Luke 6:21-23 (ESV)
[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.
Jesus is not saying that we should
seek to be hungry, weepy, and hated. He is saying that when life beyond your
control places you in situations of hunger, grief, and rejection, we can be
sure that there is a reward coming later. We cannot always change our current circumstances,
but we can anticipate future reward.
We have been taught that if they
just work hard enough, anyone can improve their situation. But that will only
take you so far. Tell that to the person in a German gulag during World War II.
Tell that to some of the immigrants fleeing violence and poverty in their own
country only to be turned back at the border. Tell that to the terminal cancer
patient. Tell that to the aging widower or widow whose spouse abandoned him or her
by dying. There are times and circumstances we cannot change.
Jesus’ promise here is not that he
will reward us if we choose to live a life of poverty and grief, and work to
make people angry at us by obnoxiously presenting his truth. His promise is
that for those who are his disciples, his followers, whatever life dishes out
we can be assured that this is not all there is. We live in the present with
eternity in our hearts.
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