21Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
22Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.
23Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
24But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.
25Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.”Many have noticed that these verses resemble the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. It is a different occasion, and the words here apparently should be taken in a more literal way. Those who are “poor in spirit” in the Sermon on the Mount are those who are poor spiritually, and those who mourn, in Matthew 5, are those who mourn because of their sins. But here, those who are poor are poor in this worlds goods, and they who hunger are those who do not have enough food to eat. But what do these words mean? They can not mean that people are saved by being poor, hungry, sad, hated, and slandered. Such an idea would contradict everything that is plainly taught all through the Bible. Likewise, the passage can not mean that people are lost simply because they are rich and have happy circumstances in this life.
Jesus means that poor people and people who have lots of troubles in this life are much more likely to trust in Jesus as their Savior and to be saved from their sins. Likewise, those who are rich and have mostly happy circumstances in this world are much more likely to be satisfied without Christ and go to hell. These principles are taught in many places in the Bible. The story of the rich farmer (Luke 12:13-21), the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), the story of the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-27), and Paul’s words in I Timothy 6:6-10 should be studied in this regard. All of us should be more concerned about our relationship to Christ than with how much of this world’s goods we possess. A hundred years from now, it will not matter to us one way or the other how much money we had!