Gospel Note
Luke's "Sermon on the Plain," which begins here, is shorter and less spiritualized than Matthew's corresponding "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5-7), but similar in structure. Luke's version, however, paints a sharper contrast between the values of God's coming rule and those of the world: whereas the world appreciates wealth and the "happy" life of "success" that it brings, these are incompatible with God's reign and inimical to that coming reality.

Liturgical Color
Gree…