WOE TO (PART 2)

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In Christ, Mark

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

“Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.”

Luke 6:25a

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

In the opening verses of Matthew 5, we find Jesus opening his Sermon on the Mount with a series of Beatitudes, “Blessed are” statements declaring certain types or groups of people who would experience happiness for particular reasons. In the sixth chapter of Luke’s Gospel, we find some parallel mentions of blessings but we also find a series of four woes listed, woes that compare and contrast against the blessings.

In yesterday’s devotion, Jesus provided warning to anyone who had placed their comfort and peace in their wealth. Those who were fully committed to their treasures on earth instead of accumulating treasures in heaven through the Lord would eventually find themselves victims of woe.

As we turn to the second woe of the four mentioned by Jesus, we look at the matter of being fed properly and how people who may think they are filled are really in fact empty. Look again at the words of our Savior here:

“Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.”  Luke 6:25a

Go back to the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 and you will find Jesus saying this in verse 6:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Note here the people who will be filled in a good way are those who had their hunger and thirst directed toward the right and righteous things, the spiritual things of the Lord in this case. Indeed, anyone who comes to the word of the Lord or the Lord Himself for guidance and direction, seeking to live in the righteousness He desires, will be filled. In other words, they will find their hunger satisfied and their thirst quenched.

Compare this now with the words from Luke. There, the people who were well fed were those who ate real food and had plenty to keep them full. By all worldly observations, these people appeared to be well fed and in good shape but there was only one problem: they were spiritually starving. You see, the food we partake of for our physical bodies keeps us going but only for so long. There will be a time when we need to eat again, a time when we will be hungry again. In contrast, the spiritual food we receive when we read the scriptures or are illuminated by the Holy Spirit is eternal and enduring, able to sustain us all our days in many instances.

This is what Jesus is getting at when He speaks against the well fed. For if you are not feeding yourself spiritually, then you are malnourished and will one day find yourself hungering, a hungering that will only be fulfilled through the Lord. Jesus put it this way in Matthew 4, quoting the Book of Deuteronomy:

“Man does not live by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Deuteronomy 8:3

The words of the Lord are indeed our daily bread, a staple that will always leave us filled when we “eat” and “drink” of it, blessed instead of in woe.

Won’t you give the Lord thanks today for keeping His people well fed, nourished, and satisfied like no one else can?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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