The beatitudes in verses 20-23 are followed by woes. These
woes are not kindly received in the ears of so many affluent, successful, and
worldly believers today. Just as we are encouraged by the Lord to have faith in
God and enjoy His blessings and happiness, we are also warned by Jesus of the
danger of seeking or coveting these things with a wrong attitude.
The Lord's woes are aimed at things that people covet but
that are, in reality, an encumbrance to spiritual life. The first and second
woe are directed at those who are prosperous in this life: “But woe to
you who are rich, For you have received your consolation” (6:24). “Woe
to you who are full, For you shall hunger” (6:25a). The word for
"consolation" here can be translated "comfort" (John 14:16,
26). Often, rich people derive their sense of well-being from their wealth
rather than from God's Word. In the Lord's parable of the sower (Matt. 13:1-9),
both "the cares of this world" (worry), and "the deceitfulness
of riches" (wealth), work against the soul's well-being.
The third woe is directed against those
who are pleased with this life: “Woe to you who laugh now, For you shall
mourn and weep” (6:25b). The Lord has lived down here. He knows what it can
be like. He was "a man of sorrows," and He was "acquainted with
grief" (Isa. 53:3). Much of our laughter is shallow and short-lived. We
never read of Jesus' laughing. As He saw life (as the One who was here to deal
with the appalling horror of sin), it was far too serious for lightness and
levity. His heart was broken over the sins and sorrows of the lost people of
Adam's ruined race.
Every graveyard, every orphan, every widow, every leper,
every demoniac, every broken home, and every act of injustice broke His heart.
He saw soldiers with their weapons and engines of war, Pharisees robed in
hypocrisy, and Sadducees stupidly denying the great truths of the faith. He saw
a temple corrupted by vested interests and commercial enterprises. He could
look into human homes and hearts.
Jesus knew from of old the history of this planet. He knew the destructive deceiving power of false religion and
its terrible history, so full of wickedness and woe. Above all, He knew the
horrors of a lost eternity and the dreadful doom of the damned. No wonder Jesus
wept! For a lost loved one (John 11:33, 35), for a lost city (Luke 19:41-44),
and for a lost world (Luke 22:41-45). Jesus found little down here at which to
laugh. Sin (as the prophet Hosea makes clear) breaks not only God's laws but
also His heart. And always before Him was the shadow of an accursed cross on a
skull-shaped hill outside a city wall.
The fourth woe is directed against those
who are popular in this life: "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak
well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets" (6:26).
We can be sure that if all men praise us, we have not touched the raw places in
their consciences. We have not denounced their favorite sins. We are in danger
of endorsing their sins by our silence.
The four "woes" all share a common truth: You
take what you want from life, and you pay for it. If you want immediate wealth,
fullness, laughter, and popularity, you can get it; but there is a price to pay
and that is all you will get. Jesus did not say that these things were wrong.
He said that being satisfied with them is its own judgment. When people are
satisfied with the lesser things of life, the good instead of the best, then
their successes add up only as failures. These people are spiritually bankrupt
and do not realize it.
Life is built on character, and character is built on
decisions. But decisions are based on values, and values must be accepted by
faith. Moses made his life-changing decisions on the basis of values that other
people thought were foolish (Heb. 11:24-29), but God honored his faith. The
Christian enjoys all that God gives him (1 Tim. 6:17) because he lives "with
eternity's values in view."
God bless!
