX. Reconciliation of the estranged
would be one example of salôm, but this is certainly not the exclusive, or even
primary, application of the term. In the OT, salôm is a term parallel to mispät,
"justice," so in the OT peace "is not seen as tranquility and order, but rather
as the deep commitment to the work of justice."45 The peacemakers whom
Jesus pronounces blessed in Matt 5:9 are best regarded as agents of God who
are actively establishing salôm*6 Or, as Jack Kingsbury says, they are "those
who work for the wholeness and well-being that God wills for a broken
world."47
The blessing attributed to these people is that they will be called children
of God. In Matthew's Gospel, people are identified as God's children when
their conduct is similar to God's own (5:48), just as people are identified as
members of Jesus' family when they do God's will (12:50). The assumption
seems to be that for those involved in bringing about what God wants, the
acknowledgment that they have behaved as God's children and have done as
God wished will be reward enough.
In the blessing on those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness
(5:10), the word dikaiosynë is used with a sense different from that of its use
in 5:6.48 True righteousness or justice is something that must ultimately be
established by God, but people are invited to repent and participate now in
that establishment (3:2; 4:17). Such participation brings persecution. The
virtue commended here is not persecution itself but the degree of investment
that may be assumed for those so committed to God's cause that they are
willing to suffer for it. Such people may be contrasted with those who receive
the word of the kingdom with joy but immediately fall away when tribulation
or persecution arise on account of the word (13:20-21).
This eighth beatitude serves as a fitting conclusion to the second stanza
of four, and it summarizes the basic thought of the unit. Those who show
mercy and those who work to establish God's salôm are people committed
to dikaiosynë, and if these people are pure in heart, their commitment will
not falter in the face of persecution. In every case, the people described by
these beatitudes are virtuous. They display qualities that, ideally, all people
should display. In one sense, then, the thought of the second set of beatitudes

45
Joseph P. Healey, "Peace: OT," ABD, 5. 206.
46
Guelich, Sermon, 91-92; Hamm, Beatitudes in Context, 102-6; Meier, Matthew, 41-42;
Schniewind, Evangelium nach Matthäus, 48; Windisch, "Friedensbringer."
47
Kingsbury, Matthew as Story, 133.
48
Most scholars grant that in 5:10 dikaiosynë refers to behavior in keeping with God's
will. See, for example, Davies and Allison, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, 1. 459-60;
Guelich, Sermon, 93; Kingsbury, Matthew as Story, 133; Luz, Matthew 1-7, 242.
 MATTHEW'S BEATITUDES 475

is quite different from that of thefirst.When God's kingdom comes, and God's
will is done, no one will have to be poor in spirit, mourn, be meek, or hunger
and thirst for righteousness, but everyone who is ruled by God and does God's
will is merciful, pure in heart, committed to peacemaking, and willing to
suffer for the sake of righteousness.

III. The Relation of the Two Stanzas to One Another

In the discussion above we have noted that both Matt 5:3-6 and Matt 5:7-
10 consist of four verses that function in a manner analogous to that of what
is called synonymous parallelism in the Hebrew Bible. In each case, one class
of people ("the unfortunate" or "the virtuous") is referred to four times in
language that brings out different nuances of the defining characteristic.
These patterns establish an internal integrity for each of these units that
allows them to be recognized as separate stanzas. At the same time, several
features enable us to identify structural, logical, ironic, and theological connec-
tions between the two stanzas.
The primary structural connection is established by the apodosis of the
eighth beatitude (5:10b), which repeats verbatim that of the first (5:3b). This
rhetorical inclusio suggests that everything from 5:3 through 5:10 is to be read
as a single unit. The protasis of the eighth beatitude, furthermore, picks up
the concern for dikaiosynë in 5:6. This repetition suggests that these two
verses function analogously, as the concluding lines of stanzas that belong to
the same poem.
Indications of structural unity encourage readers to look for a logical
relationship between the connected passages. Here, that relationship is in the
concern for dikaiosynëevident in both stanzas. Whereas the first stanza deals
with those who have been deprived of righteousness or justice (5:6), the second
is concerned with those dedicated to the establishment of righteousness or
justice (5:10). Thus, the people described in the second stanza supply what
those described in the first stanza lack.
On another level, however, the connection between these two stanzas
transcends logic with an ironic realization that belongs to Matthew's eschato-
logical vision. Although Matthew's text initially offers no support for re-
garding the unfortunate in 5:3-6 as "a little bit virtuous," it does indicate,
through the mention of persecution (5:10), that the virtuous people described
in 5:7-10 are in some sense unfortunate. The misfortune that they suffer,
furthermore, comes as a direct result of their commitment to bringing right-
eousness or justice to the unfortunate ones who hunger and thirst for it (note
the heneken, "on account of," in 5:10). The ironic connection between the
stanzas, then, lies in the realization that those who practice the virtues
described in the second stanza may on that account come to be numbered
 476 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 58, 1996

