24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.
“Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
Love Your Enemies
27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. 31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Luke 6: 24-36 ESV
Luke 6: 24-36
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation - Some think they need nothing though everything they have was given to them, whether talent, intellect, family they were born into, geographical location, teaching; no one is so "self made" as they think. There is a pseudo sort of faith that comes along as a temptation which rides upon riches. "I have this great wall of wealth that protects me, I am physically healthy and strong, I am smart and able to figure out almost any problem, my hands are trained for every task, I grow my own food and my store houses are full." All their faith rest upon these fleeting things. You were healthy and young, but now you are eaten up with cancer and youth is fading. You were rich but now a new government regime is in power and all they know to do is take, your stores are now empty. You are so smart and yet somehow never found God, and mostly the very thought of Him made you angry because you think you are a god, the center of your universe, you know, the one you didn't even make. You were physically strong but now you are old, your back aches, you can't do the things you use to do, but you still shake your fist at the God you don't believe in.
Psalm 73:2-3, 17 But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped. 3 For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.....17 UNTIL I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end. Ps 73: 2-3, 17
7 “Why ado the wicked still live,
Continue on, also become very powerful?
8 “Their descendants are established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes,
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
And the rod of God is not on them.
10 “His ox mates without fail;
His cow calves and does not abort.
11 “They send forth their little ones like the flock,
And their children skip about.
12 “They sing to the timbrel and harp
And rejoice at the sound of the flute.
13 “They spend their days in prosperity,
And suddenly they go down to Sheol.
14 “They say to God, ‘Depart from us!
We do not even desire the knowledge of Your ways.
15 ‘Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him,
And what would we gain if we entreat Him?’ Job 21: 7-15
Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry - They do not hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they are filled with the fat of the land, and think themselves good by their own standard. It is when you have no choice but to stand before righteousness that the hunger and anguish kicks in, but for them it is about consequences, not about repentance. They see the God they did not want, yet they still don't want Him; they only wish that He would leave them be. When I was young I was never sorrowful over my sin, only the repercussions. Take away the repercussions, the responsibility, isn't that the great power behind abortion? I will do what God calls sin and I will not pay for it. Pharaoh was quick to offer up an, "I'm sorry", not because He desired the righteousness that comes with repentance, that comes by faith, but because he wanted the plagues to go away.
Then Pharaoh hurriedly called for Moses and Aaron, and he said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and make supplication to the LORD your God, that He would only remove this death from me.” He went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the LORD. So the LORD shifted the wind to a very strong west wind which took up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea; not one locust was left in all the territory of Egypt. But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings. Exodus 10: 16-23
…15Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16And they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. 17For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?”… Revelation 6: 15-17
Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep - "I just want everyone to be happy; if it makes you happy then it can't be bad," says almost everyone.
…26Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27And he will answer, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’ 28There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are thrown out.… Luke 13: 26-28
Mattoon - The context of the passage indicates Jesus is referring to those who laugh because they have a careless and unconcerned attitude toward God, their sin, and their soul. They have a party mentality that says, "Live it up now! Do your own thing! I can live any way I want and I don't care what you say! I don't care about God!" Those who lean upon the pillar of party mentality have no sense about sin and its destructiveness. They have no shame, sorrow, or regret over their sin and are unconcerned about its consequences or judgment. Brokenness over the cross of Calvary does not enter their mind. (cf the "woe" of Php 3:18-19). (Treasures from the Scriptures) - Precept Austin
1I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good!” But it proved to be futile. 2I said of laughter, “It is folly,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?” 3I sought to cheer my body with wine and to embrace folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.… Ecclesiastes 2: 1-3
Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets - False prophets tell you what you want to hear, and so they receive a lot of commendations. I see that in many church circles where they are all about "politeness", endlessly complimenting each other, telling each other how spiritual they are, how gifted, yet they speak so much gibberish that goes against Scripture. Prosperity teachers are notorious for this, while greed, lust and pride run rampant, yet it must be okay because their metric is their bank account, the cars they drive, the clothes they wear, and the opinions of fallen men. Scripture is something they twist like their father the devil does.
