The Woeatitudes

Sermon Text || Year C: Sixth Sunday After Epiphany

We’re used to the Beatitudes of Matthew 5, but do you know about the Woeatitudes? There aren’t any search results for this, so I might be alone in this, which can either be a good or bad thing. I guess we’ll see!

The Woeatitudes

From Mountains to Plains

Matthew 5-7 contains Jesus most famous sermon. It’s been called the “constitution of Christianity,” and many see it as Jesus laying down the law of the new covenant community as a new Moses. No doubt it is a formative text in church history, and it is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Last year, I read two books on this sermon: The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard.

Luke’s gospel has a similar sermon, but this one was given on a level place, not a mountain. Let’s let Luke set the scene.

He came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Luke 6:17–19

Jesus’s ministry up to this point had been fraught with conflict. Jesus had been threatened by his hometown, questioned by the authorities, and he had intentionally stirred up controversy by continuously “breaking” the Sabbath by healing people on the day of rest.

Despite the conflict, and maybe because of it, Jesus had drawn a crowd. As they received physical healing, he took the opportunity to give them a deeper kind of healing, but before moving to what they need but don’t know they need, he begins with addressing the realities of their day.

We start on somewhat familiar territory:

Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. Luke 6:20–23

Don’t let the familiarity with the Beatitudes make you miss the difference between Matthew and Luke here. Matthew seems to be conveying spiritual realties: “blessed are the poor of Spirit…blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness…”

Here the beatitudes are personalized and rooted in the economic reality of their day. Notice the word “you” throughout. He’s addressing his specific audience, the ones who are sick and lame and demon-possessed…or perhaps freshly healed.

These beatitudes deal specifically with their economic needs. The people are poor and hungry and sad. While they are excluded, reviled, and defamed because of their sickness or ecumenic status now, their newfound health wouldn’t bring them praise because of the One by whom they were healed.

This theme of economic relief and justice isn’t new to Luke. We find it in the songs and prayers of the first three chapters of Luke as well as in the preaching of Jesus in Luke 4. In those songs and prayers of the first three chapters, we find statements like

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. Luke 1:52–53

and

And the crowds asked him, “What, then, should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.” Luke 3:10–14

Woe to You…

Jesus continues…

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

“Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.

“Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.

“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets. Luke 6:24–26

These sorts of things are taught implicitly in the sermon in Matthew 5, but this more straightforward warning to the rich is characteristic of Luke. We’ll see this more and more as we go through this gospel.

But why does Jesus condemn the rich? Is it impossible to be wealthy and go to heaven?

As Jesus says elsewhere, with God all things are possible. God can make camels go through the eyes of needles. Someone who is rich can be poor in Spirit just as someone poor can be proud and arrogant and greedy.

But let’s not let this distract us from the point here.

Throughout history there have been situations in which a town, city, or country had enough resources to feed and clothe everyone but refused to do so out of greed. The emperors, governors, and tax collectors lived in luxury while people starved. Rich men clothed in purple dined while beggars covered in sores starved just outside their gates. Men tore down barns to build bigger barns to fill with more than they could ever use while their fellow countrymen starved.

This is what the prophets called sin.

Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals— they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and push the afflicted out of the way; father and son go in to the same young woman, so that my holy name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed. Amos 2:6–8

In a land flowing with milk and honey, the presence of impoverished people only meant one thing: somebody was hoarding milk and honey.

The apostle John said, “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” (1 John 3:17).

We have been blessed to be a blessing. If we hoard our blessings, what good is that? If we refuse to help those in need, how are we any better than the rich man in Luke 16 or those Jesus addresses in this text?

In the early church everyone’s needs were taken care of (Acts 2:45). If someone wants to talk about getting “back to the Bible” and restoring “New Testament Christianity,” why don’t we start there?

Lectionary Reading: February 16, 2025 - Sixth Sunday After Epiphany

Old Testament: Jeremiah 17:5-10
Psalm: Psalm 1
New Testament: 1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Gospel: Luke 6:17-26