Luke 6:23
“Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. But woe to you who are rich…”
Whoa! I thought this was beatitude? You know, with all those “Blessed are…” Here Luke tells the rest of the story.
“But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.
“Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry.
Woops!
“Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.”
Oh my! I confess it. I want you to think well of me. I do! I would like you to speak well of me too. But that is such a dangerous trap. I have lived most of my life that way, and if God were to reveal it on a blackboard in front of your eyes, it would show that I still strive. It is always there. I want you to accept me.
That is so dangerous. I will not love you to speak to your pleasure so I have to tell you that it’s hard to walk that way. That’s why there are so many prophets who are speaking what the people want to hear. It’s not the way of Christ. Speaking the truth will not please Adam’s ears. It will not. And if you embrace this gospel as I believe you are, you need to know that you will not be received in some places.
I’ve been asked to leave places. I have. I’ve been standing in the pulpit preaching and asked to leave. I really have. I didn’t understand it at the time. It was hard at the time. I saw it as failure at the time, but it was God’s grace preparing me. God’s grace was preparing me. I confess that I was asked to leave or to shut up because I was wrong. God used that too. There is a “woe” next to the “blesseds,” and we need to see the two.