…7But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not still a prophet of the LORD here of whom we can inquire?” 8The king of Israel answered, “There is still one man who can ask the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king should not say that!” Jehoshaphat replied. 9So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once.”… 1 Kings 22: 7-9
…2Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. 4So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.… 2 Timothy 4: 2-4
But I say to you who hear - To who? Apparently not everyone can receive this.
Love your enemies - Now someone asked Christ once, who is my neighbor? Here they could ask, "who is my enemy"? And the answer may sound offensive, but it is simple, most of the world. The Scriptures tell us that, "friendship with the world is enmity with God." In this passage it goes so far as to describe those who hate you, curse you, abuse you, strike you and even steal from you. This is the obvious, but Jesus will talk about those who suffer and are rejected by family as well. If you are a child of God and someone hates God then they are your enemy. The Bible doesn't pull the word away, it recognizes the strain, the difference, and it even uses the word, "enemy", but we were all enemies of God at one time, and the directive is, "to love your enemies."
Give to everyone who begs from you - Now there are those who read just this part, and never continue far into Scripture. There is a spiritual application in all of this as well as a physical, but the part those employ to subject others to a form of governance or social program ignores the whole counsel of Scripture. We are also told to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, to be good stewards of our resources, so this is not to be followed with a dead mind, we are not to kill reason or exercise giving without love and discernment. When I was a drug addict I often played upon these things, I grew up in church so I knew enough of Scripture to abuse it, to play upon the feelings of those who were seemingly well intended. They were easy victims because they had not looked so deep into the situation, they liked me or being liked by me, but giving me money did not fill a legitimate need, only a felt need, one that almost killed me three times. It made them feel good when they gave because I said thankyou and they got to feel like philanthropist, but often they gave against their better judgement, and if they would have told me know then they would have seen another side of me.
Spurgeon exhorts us to "Be generous. A miser is no follower of Jesus. Discretion is to be used in our giving, lest we encourage idleness and beggary; but the general rule is, “Give to him that asketh thee.” Sometimes a loan may be more useful than a gift, do not refuse it to those who will make right use of it. These precepts are not meant for fools, they are set before us as our general rule; but each rule is balanced by other Scriptural commands, and there is the teaching of a philanthropic common-sense to guide us. Our spirit is to be one of readiness to help the needy by gift or loan, and we are not exceedingly likely to err by excess in this direction; hence the boldness of the command."
John MacArthur makes an interesting comment - being willing to give to everyone who asks of you, takes place in the context of borrowing and lending (cf. Lk 6:34; Mt. 5:42). The assumption is that the person asking has a legitimate need, since Scripture condemns laziness and indolence (cf. Pr 6:6-12; 20:4; 24:30-34; 2 Th. 3:10). That a person may take advantage of a Christian’s generosity and not repay the loan should not keep the believer from graciously, lovingly meeting the need. (See Luke Commentary) - Precept Austin
…9Not that we lack this right, but we wanted to offer ourselves as an example for you to imitate. 10For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.” 11Yet we hear that some of you are leading undisciplined lives and accomplishing nothing but being busybodies.… 2 Thessalonians 3: 9-11
As you wish others would do to you, do so to them - This is the golden rule. It has sadly become cliché, but to not follow it is to put yourself above others. If you want God's forgiveness, that which you don't deserve, then when He tells you to forgive others shouldn't you do so out of gratitude, or because you would want the same. Those who would be most like God will forgive the undeserving because there are none deserving, especially me. God chose to forgive when He only needed to satisfy justice, and in order to both forgive and satisfy justice, He gave of Himself, His only Son, that He would receive what I was owed.
Even sinners love those who love them - If you are being called away from sin that is a blessed gift, the gift of faith unto repentance. It is not a call to forget where you came from or look down on others; they are now your mission field. Not just the ones that are easy to care about, the ones who you share common interest with, the ones who have done nice things for you, but everyone. Maybe we don't yet realized just how far God reached down in becoming one of us, how much of a man of sorrows He was surrounded by our filth. Don't think God had to do less in your case, give less of Himself for you because you were not so much of a sinner as the rest. I find people annoying, but imagine the level of my obnoxiousness before a Holy and Just God. It makes me tremble. Pray for your enemies. Be merciful even as your Father is merciful. As it turns out my enemy is often my neighbor.
