As
darkest night must fade and die before the sun’s appearing,
So fades my grief away, when I think on these tidings cheering,
That God from all eternity hath loved the world, and hath on me
Bestowed His grace and favor; I’ll ne’er forget the angels’ strain:
Peace–peace on earth, good will to men, to you is born a Savior! Amen.
So fades my grief away, when I think on these tidings cheering,
That God from all eternity hath loved the world, and hath on me
Bestowed His grace and favor; I’ll ne’er forget the angels’ strain:
Peace–peace on earth, good will to men, to you is born a Savior! Amen.
In
Jesus’ final beatitude, he said, “Blessed are you when they revile and
persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven”
(Matthew 5:11-12). Of all persecutions
that we suffer as the children of God, I think about the most painful is when
we hear people lie about Jesus – and then by extension when they revile us as
well for believing and confessing the truth.
What can be worse than to hear evil spoken against us falsely because of
Jesus? What can be worse than to hear
others twist our motives of love and concern as though we were judgmental and
hateful bigots when really we just want what Jesus wants: for them to repent
and believe the good news that their sins are freely forgiven for Christ’s
sake? What can be worse than when people
fundamentally misrepresent this message of the gospel that saves them by adding
in false human opinions that rob God our Savior of the glory that belongs to
him alone — and then when others for whom the gospel is intended actually
believe their lies to the eternal detriment of their souls? What can be worse? Yet Jesus says to us who must bear this sorrow,
“Blessed
are you.”
Although
the punishment for unbelief is great – and this must not be downplayed, since
it is both just and certain, as all our Scripture lessons make plain – and certainly
worse than anything we suffer on earth — yet we who are being saved do not go
through life without feeling some of the sorrows of hell. We feel the flames lick our bodies, not
simply when we endure ridicule, but when we see others whose eternal fate we
genuinely care about and pray for throw the mercy of God away for the sake of
their own stupid pride. These are arrows
in our hearts.
Yet
Jesus tells us, even in the midst of this sorrow which only a Christian can
know, to rejoice and be exceedingly glad as only a Christian can — because
these are but signs that our redemption is drawing near. Jesus suffered these things himself in our
place and as our example. He was accused
of blasphemy, called a liar, betrayed by his own disciple, and crucified by the
very people whose Messiah he was. And by
so doing, he earned the reward that he brings with him when he shall come again. The reward is eternal life. Jesus calls it our redemption – when the
truth of our hope shall finally be made plain in the light of day. Even now in the darkness of unbelief, the redeeming
light that will one day overcome and expose all lies shines on us through the
pure and saving truth. Although we have
unclean lips and dwell among a people of unclean lips, yet our guilt is
forgiven and our sin is paid for by Jesus.
This is what the gospel teaches us.
This is what it gives! And so
this is our cause for joy.
Our
joy as Christians is always in the midst of great sorrow, and yet also in spite
of great sorrow. We sorrow in repentance
over our sins. But our joy is found in
the forgiveness of our sins. We sorrow
because of some shame we must endure that maybe we brought on ourselves – or
maybe we didn’t. But either way, our joy
is in the honor of Christ who covers our shame, even as we as brothers and
sisters cover the imperfections and weaknesses of those among us and put the
best construction on those things we hear about one another. We sorrow over the death of loved ones, and
the painful frailty in our bones that reminds us that it’s coming for us too. But our joy is found in the resurrection to
glory when our bodies will be renewed in the image of him who lives
forever. We sorrow over joys departed
and lost wealth and whatever other worldly cares might make life increasingly
difficult to live. But our joy is always
found in him who will restore what we have lost with the eternal treasure of
his kingdom.
It
is this constant tension that will always mark the earthly lives of Christ’s
lambs. We walk through the valley of the
shadow of death. But our Shepherd leads
us. He leads us in his word and
sacraments. He also leads us by his
example. And with his example, our Lord
teaches us not only what to be sad about, but also where to find our joy.
Consider
his example:
Jesus wept for Lazarus.
So here we find leave to be likewise bothered by death. But Christ is the resurrection and the
life. So believe and be glad. Weep for your death as sinners who must
suffer the residual effects of the curse in your flesh; but find your
consolation in him to whom our Lord commended his Spirit, for he guards yours
as well.
Jesus wept for Jerusalem.
So here we learn to be likewise distressed by impenitence and
unfaithfulness in the world, in the church, and in our own flesh, as even our own
hearts and minds try to make peace between God’s word and the false doctrines
of men. This is cause for us to weep
with Jesus – but as penitents and not merely victims. It is Christ alone, the one true Victim, who
makes for our peace. And he is not, by
the grace of God, hidden from our eyes as he was to the Jews. So believe and be glad. Repent of your fleshly desires to seek peace
in this world where Christ’s word is unwelcome, and find joy that by his word he
has made himself welcome in your midst and in your heart.