among those described in the first stanza on whose behalf these virtues are
exercised. Thus, we have to revise slightly our earlier observation that the
blessings promised in Matt 5:3-6 constitute reversals for the unfortunate
rather than rewards for the virtuous. Although this interpretation may hold
for a first reading of the passage, on subsequent readings we will have to note
that some of the unfortunate ones described in 5:3-6 may be virtuous people
who have come to be numbered among the unfortunate on account of their
commitment to righteousness and justice. For such persons, the blessings
promised in 5:3-6 may represent both reversals and rewards. Still, those
persecuted on account of righteousness constitute but one example of people
who have been deprived of justice. Application of the first four beatitudes to
them must remain parenthetical if it is not to obscure the primary point of
these verses: that God's rule sets things right for all oppressed people.
To avoid undercutting what has been said previously I must stress that
this ironic connection between the stanzas is founded on paradox, not on
contradiction. I reiterate: for Matthew there is nothing inherently virtuous
about being meek or poor in spirit, or about mourning or hungering and
thirsting for righteousness, but to commit oneself to the cause of people who
suffer these conditions and to establish solidarity with them to the extent that
one suffers the same conditions oneself may be very virtuous indeed. An
analogy may be found in Jesus' words regarding children in Matt 18:1-4.
According to Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh, children are identified
as "humble" not because they are perceived as modest or self-effacing but
because they are regarded as "the weakest, most vulnerable members of
society."49 Jesus exhorts his disciples, who are concerned with greatness, to
change and "become humble" (tapeinophronein) like children. This does not
mean that being weak or vulnerable is virtuous per se. Virtue lies rather in
the commitment to God's rule that causes one to renounce ambitions to be
regarded as great in worldly terms and to pursue a course that may cause one
to be numbered instead among the weak and vulnerable people of the world
(cp. 18:25-28).
This ironic identification of the virtuous with the unfortunate is also
consistent with Matthew's projection of the rule of God evidenced by Jesus.
Drawing on the "suffering servant" theme of Isaiah, Matthew presents Jesus
as one who seeks to proclaim justice to those who have been deprived of it and
who, accordingly, comes to be deprived of it himself (12:18-21; cp. Isa 42:1-4).
Thus, Jesus is the king who becomes prays ("meek" or "oppressed," 21:5), the
lord who becomes a servant (20:28). Being prays is not a virtue in and of itself,
but becoming prays voluntarily for the sake of others is.

49
Bruce J. Malina and Richard L. Rohrbaugh, Social-Science Commentary on the Synop-
tic Gospels (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992) 117.
 MATTHEW'S BEATITUDES 477

Finally, a theological link between the stanzas can be seen in the content
of the blessings that are promised. The blessings of the first stanza may be
construed as reversals, and those of the second as rewards, but in either case
these blessings represent the intrinsic effects of God's rule which is being
established. Whether the coming of God's kingdom is perceived as bringing
reversal or reward depends only on the position that one occupies prior to
its advent. God's rule sets things right. Those for whom things have not been
right are blessed by the changes it brings, and those who have been seeking
to set things right are blessed by the accomplishment of what they have sought.

