Luke 6:24-26 - The Warning of the Woes

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 fai