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THE BEATITUDES
"Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you,
And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man's sake.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven,
For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.
"But woe to you who are rich, For you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are full, For you shall hunger.
Woe to you who laugh now, For you shall mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets.
Once again we find Jesus speaking not to the world in general but to his disciples, his personal followers or students -- members of a small group of people (Luke 12:32, Matthew 7:13-14) who are presently being called out and prepared for leadership roles in the coming kingdom of God.
Once again we see also that God is not, at this time, trying to save the whole world. Generally speaking, the rich and successful, those who are prospering, those who are full and laughing and enjoying the good things of life are too busy to bother with God, although they may be quite happy to listen to the more comfortable words and platitudes of the false prophets.
The situation with the disciples of Jesus, however, is quite different. Here, by way of contrast, is a group of individuals described as being poor, hungry, weeping and who may even be hated and persecuted by the world because they are followers of the Son of Man rather than the spirit of the age (Ephesians 2:1-2).
Poverty and riches, food and hunger, sickness and health and other aspects of human life all have metaphorical equivalents -- and where we find this discourse amplified in Matthew's gospel, the disciples of Jesus are described, for example, as being poor in spirit rather than literally poor, and as hungering and thirsting for righteousness rather than literal food (Matthew 5:3-10).
The key point is that the disciples of Jesus are teachable, repentant and ready to change, mourning over their own sins and the evils of the world, and hungering to learn God's ways and become better people.
Although the awesome reality of the Christian calling described in the New Testament now appears to be regarded by scholars as a naive delusion of the Early Church, the fact remains that the disciples of Jesus are being trained for important roles in the coming Kingdom of God, as clearly explained elsewhere in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 6:12, Hebrews 2:5, Revelation 5:10) -- and are in line for a great reward.
Although that reward is presently being accumulated and stored up in heaven, where no thief can steal or rust destroy it (Matthew 6:20), the saints are destined to rule on Earth at Christ's return (Revelation 11:15), as Jesus also explains in Matthew's parallel gospel account (Matthew 5:5).