Daily Devotion for Lent 2024, Day 38 Maundy Thursday

“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 (NRSVue)

Luke's Gospel is the only one to feature these counter-statements to the Beatitudes.  Matthew tended to spiritualize the sayings (i.e. blessed are the poor in spirit) while Luke was more basic in the characterizing.

What does it mean that Jesus gives these woes?

The Common English Bible translates it as "how terrible for you..." rather than woe.  "Woe" does seem to be a bit archaic in that we don't use it very often in everyday speech.  The Scholar's Version which was made up of Jesus Seminar New Testament professors use the phrase "Damn you" instead of woe in that they wanted to get the intensity of Jesus to come across.  Saying them as a curse is truly opposite of saying them as a blessing.

As I consider my own life, I am not doing very well with regards to today's woes:

I am more well-off financially than the majority of the people in the world.

I am full to the point of needing to shed a few pounds.

I laugh more than I weep.

People do speak well of me (at least to my face).

Maybe this is what Jesus means.

Today, being Maundy Thursday, we also remember the Last Supper.  In Holy Communion, we recognize our need for God's grace.  We confess our sins prior to the meal and hopefully, we take our brokenness seriously.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer labeled Communion without confession as "cheap grace" in his landmark book, The Cost of Discipleship.

When I am woeful to the point of having all of these characteristics, maybe this makes it harder to confess my own brokenness.  When we are well-off, the need for God may not seem as urgent.  So we are more likely to imagine ourselves as self-sufficient.  

I don't believe that we need to apologize if we share in any of today's attributes as some of the Puritans may have done.  I believe that God would like a strong, full life for all people on earth.   But it may be that we need to determine if our wealth is at the expense of someone else's well-being.  Do I find it easy to forget the hunger in my own community?  Am I laughing with or at the object of my mirth?  And is my status of favor with others in conflict with God's role for my life?

These are difficult Lenten questions making this text appropriate for today.  I invite you to linger on them a bit and if you find the opportunity to take Holy Communion, pray on these questions at the kneeling rail.

Prayer for the day:  God, you have given us your word to bring us life.  May we receive it in a way that honors you and our neighbors.  May we also receive it in a way that honors ourselves.  As we remember this night in the life of our Lord, we also remember that this was when he washed our feet.  He then bid us to go forth and do likewise for the world.  May we take the love we have received and pass it along generously.  Amen.

 

Photo by Chris Blakeley via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license. 

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.