Luke 6:25 Fun

Sometimes Jesus’s verse are so purely comic that I wonder how anyone could mistakes them for anything else. Luke 6:25 is a good example.

NIV: 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.
Listeners Heard: Too bad for you, those having stuffed yourselves now, because you will get hungry. Too bad, those laughing now, because you will lament and perhaps weep. 

This verse comes at the end of Luke’s version of the Beatitudes. I use Matthew’s version of the first beatitude as an example of Jesus’s humor. So, he has already gotten the crowd laughing.

Then he changes the tone in the previous verse, starting with the word translated as “woe” in the Bible, but used primarily in a light-hearted way. Today we would say "so sad [for you]" or "boo-hoo to you." The Greek word is very like the Jewish, "oy veh" which can be used to express sorrow but is more commonly used cynically. The Greek word even sound like “oy veh.” More about this phrase in this article on Jesus's use of exaggeration.

However, if we just read the verse without trying hear a moral lessons and a threat, its humor should be clear. Let me explain for paid subscribers.