Videos from Fr Claudio Doglio
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The Announcement of Grace
“In those days, he went up to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.” The evangelist Luke is very interested in prayer. He tends to emphasize that, in the critical moments of his life, Jesus prayed for a long time. We have already seen this at the initial investiture in Jordan.
Luke does not accurately describe the baptism of Jesus; he states that after Jesus was baptized, while he was in prayer, “heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him,” and the Father spoke to him. It is significant that Jesus was in prayer, and the revelation occurs in that context. That is why, in chapter 6, before choosing the Twelve apostles, the evangelist Luke notes that Jesus goes up the mountain to pray and prays all night before selecting the Twelve. He also repeats this pattern in the episode of the Transfiguration.
Luke is the only one who says that Jesus went up the mountain to pray and that his face changed as he prayed. For Luke, Jesus is not merely a teacher of prayer or a style of prayer but a man who prays. He is the Son of God who enters into a whole, loving, prayerful relationship with his Father. Therefore, with the election of the twelve apostles, the programmatic discourse begins in Luke.
We are accustomed to calling it the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ because it appears in the Gospel of Matthew, set on a mountain, but this is a typical editorial style of Matthew. All that material consists of many sayings of the Lord, found in Matthew and Luke but absent in Mark, and belongs to an older tradition known as source “Q.”
Matthew and Luke have drawn on a common source and arranged it as a programmatic speech. Matthew places him on the mountain because the mountain symbolizes the place of encountering God, and Jesus on the mountain offers a new law, just as God did on Sinai,giving the law to Israel.
Luke, instead, emphasizes the descent into the plains; on the mountain, Jesus went up to pray. “And he came down with them and stopped in a plain place. There was a great crowd of disciples and people, and they stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and many of the people came from all the neighboring regions.” Then “raising his eyes toward his disciples, he said….” And the discourse on the plain begins.
For Luke, with an editorial touch, the plain place becomes the setting for the gathering of many people. It is challenging to address the crowd on the mountain. For Luke, it is more important to highlight that Jesus comes down to the level of the people. Jesus has been on the mountain with his Father. He chose the disciples, and then he went down to the people. It is the usual environment of daily life, and to that gathered crowd Jesus offers the proclamation of the Beatitudes.
Luke preserves a more archaic tradition than Matthew. He presents four woes immediately after four beatitudes. In contrast, Matthew has eight beatitudes, with the corresponding woes placed at the end of chapter 23, at the start of the final discourse. This arrangement allows the first speech to begin with the Beatitudes and the last discourse to start with the woes. Meanwhile, Luke seems to preserve the most archaic form, grouping four blessings and four woes together in a perfectly symmetrical pattern—almost like four coins showing heads and tails: “Blessed are you who are poor… But woe to you who are rich”; “Blessed are you who are now hungry… But woe to you who are filled now”; “Blessed are you who are now weeping… Woe to you who laugh now”; “Blessed are you when people hate you… Woe to you when all speak well of you.” These are perfectly parallel and opposite.
The beatitude is a blessing and a wise way for Jesus to announce the good fortune that comes to humanity. The motivation is important: “The kingdom of God is yours.” This is the source of beatitude, not poverty. Jesus most likely spoke in Hebrew and used the term ‘anawim,’ which means ‘the poor’ in a spiritual sense—not just those with little money, but those who are humble enough to accept God’s plan. Matthew adds a small phrase that helps us understand better: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Luke does not add anything; he keeps a more archaic wording, probably from one of the earliest Greek versions, because Jesus spoke in a Semitic language.
We are unsure whether he spoke Hebrew or Aramaic, but it was a Semitic language. His disciples also spoke the same language and therefore memorized his words in that tongue. However, when they found themselves preaching the Gospel to people who spoke Greek—since Greek was the lingua franca throughout the Mediterranean—they inevitably had to translate his words from a Semitic language into Greek.
The early versions were likely literal and produced by people unfamiliar with Greek, resulting in some unconvincing translations. Luke, who discovered these ancient documents containing Jesus’ teachings, faithfully preserves and transmits them. Therefore, the focus is not on poverty but on the kingdom of God. Jesus proclaims that the kingdom of God is present and manifests through his presence. The kingdom of God is Jesus himself. Later, only the evangelist Luke mentions a ‘logion,’ a significant saying of Jesus: “The kingdom of God does not come in a way that attracts attention; You cannot say it is here or there because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” Not precisely ‘within you’ as an intimate discourse, but right in your midst. That saying is addressed to the Pharisees, who are Jesus’ perennial enemies.
God’s kingdom is present among those people because Jesus is with them. The kingdom of God is Jesus; it is his person and his presence. He is God’s powerful, active presence in history. He is the decisive intervention. ‘You are blessed’ because Jesus is on your side. You can be poor and still know you are weak because the Lord Almighty is with you. You are not blessed because you are hungry, but because you will be satisfied. You are offered the chance to be satisfied. “Blessed are those who welcome you.” You are not blessed because you cry. Jesus does not proclaim weeping, hunger, or poverty; he proclaims the overcoming of poverty, hunger, and tears. “Blessed are you, for you will laugh.” There is a chance to be happy.
