"Blessed are ye that hunger now: for you shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for you shall laugh... But woe to you that are rich: for you have your consolation."(Lk 6:21, 24)I have read many commentaries relative to this part of the simple message of Christ, many of which put meaning beyond the literal. However, if we look plainly into the context of the message we would clearly see that it has no double meaning. Why did I say so? Jesus is speaking of the current (worldly) and the future (heavenly) scenarios for both the rich and the poor. Jesus clearly explained to us that equality would reign the future. Therefore the poor and the rich meet at a common state and obviously the way to go for the poor is up and the rich, otherwise.
Rising from miserable condition is a rewarding experience to the poor. From sorrow, he will experience joy; from hunger, he will experience fullness; from oppression, he will be set free. The woe is to the rich for out of abundance, he will experience subsistence and out of the comforts, he will experience unfamiliar discomforts. The rich already had the consolation in the current time, he would not have it in the future. A rich man who got used of the world will long for it in the afterlife yet he will not find it. And that's the greatest woe for him.
"Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you."(Oscar Wilde)
There is no plainer explanation than that.
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