Woes!

While teaching the Book of Revelation to a group of young people, I made an error. Instead of typing “woe,” I had typed “wow!” A young man asked, “Did you mean woe or wow?” That made me study the Greek word ουαι (ouai – four vowels together and pronounced as u-eh) for the first time.

Every people group has expressions of astonishment. Aihyo in Tamil, ach in German, allora in Italian, guau in Spanish, wa lau in Singapore, etc. ουαί (ouai) is the Greek expression of astonishment. Paul, for example, says,

“If I am preaching the gospel, it isn’t something for me to boast about because I am motivated to preach the gospel – it would be ouai to me if I don’t preach the gospel” (1 Cor 9:16).

Sadly, this expression has been translated as woe, with an element of condemnation, although wow originally meant “great sorrow or distress” (e.g., “to add to her wow, her sales are down). As a result, whenever we see this word in the NT, we immediately imagine condemnation. As in the above example, it was more of a statement of astonishment – aihyo, if I don’t preach the gospel, meaning “I would be sad if I didn’t preach the gospel.”

The Lord Jesus pronounced a series of ouai, expressions of sadness, on the Pharisees and their actions.

“Ouai, Pharisees – You tithe on mint, dill, and every herb but neglect justice and love of God. The latter needed to be done without being ignored.”

“Ouai, Pharisees – You love the preferential seas in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.”

“Ouai, Pharisees – You are unseen tombs, which people walk by without noticing.” (Luke 11:42–44)

The Lord wasn’t pronouncing a judgment on them as much as pointing to the sad state they had come to. The law of Moses required them to tithe (lit., give one-tenth) on everything. The Pharisees followed that faithfully, not only giving a tenth of all their major grains like wheat, barley, olives, and grapes but also on smaller vegetations like mint, dill, and herbs. That was good and lawful. But they needed to practice God’s justice and love in all their actions. That was very important. Because they forgot that, the Lord expressed a sign of sadness, almost like “If only . . .”

The law of Moses taught that leaders like the Pharisees needed to be honored. As such, people gave them preferential seats in the synagogue and greeted them with respect in the marketplaces. These were good. But because the Pharisees focused on them so much and didn’t care to exercise God’s justice and show God’s love to people, they had become like unseen tombs that people walked by without noticing or giving respect from their hearts. Seeing that, the Lord grieved for the Pharisees and said, “If only,” aiyoh, or ouai.

Sometimes, people can become so religious or emphasize religiosity overly that they can forget they are dealing with people. It is much more important to exercise justice and show God’s love than to tithe, attend church regularly, have morning devotions, go on prayer walks, or sing songs. God desires justice and love.