WOE TO (PART 1)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.”

Luke 6:24

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

If you only read the Gospel of Matthew, you would come away thinking Jesus only spoke of the blessings certain groups of people would receive. We looked at nine such statements in a recent series of devotions simply titled, “Blessed Are”. But as we have seen in our studies, there is a parallel account of what Jesus said found in Luke’s Gospel and it’s there that we find Jesus adding a series of woes, woes that stand in contrast to His proclaimed blessings, woes we’ll look at in the four part series: Woe To.

Look at the first verse from Jesus’ woe proclamations here:

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.”  Luke 6:24

What was Jesus getting at here?

So many people in His time were reliant on their riches or consumed with the attainment of more. These people had their hearts centered on things of the world instead of the wealth of the kingdom of God. They were their own masters, self reliant and self sufficient, reveling with pride in the midst of their own accomplishments and achievements. There was no need for God’s guidance because they were doing just fine guiding themselves and paving their own paths.

In other words, these people were comfortable (and were comforted) by everything they had earned and everything they had. And it was to this audience that Jesus promised woe to, a woe that is punctuated by anguish, despair, sorrow, and misery.

Do you fit that category today? Have you become fixated on your possessions, your work and successes, your intellect and self generated wisdom?

If so, if you find yourself lumped in with the type of people Jesus was describing in this verse from Luke, then Jesus has some guidance for you as He did for them, a guidance we will examine closer in a later devotion but one that bears mentioning here. Look at these words, also found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”  Matthew 6:19-21, 24

Here we find why those who place all their hope and trust in themselves and worldly riches will find woe because that self dependence and fixation with the wealth of the earth is fleeting and temporary. It isn’t going to last forever.

It’s true, right?

Think about it. How many people have died and were able to take their money with them? Their home? Car? Anything?

The truth is you take nothing with you. Nothing. You leave it all behind for someone else. And even your brain is dead. So much for all that great intelligence and aptitude you had. It’s going to rot away into dust and be swept away with the wind.

To these people facing this destiny, Jesus gives another (and far more promising) option, the option of storing up treasures in heaven vice on earth, riches that would never fade away but last for all eternity. These riches are not found in anything tangible but rather are spiritual assets that come when one chooses to serve God and not worldly prosperity and affluence.

There is no middle ground. Jesus gives no third choice where someone can have riches on either side of the line that separates the world from heaven. This means we have to choose which master we will serve, God or money, because we can’t serve both. We have to decide where our devotion is going to be directed and channeled.

Jesus said the poor in spirit, those who realized their poverty and a need for the quality of life only the Lord would bring, would receive the kingdom of heaven. They would be blessed for choosing the Lord as their master.

As for those who see them rich with the world as their master, Jesus lets them know what they can expect:

Woe.

Tomorrow, we’ll see Jesus tell us about how another subset of people will experience woe.  

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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