Luke 6:25 — Community Reflections

LUKE 6:25 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.”

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 — the Woes mirror the Beatitudes in reverse: the well-fed will hunger, the laughing will mourn. The now/will contrast is the present abundance that will give way to future deprivation. The laughing who will mourn are those whose laughter is not the joy of the kingdom but the satisfaction of those who have received their portion in the present age.

Church Fathers on Luke 6:25

Having said before that poverty for God’s sake is the cause of every good thing, and that hunger and weeping will not be without the reward of the saints, he goes on to denounce the opposite to these as the source of condemnation and punishment. But woe to you rich, for you have your consolation.
Cyril of Alexandria · 5th century

For this expression, woe, is always said in the Scriptures to those who cannot escape from future punishment.
Chrysostom · 4th century

But although in the abundance of wealth many are the allurements to crime, yet many also are the incitements to virtue. Although virtue requires no support, and the offering of the poor man is more commendable than the liberality of the rich, still it is not those who possess riches, but those who know not how to use them, that are condemned by the authority of the heavenly sentence. For as that poor man is more praiseworthy who gives without grudging, so is the rich man more…
Ambrose · 4th century

Read all 12 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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