Do you know anyone who is financially well off and secure, who has an abundance of things and often dines in the best restaurants, who enjoys life and has a good time, and who is well thought of in the community? You may be such a person yourself, but if not, wouldn't you like to be? In such a situation we could declare that life is good, that we are content, and that the future looks bright.

Do you know anyone who is poor, hungry, grieving, hated, excluded, reviled, and defamed? I sincerely hope you are not such a person. We consider anyone who has all these woes as an extremely unfortunate individual indeed.

And yet, did you hear the words of Jesus as recorded in the passage we read from the Gospel of Luke? "Woe to you who are rich ... Woe to you who are full now ... Woe to you who are lau…