Luke 6:24

Woe unto you that are rich!— We may observe another circumstance in this discourse, in which also it differs from that in St. Matthew, namely, that our Lord not only pronounced blessings, but likewise maledictions, in it. As poverty, which is neither good nor bad in itself, cannot be acceptable to God, unless it is accompanied with the graces and virtues which are suitable to an afflicted state; so riches do not make us the objects of God's hatred, unless they be accompanied with those vices which frequently spring from an opulent fortune; namely, pride, luxury, love of pleasure, or covetousness. Rich men, infected with such vices as these, are the objects of the woe here denounced; and not they who make a proper use of their wealth, and possess, through divine grace, the dispositions and virtues which should accompany affluence. Wherefore, though there is no restriction added to the word rich in the malediction, as there is to the word poor in the complete denunciation of the beatitude, Matthew 5:3 yet it is equally to be understood: "Woe unto you that are rich in spirit;" you who are proud, covetous, lovers of pleasure; "for ye have received your consolation." The parable of the rich man and Lazarus may be considered as an illustration both of the beatitude and the malediction. The reader will find, by referring to the parallel passages in Matthew 5 : &c. and the notes, the dubious expressions in this discourse fully elucidated.