Only God Lasts Forever

The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew gives us the sayings about who is blessed: the poor in spirit, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, etc. Today we get Luke’s version, the  Sermon on the Plain, where Jesus adds, “Woe . . . woe . . . woe . . .  woe . . . .” 

Why does Jesus use the word “woe” more than anyone in the Bible? I had to go look that up. The Greek term for “woe” is an interjection of grief. It sounds like this: ooo-AH-ee: it’s kind of like a moan, a noise that you make when you are in sorrow or distress.  My great-grandmother might have moaned “woe” or “alas.” But nowadays? What word do we have? Maybe a deep gut-wrenching  “Whoa”? Or “Oh my gosh!” Or “Oh no!” (or less-printable things). Woe is not an expression of condemnation. Jesus is grieving for those who trust in things that don’t last. Those who are full will be hungry again. Those who are well thought of, well, their reputation could crash. 

Jesus knows that anything can happen. Woe is not just for “those  folks.” A tree can fall on your swing set in the night. A neighbor who was robustly healthy dies suddenly on Tuesday. A friend who is eight months pregnant loses her baby. You’ve seen it. Life is tenuous.  We travel a world of woe. Sometimes we mess up. Sometimes it just comes upon us. “Woe” happens.

If this life is all there is, St. Paul tells us today, then we are the greatest of fools, the most pitiable of people. We believe there is more, an eternity that matters. 

Things don’t last. God does. That’s what we can rely on. Jesus knows our struggles to trust through the trials and the blessings of life. He moans in grief for us: ooo-AH-ee. Maybe we should take up that cry, too? 

Consider/Discuss 

• It is the middle of February, starvation season in many agrarian cultures, funeral season in many churches. This is a difficult time to hear of “woe.”  Yet Jeremiah and the psalmist tell us to plant ourselves securely, like trees by running water, the water of God. How can you plant yourself in the waters of God in your current life situation? 
• In Greek it is ooo-AH-ee. There doesn’t seem to be a consistent word that we all use in English. What word or expression do you use to release gut-churning unhappiness? What do you say? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

Jesus, you moan over the sorrows in our world. We moan, too.  There is a time for everything—a time to laugh and a time to weep,  a time to live and a time to die. You know the vagaries of life. Help  us not to grieve you. 

In the middle of winter’s barrenness, we rejoice that you have  overcome the woes and the difficulties. You have given us your  resurrection. Death and pain are not the final answer! Help us to  trust in that. Come, Holy Comforter, and groan within us. Then  bring us your peace.