Bible Challenge Day 58: Woe to the Rich (Luke 6)

Today we began Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount. Like Matthew, Luke has beatitudes. Jesus pronounces blessings on the poor, the hungry, and those who weep. Unlike Matthew, Luke also has Jesus pronounce parallel woes. “Woe to you who are rich . . . . Woe to you are full now . . . . Woe to you who are laughing now . . . .”

I like Jesus to be nice, and normally he is. But this passage in Luke is a reminder that Jesus is not always nice. Sometimes Jesus tells hard truths. I am not rich by US standards, but I am certainly rich by the standards of peasants in ancient Israel. I am full. I laugh. I would like to think those are not bad things. But Jesus’ sermon in this chapter of Luke means at the very least that I should not be complacent.

A friend once put it this way. If we want to be with Jesus, we should go where he says he is going to be, and that is with the poor. This passage from Luke suggests that the consequences of failing to be with the poor are serious. Another friend of mine preached a sermon last Sunday about the angry Jesus. Apparently she said that she appreciates Christ’s passion for justice and his anger at injustice. The woes in this chapter come from that passion.

I still do not know exactly what to do with this passage. But I know that I need to spend time with it, despite my great temptation to read over it as quickly as I can!

Fr. Harvey