Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§13.4 For Whom Did Jesus Intend His Message?
force of the Jewish tradition regarding the poor, the likely influence of Isa. 61.1-2
on Jesus' understanding of his mission, and the episode of the rich (young) man,
who can doubt also that Luke has simply elaborated (perhaps with stories which
he sought out for that purpose) what was already recalled as a deep-rooted concern
of Jesus himself?
Matthew, on the other hand, seems to have focused more on the other end
of the spectrum of the Jewish tradition regarding the poor — 'the poor' as those
who, having nothing in their own possession on which to rely, trust only in God.
Hence his version of the first beatitude renders it as 'Blessed are the poor in
spirit...' (Matt. 5.3), 174 and the blessed hungry are those who 'hunger and thirst
for righteousness' (5.6). Unlike Luke, Matthew has been content simply to reproduce
without elaboration the other references to the poor which he found in Q
(Matt. 11.5) and Mark (Matt. 19.21; 26.9, 11). And in his account of Jesus' resisting
the temptation to turn stones into bread, it is Matthew who gives the full
quotation of Deut. 8.3 — 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word
that comes from the mouth of God' (Matt. 4.4) — where Luke 4.4 quotes only
the first clause. It seems likely, then, that Matthew or the tradition known to him
celebrated the memory of Jesus reminding his hearers that material poverty was
not the most serious condition in which individuals could find themselves. There
were a different value system and a satisfaction offered which no bread made by
human hands could supply. And, once again, bearing in mind the Jewish tradition
regarding poverty and Matthew's and Luke's shared warnings that 'Where your
treasure is there will your heart be also' (Matt. 6.21/Luke 12.34) and against trying
to serve both God and Mammon (Matt. 6.24/Luke 16.13), it hardly seems
justified to doubt that such warnings also reflected concerns and emphases of Jesus'
teaching.
In short, Jesus' remembered attitude to the poor set him entirely within the
traditional Jewish law and spirituality of poverty. He did not rail against the rich,
as did Amos and 1 En. 94.6-11 before him and Jas. 5.1-6 after him, though
Luke's woes interpret his teaching in that direction (Luke 6.24-26). But he left
the rich in no doubt as to the dangers of their position and their obligations under
God's law. Zacchaeus heard the implied rebuke to an unjust system and responded
in the spirit inculcated by Israel's poor law, just as later Anthony and
Poor ch. 3. L. T. Johnson, The Literary Function of Possessions in Luke-Acts (SBLDS 39;
Missoula: Scholars, 1977) 132-40 overrides too much the social concerns expressed in Luke's
presentation.
174. But note that the Qumran covenanters thought of themselves both as the poor
(above, n. 144) and also as 'the poor in spirit' (1QH 6[= 14].3); see further D. Flusser, 'Blessed
are the Poor in Spirit. . .', Judaism and the Origins of Christianity (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1988)
102-14, who refers particularly to 1QH 23[= 18].15; and Charlesworth, Jesus 68-70, referring
particularly to the Righteous Teacher's self-designation in 1QH 13[= 5].13-15.
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