The Last Beatitude. Joy in Suffering * I. The Last Beatitude in Matthean and Lucan Contexts The inclusio consisting of basileıa twn oyranwn, “kingdom of ¥ ˜ ß ˜ heaven ” , found in Matt 5,1.12, is not only the element that binds the 1 entire passage together but it also implies that the blessings contained in between, from the second to the seventh, are different ways of proclaiming the kingdom itself 2. Moreover, two equal entities 3 — with four beatitudes each — end in an enunciation of the blessing with the word dikaiosynh, “righteousness”. ¥ The ninth, concluding beatitude, connects with the previous one by the catchwords diwkein, “persecute” and oyranov, “heaven” 4. ¥ ß ¥ Notwithstanding the fact that some scholars do not consider it authentic and on a par with the other eight 5, it is clear that it has the * A shorter version of this paper was read at the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas 64th General Meeting, Vienna, 4-8 August, 2009. Cf. N.J. MCELENEY, “The Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount”, 1 CBQ 43 (1981) 1-13; D.A. HAGNER, Matthew (WBC 33/A-B; Dallas, TX 1993) I, 90; W.D. DAVIES – D. ALLISON, The Gospel According to Saint Matthew. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Edinburgh 1988) I, 452. Cf. DAVIES – ALLISON, Matthew I, 460. B. ESTRADA, “Le beatitudini. 2 Chiarimento strutturale e contenuto”, Generati da una parola di verità (Gc 1,18). Scritti in onore di R. Fabris (eds. S. GRASSO – E. MANICARDI) (Bologna 2006) 31-41. It is preferable to follow the classical number of 8+1 beatitudes in 3 Matthew 5,3-12, even though there are many proposals. For example, H.D. BETZ, The Sermon on the Mount (Minneapolis, ME 1995) 107, speaks of ten beatitudes. Already from Augustine and Thomas Aquinas the idea of seven beatitudes was frequent, but with variations. In modern times Benoit, Bultmann, Dodd, Hawkins, Weiss and Wellhausen, among others, are of this opinion. Cf. R. MEYNET, “I frutti dell’analisi retorica per l’esegesi biblica”, 4 Greg 77 (1996) 408, keeping the order of the Codex D, sees in Matthew’s beatitudes two blocks with an inclusive-concentric structure. The first block would be composed of seven blessings while the other is made up of the final two with the logion of salt and light. Cf. R. GUNDRY, Matthew. A Commentary on His Handbook for a Mixed 5 Church under Persecution (Grand Rapids, MI 1994) 73. E. SCHWEIZER instead