IV. Jesus' Concluding Comment (Matthew 5:11-12)

After the eight beatitudes that constitute a two-stanza poem, Jesus utters
a final, ninth beatitude addressed to his disciples. This beatitude expands
upon the last verse of the second stanza, offering a conditional application
of that blessing to the disciples themselves. But since, as we have noted,
Matt 5:10 serves as a summation of 5:7-9 and is also linked to 5:3 and 5:6,
the effect of Jesus' concluding comment is to offer his disciples the possibility
of identification with those described in all of the preceding beatitudes. To
Matthew's readers, this comes as a revelation, because nothing in Matthew's
narrative up to now has indicated that Jesus' disciples suffer the misfortunes
of those described in 5:3-6 or exhibit the virtues of those described in 5:7-10.
But, when they are reviled, persecuted, and slandered on account of Jesus,
they will find themselves among those who are ironically deprived of justice
because of their devotion to it.
Although this concluding comment is the only beatitude addressed to the
disciples in the second person, the disciples are presented as the immediate
audience for all of the beatitudes (5:1-2). The effect of the earlier third-person
narration is twofold. First, it establishes the blessed as afieldof persons which
is not limited to the disciples of Jesus (compare the reference to "the prophets
who were before you" in 5:12). Jesus' disciples may come to be numbered
among the blessed, but they are not identical with them. Second, it creates
an initial distance that allows Jesus' audience to hear his words impartially
before realizing the direct "application to themselves. Such distance is rhetori-
cally effective in that it creates an illusion of safety that falls away after the
essential point has been made. Such tactics are necessary because of the
paradoxical quality of the blessings Jesus wishes to attribute to his disciples.
Though we might assume that anyone would want to be called "blessed," we
cannot assume that everyone would want to be included among the categories
of blessed persons delineated here.
 478 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 58, 1996

In literary terms, the disciples of Jesus function as the "narratee" for the
beatitudes in Matthew's Gospel. The specification of a narratee for discourse
indicates the perspective from which the readers are expected to hear what
is said. In actual circumstances, empathy of readers is impossible to predict.
Readers who consider themselves to be unfortunate might immediately iden-
tify with the characters described in Matt 5:3-6, or those who consider
themselves virtuous might do the same with the characters described in 5:7-10.
But specification of the disciples as the explicit "narratee" for Jesus' words
indicates that Matthew's implied readers are expected to identify with them
and to evaluate what Jesus says from their perspective.50
When the Beatitudes are read from this perspective, the sudden shift to
the second person in 5:11 assaults Matthew's readers in the world outside the
story as surely as it does the disciples within the story. Until now, the readers,
along with the disciples, have been learning that the coming of God's kingdom
brings blessing to the unfortunate people of the earth and to those virtuous
ones who work, and even suffer, on their behalf. Then, suddenly, the disciples
are told that their commitment to Jesus means that they will be numbered
among the suffering virtuous ones and thus, in some sense, among the unfor-
tunate ones as well. At this point in the narrative, Matthew's readers are
expected to realize that continued empathy with the disciples means adopting
a perspective that leads to identification with those whom Jesus has declared
blessed. The empathy that has already been established between Matthew's
readers and the disciples encourages such identification.
In recognition that some readers may be resistant, Matthew's Gospel
offers another possibility for empathy. When Jesus finishes the discourse that
begins with the Beatitudes, we are told that "the crowds were astonished at
his teaching" (7:28). This is surprising information, because we have previ-
ously been led to believe that Jesus was speaking to his disciples apart from
the crowds (5:1-2). With the realization that the crowds have overheard what
Jesus said, Matthew's readers are offered, belatedly, a second narratee—an
alternative point of view from which the words of Jesus may also be heard.
Presumably, this point of view will be an option for those readers who have
been unable to adopt the perspective of the disciples, the perspective from
which they were encouraged to hear Jesus' words. At the end of Jesus' speech,
readers who have heard the words from the disciples' point of view are left
with only two options: to act, or not to act (7:24-27). Readers who have not
been able to hear the words from this perspective are expected to identify
instead with the crowds to whom the words were not really addressed in the

50
On the notion of narratees and implied readers, see Mark Allan Powell, What is
Narrative Criticism? (GBS, NT Series; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990) 19-21, 27.
 MATTHEWS BEATITUDES 479

first place. Their experience will be that of outsiders, eavesdropping on

communication that evinces an authority unknown to them. Rather than
feeling compelled to decide whether or not to act, they will simply be "aston-
ished" (7:28-29). On a subsequent reading, such readers will perhaps be able
to accept Matthew's initial invitation to hear the words as disciples addressed
by Jesus, rather than just as crowds who overhear what is said to others.
 ^ s
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