Blessed are...

Woe to You

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4

Luke adds to the blessings of the Beatitudes, as recorded by Matthew, with a series of ‘woes.’ A woe is a curse. It is the opposite of a blessing. Jesus shows us both the way to receive God’s blessing, and the way to be accursed. We are cursed when we are rich, because our riches are often substitutes for those things that will bring us comfort when we need them most, things like true repentance and a living relationship with Christ.[1] We are cursed when we are well fed now,[2] because our bellies become our gods, and we do not realize that we should be hungry for righteousness. We are cursed when all men speak well of us now,[3] because that means that we are only telling them what they want to hear; but if we tell them what they need to hear then we shall be far less popular. Then, Jesus says, “Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.”[4]

The question is not whether we will mourn and weep, but when. Will we take the time, now, to do an honest inventory and, admitting our failures, turn to the Lord in our grief over our superficiality and our sin? Or will we wait until we stand before the Lord on Judgment Day? If we have failed to deal with our sins now, He will deal with them for us on that Day. For those who have mourned over sin and sought forgiveness, there is the promise that our tears will be wiped away. But for those who have laughed now, there will be weeping and wailing, the hell of an eternity of regret. Laughter is good; but it must be appropriate, and at the right time, otherwise it is only a prelude to tears.

Mighty God,
Awesome in power and in love, keep me in the center of Your will.
When I consider the beauty of Your world,
and the faithfulness of Your Covenant,
and the wonder of Your salvation,
and the glory of my heavenly home, teach me to laugh.
When I consider what I have done to Your world,
how I have broken Your Covenant,
and presumed upon Your salvation,
and boasted of my fitness for heaven, teach me to weep.
Then, weeping or laughing, teach me to trust.
Through Christ my Lord.
Amen.



[1] Luke 6:24
[2] Luke 6:25
[3] Luke 6:26
[4] Luke 6:25