Title: In Christ your reward is great!
Text: Luke 6:17-26
Facebook live: In Christ your reward is great!
17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.
When I was in eighth grade, I tried out for the track team at South Jr. High school in Allen Park. At one of our practices, I was standing at the end of the long jump pit watching as some of the team practiced their jumps. Tom, a ninth grader and one of the better athletes at the school made his jump and upon landing was evidently not happy with how he landed. As he got up and walked by me, he gave me a kick to my leg at his displeasure in himself and the spikes of his cleats made two long cuts into the back of my calf. Bleeding and in pain the coach sent me to get it cleaned up and he talked to Tom though I don’t remember any apology. It took weeks for my wound to scab over and heal and I don’t remember much else of my track career so I probably just stopped attending practices and focused on other things. 54 years later I still remember that wound though.
Wounds and scaring are part of this life. You, I’m sure have your own stories and wounds to deal with. Some of the wounds like mine are old and etched in your memory and other may be fresh and still healing.
We all, like the crowds in our gospel lesson today, would seek to touch Jesus and have him heal our troubles - immediately as well.
Many who came to hear him –
… a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon,
Jesus was drawing disciples but what he says next must have caused them to pause and wonder.
The Beatitudes
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!
23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
Hearing that might have caused them to pause and it might us as well.
The blessings of poverty, hunger and weeping and hate Christ says bring his Kingdom, satisfaction, laughing and rejoicing. Good news for sure but not what a 13-year-old me would have wanted to hear as I stood bleeding and hurting by the long jump pit.
Christ here is speaking to earthly people who have an earthly perspective about a heavenly reality.
Let’s turn it around.
Blessed are you who have the Kingdom, for your poverty has been removed.
Blessed are you who are satisfied, for your hunger has been fed.
Blessed are you who laugh, for your tears have been wiped away.
Blessed are you when you rejoice and leap for joy at your reward in Heaven, for the hate, exclusion, and reviling of this world has been overcome in Christ Jesus!
The eternal perspective of the word proclaims the reality of what is ours now in Christ, though the wages of sin continue in this life for we who are God’s redeemed making that reality hard to see at times.
Verse three from the sermon hymn today speaks of that reality:
Lord, your words are waters living
When my thirsting spirit pleads.
Lord, your words are bread life-giving;
On your words my spirit feeds.
Lord, your words will be my light
through death's cold and dreary night;
Yes, they are my sword prevailing
And my cup of joy unfailing!
LSB 589 vs. 3
Jesus Pronounces Woes in this life as well.
24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.
“Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
The earthly perspective as opposed to the eternal perspective are also quite telling as we look to what awaits those who lived well, apart from God’s love in this life.
Woe to you who seek consolation, your riches can’t buy you forgiveness!
Woe to you who seek the banquet feast, your seat at the table is for another!
Woe to you who weep, your laughter gives way now to tears!
Woe to you who misused God’s word, those who spoke well of you are now
gnashing their teeth!
The gnashing of teeth is what awaits all in this life apart from Christ’s loving forgiveness and redemption.
At times we have our plate full and just as soon find ourselves in want in this sinful world.
We weep at the loss of someone so dear to us that we feel inconsolable only to find joy and comfort in the laughter of a child’s giggles like little Hendrix at his baptism last weekend.
The riches of this life don’t condemn us, unless we place our trust and hope in them – shunning our Lord’s care.
When we are marked for hate and evil in this life, God continues to remind us that we are his and that not a one of us who trust in him will be lost.
So,
23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
I wish I had known that as I sat bleeding in pain from the cleats to my leg but that knowledge for me was still a few years off. Thankfully the Lord opened the eyes of my understanding and called me to joy and to prayer.
Verse 4 of our sermon hymn:
As I pray, dear Jesus, hear me;
Let Your words in me take root.
May Your Spirit e'er be near me
That I bear abundant fruit.
May I daily sing Your praise,
From my heart glad anthems raise,
Till my highest praise is given
In the endless joy of heaven.
LSB 589 vs. 4
Cut and bleeding, poor, hungry and weeping this life can be hard.
Car accidents or cancer;
falls down stairs or Leukemia;
broken bones or estrangement from family members;
hateful and hurtful words or locked in isolation;
We all know these trials and feelings but in Christ the peace and comfort of heaven is your joy, comfort and reward in this life and in the life to come!
Because Christ became poor and humiliated himself to death, even death on a cross, the Kingdom God is yours
Because Christ was hungry after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, you are satisfied in him.
Because Christ wept at the death of Lazarus, you laugh that death is overcome in victory.
Because Christ was hated, and reviled for you, you have the reward of heaven that he won given to you by faith.
Rejoice dear friends, In Christ your reward is great!
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment