Woe to Them (A SOAP Journal from Jude 11-13, Isaiah 5, and Psalm 115)

Jude 11-13

Woe to them!

For they walked in the way of Cain (murderous jealousy & entitlement)

       and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error (greed)

       and perished in Korah's rebellion. (Rejection of right authority, self-glory)

These are…

hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, 

shepherds feeding themselves; 

waterless clouds, swept along by winds;

fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;

wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; 

wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

 

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

'Woe' is both a lament and an expression of warning motivated by the love of God. It is God pleading with humanity through the prophets, to "stop or else". When we hear the "Woe!" of God we should stop running and come home before we face a well-deserved judgment.

In Isaiah 5 there are six different woes proclaimed on the people for the bad grapes of their having rejected the Word of God and seeking their own desires. I have written over 7,000 words on this subject elsewhere. 

But here in this short epistle, over 700 years later, Jude echoes Isaiah’s “Woe to them!” 

Apparently, the church, the new vineyard of the Lord, still had some wild remnants of the old vineyard within it. In Isaiah’s words,

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts

    is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah

    are his pleasant planting;

and he looked for justice,

    but behold, bloodshed;

for righteousness,

    but behold, an outcry!

The church should be a place where the Lord will find the Spirit welcomed and his good fruit produced. Where He may find justice rather than bloodshed, and righteousness rather than an outcry. But Jude used a six-fold description of false leaders in their midst who did not produce the fruit of the Spirit. As church leaders and those whom God has called as shepherds to feed his people (e.g., Jer. 3:15; John 21:17) how are we doing? Do we pass the Jude test?

Photo by Adam Birkett on Unsplash

He points out those false teachers who have turned from following Jesus yet are still in the church as “shepherds feeding themselves” (See Exe. 34:1-10) the very opposite of servant leadership. They are as dangerous as “hidden reefs” or food poisoning to the mission of the church. They are also “waterless clouds” creating an expectation of renewal but not delivering any blessing or refreshment and are also seen to be “fruitless trees” in harvest time that provide no nourishment to others. The final two descriptions, “wild waves” and “wandering stars” are not a good combination either—One prevents fishing and the other keeps us from finding our way home.

This passage makes me wonder how as a teacher I might be committed to feeding myself rather than feeding others. Do I live in such a way that I shipwreck the faith of others or do I gently and patiently water the gospel seed in others until they can produce good fruit through submission to the Spirit of God? Am I a hindrance or some help to others in their journey toward God? What about our churches? Where do we stand on this as gospel communities?

A very vivid section of Psalm 115:4-8 not only calls out the impotence of all the idols of the nations but declares that those who make them and trust in them will become like them. What does idolatry have to do with this “Woe” section in Jude? I suggest that if we have nothing to offer to others, blessings from the overflow of God’s love, it is because we may have crafted and trusted in an idol in the high place of our own hearts and homes.

O Lord have mercy so that I can show mercy! In tumultuous days like this, may I not stop speaking out for the powerless, learning to see as you see—testing everything and holding on to the good, really hearing the stories of those who hurt to the place where I can even smell the injustice as if I was there with them as it happened. May you make my hands sensitive to the feelings of others as I set myself to walk and lament with them. May you truly bless our nation as many turn/return to you in repentance for covering our sins beneath a veneer of rationalization and respectability. I pray that you will be welcomed into your church as never before and may there may come a great harvest of souls that have been weak and wandering as your people stop pushing them away. There is room enough at your table!