Take note that in this case, the phrase ‘you will laugh’ is fundamental and is rendered in Greek as a Semitic expression that specifically denotes joy. You are happy because the kingdom of God, present here, satisfies you. Even if people oppose you, have patience; be happy because God is on your side. However, be cautious, as the situation can be reversed: God’s presence can be rejected. If you are rich (just as we said that being poor is not about money, so this also applies to the rich), if you are wealthy in pride, presumptuous, or self-sufficient, the kingdom of God does not welcome you, and therefore it benefits you nothing. You already have your comfort; you are closed off to what you possess and do not accept the kingdom of God. “Woe to you who are filled now (not because you are full, but because “you will be hungry”) because you refuse the offer given to you, and by refusing it, you will end up empty. “Woe to you who laugh now (not because you laugh, but because “you will grieve and weep”) because by rejecting the kingdom of God and not accepting Jesus as the person to follow, you are heading toward misfortune.”
‘Woe!’ doesn’t mean ‘this will get you into trouble’ but is an exclamation of pain, similar to how ‘blessedness’ – ‘happy’ — is a form of congratulation. Therefore, ‘woe’ is a lamentation. Consider a paradoxical phrase we might use to say ‘poor-rich people’ when commenting on stories where a wealthy, famous, and powerful person has gone bad and ruined themselves. What do I mean by ‘poor-rich’? I mean that despite their material wealth, they are poor in happiness and live miserable lives. That’s what Jesus means: ‘Blessed’ and ‘woe’ depend on accepting the kingdom of God and the person of Jesus. Jesus embodies the savior who grants God’s grace; he offers that transformative grace; he proclaims God’s mercy.
After the Beatitudes, we also find in Luke, as in Matthew, some beautiful words—an unselfish, generous love that goes beyond merit. “If you do good to those who do good to you, what gratitude is due to you?” the new translation states. The previous translation said: “What credit do you have?” I don’t like either. I suggest a third translation: ‘What kind of love is yours? If you love those who love you, what kind of love is yours?’ In Greek, the term ‘charis,’ which we usually translate as ‘grace,’ is used. What is your grace? What gratuitous affection…? Grace implies the idea of ‘gratuitousness.’ If you give a gift to someone who has given you a gift, what is free about all of that? Usually, when you return a gift you receivedwith another, you consider how much was spent and try to match it to reciprocate. It’s a disguised market; it’s not genuine love.
This is Jesus’ question: ‘What kind of love is it? What kind of gratuity is yours? What kind of love is yours if you lend to those who can repay? Also, sinners, tax collectors … animals do this. If you give a dog a cookie, he is happy and wags his tail, but if you kick him, he shows you his teeth. It’s an instinctive, normal reaction. This is what we also do: we treatwell those who treat us well.’
Jesus proposes something extraordinary that does not come naturally; loving enemies is not part of our instinctual tendencies. To those who instinctively hurt us, we tend to respond with evil. Here is the evangelical message: the good news is that we are given the opportunity for extraordinary love that is not ours but belongs to God. Here is the kingdom of God; his presence is this power of love.
Jesus saves by offering this opportunity, free from a diabolical bond that compels evil to return evil for evil, and instead offering a new, divine chance to do good freely. “Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.” In the Gospel of Matthew, the same saying of Jesus is rendered as: “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” In our view, there is a significant difference between mercy and perfection. However, the evangelists clearly did not see them as so distant. Mercy is perfection; that is, it embodies the fullness of love.
The fullness of God is mercy, and by grace we have the opportunity to be merciful like the heavenly Father. It is not about effort; Jesus isn’t saying ‘strive to be’ but to embrace the grace given to you to become merciful like the heavenly Father. This is the salvation the Lord works for.
In our modern world, it is hard to talk about salvation because two very different perspectives exist. One side believes salvation is impossible, while the other thinks it is unnecessary. Those with a negative view of the world, such as some great philosophers, poets, and pessimistic storytellers, see it as a web of irredeemable evil, where nothing makes sense, there is no end, no possibility of change, and salvation cannot happen. Nothing changes.
On the other hand, we have the thinkers, the optimistic writers who believe that people are inherently good; that all people are good… deep down, they are all good, and there are no strong negative elements. Today, there is a movement toward ‘seeing everything as good,’ believing that everything is fine, that all religions are good, that everyone has goodness deep inside, and that everything is okay. Salvation holds no appeal for these people.
The announcement of Jesus, which is the Christian proclamation, initially presumes a sense of pessimism—meaning a realistic view of reality: things are difficult, and it is not true that humans are inherently good; there is a significant underlying evil in everyone, and we need to be saved. However, the good news is that this salvation is possible.
Nature, wounded by sin, can be changed; it is not beyond repair; it can be healed. God’s mercy heals. Jesus heals the wounded man, sets him free, and saves him. Mercy saves, and salvation lies in becoming merciful, in being able to do good freely, as the heavenly Father does.
In this section, especially in chapter 7, Luke emphasizes narratives unique to his writing. He wants to show how Jesus reveals the face of the heavenly Father’s mercy. He heals the servant of a centurion, a foreigner, a man of faith, someone capable of relating, who loves the servant and values people, including those oppressed by the Romans. He narrates the resuscitation of a dead child, the son of a widow, in Nain. Jesus feels his maternal instincts stir; he is driven, like a mother, to show the life-giving mercy of God. During a banquet in Simon’s house, Jesus is surprised by a woman, a sinner, who silently cries at his feet while the Pharisee misjudges her; Jesus recognizes that something has happened to that woman. There is repentance; she humbled herself and wept. She acknowledged her sin. She loved Jesus so much that she entrusted herself to him. She lost her dignity; she threw herself at his feet like a dog and clung to Jesus’ feet at the risk of being kicked. Jesus acknowledges her salvation.
The Father’s mercy heals sinners, does not judge them, and transforms and restores them.