23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. 24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. 25 Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets. ~ Luke 6:23-26
When rebellion entered mankind's existence, all of mankind became sinners separated from God, alienated from God. We, by nature, have been placed outside of what is really real. We deal with this unreality, this fallen default mode by either resorting to being religious or to continue in our rebellion. In both cases, we are self dependent, and this is at the root of our problem.
Knowing we can not remedy our condition, the Lord Jesus agreed to come to earth to buy mankind back into a personal relationship with God through His death on the cross. When the Lord Jesus came and squared off with death at His cross, He devastated the illusion that we have to perform to gain a personal relationship with God. Through His sacrifice, those who enter into a relationship with God are the people who are overwhelmed with their sinfulness and who cry out to Him for help and believe on the Lord Jesus' sacrifice for God's forgiveness. Those who eventuate in heaven are those who are broken by the reality of their fallen condition, and inability to remedy our spiritual problem.
We learned in Luke 6:20-23 that poverty, hunger, sorrow, and rejection all are blessings in disguise because they all potentially lead us to the blessing of a personal relationship with God.
In today's text, we learn that one's trust in riches, religion and popularity all lead to a cursed disposition that leads one further and further away from God. Need is not something we would naturally prescribe for ourselves, yet it is our need that causes us to entertain the real questions of our existence.
In Luke 6:20-26, the Lord Jesus provides a paradox, a paradox between blessing and cursing. In v.23, we read, “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.” For those who embrace their brokenness and the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is reason to leap for joy because we will be on the winning side in the end, despite the fact that for some time we will be hated by the world.
The four blessings in v.20-23 are contrasted with the four woes in v.24-26. If our lives are filled with just hoarding wealth and going from one entertainment thing to another entertainment thing, and it's all about pleasure and entertainment, these woes will be our experience.
On the other hand, in v.24-26, for those who resist the gospel of Jesus Christ, for those who reject the free gift of God of forgiveness, for those being defined by the blessings of this world, there awaits a series of woes.
In v.24 we read, "But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort." The religious leaders who hounded the Lord Jesus were all rich and their sole ambition was to attain status, fame and riches. They received what they went after and were now experiencing its comfort in full. Unfortunately, their comfort produced an emptiness of soul and spirit, with no hope of hope.
In v.25 we read, "Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry." The gluttons of the day will be so filled that all desire for food will be lost. They will spend eternity hungering for satisfaction and meaning, but will remain in a state of spiritual starvation.
In v.26 we read, "Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets." The assumption in this verse is speaking what the crowds want to hear in contrast to the truth. We should be forewarned that the crowds need to hear the truth and sometimes they will not like us for that message.
In Luke 6:20-26 we are given a contrast between self dependence and God dependence. The rich have a tendency to trust in their money and its influence to solve their problems. They also can "enjoy" the worldly pleasures at their leisure, and often do. God is not usually in their thinking. When this is the case, they have been dumped by a false narrative which does not deliver in the end.
The poor have no such options, thus they are more likely to seek out God and His provision. Of course, there is no guarantee here. Money comes and goes but God's love and His provision is there at all times, and in all places! Depending on Him to provide in this world is a means to an end, and the end is realizing a personal relationship with the God of all creation. In fact, the only life worth living is found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
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