Jesus wept in the Garden as he already began to taste the
nearing cup of divine wrath against all sin.
So also we beg God to lift our burdens and end our pain and trials: “Oh, take this cup away!” But his will must be done. Jesus’ death teaches us that. The very death that reveals God’s favor and
love – the death that proves to faith that God cannot be against you no matter
how heavy his chastening rod might feel, the death that atoned for your sins
and swallowed your own death and gives you life, the death that tore down the
curtain of separation between you and your almighty God and Maker – this death
is also an example for you to suffer. — And as you suffer, as you sorrow, dear
Christian, as you seek reconciliation with others who want none of it, find
your joy in this: your redemption draws near.
Your pain, your death, your struggle with sin and all opposition from
the world and from false brethren prove it.
Your redemption is near. Lift up
your heads, believe, and be glad. Your
pain itself only proves that your pain will soon be over.
Many
people resent God for how much suffering they must endure on earth. What people forget, however, is that they are
sinners who have brought suffering upon themselves. It may not always be a tit-for-tat
equation. Experience teaches us that
it’s more complicated than that. But
what mankind suffers in the regular routine of life is nothing more than the
curse that our sin deserves. It is the
punishment that all creation must suffer.
And yet all creation eagerly waits for the sons of God to be
revealed. As surely as budding leaves
indicate that spring is near, so the dangers and storms of nature indicate a
deep, grumbling anticipation for your redemption to hasten and appear – for the
Son of Man to stand on the earth to judge.
And
he will. As surely as he already came to
be judged, he will come again to
judge. Once he came to fulfill the law,
to suffer and die, to rise and proclaim the gospel to all creation. This was his first advent. And once he will come again in glory. This will be his second advent. When people do not believe this, they
grumble. They grumble against God who
permits them to suffer, who takes away, who allows children to die young and
the elderly to die slowly. And so it
goes. They cannot remain devoted to a
God who does not consult with them first before permitting them to endure
sorrow. They deny their sin and so they
see suffering as meaningless and arbitrary.
But
God did not consult us before permitting his Son to endure sorrow. No way.
It was beyond our imagination, expectation, and desire. Yet in his love alone he sought to save us
from what we deserved. He gave his
eternal Son to become true Man and to suffer what he did not deserve – for us. We who
could not ourselves compel God to come down and save us simply receive what he
sends us. We receive his mercy, his
promise, his correction, and whatever else his wisdom lays upon us. We know that whatever is unpleasant to us comes
from the same heart of our Father that planned our redemption.
We
do not resent God when we suffer. We
bless him. We thank him for every lesson
he teaches us even if in the midst of it, we must grin and bear what seems to
make no sense. We see what our sins
deserve quite plainly. It is where our
God and Lord suffers for them on the cross.
We see the horror of our own disobedience in the same place where God
bears that horror for us and removes all guilt and makes for our peace. Only we who lift up our eyes right now – to
see our redemption in the cross of Jesus – will be able to lift up our eyes in
joy when the rest of the world is distressed and perplexed with failing hearts
at what has suddenly come upon them. Only
we can stand to face the Son of Man who have first learned to rely on him who
alone reveals the grace of God. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My
words will by no means pass away.”
So says our Lord.
We
still suffer. We suffer the general
curse of God against mankind. We suffer
the thorns and thistles, the sweat of the brow and the pain of motherhood that
God spoke against our first parents in Eden.
We see our little pieces of heaven and our little pieces of earth pass
away before our eyes, and it hurts. So
what is the point of it all? It is to
burn away our distractions. It is to
purify us. It is to purge from the
temple of our hearts everything that will eventually pass away anyway, and to
make room for that which will not. God
does not punish us. He punishes
unbelievers, because they have no way of distinguishing God’s wrath from God’s
fatherly correction. But for us who know
that all sin was punished in Jesus Christ the Son of God on the cross, for us
who are in fact sons of God and co-heirs with Christ through Baptism, we know
that no wrath hovers over our heads – only the constant blessing of God who
loved us so much as to purchase us with his own blood.
And
so, when we suffer, when we sorrow, when we lose, when we are hated, when God
allows what seems to break you down and crush you to last longer that you think
it should – dear Christians, this is nothing more than a blessed cross. We of all people should know what wonderful
things can come from a cross. God does
not lay crosses on us in order to weaken our faith or drive us to despair. He lays crosses on us in order to strengthen
our faith. See how he has. Has he not successfully distracted you from
that which the Gentiles seek and focused you on him who is the Light to
enlighten the Gentiles? Yes, he has. And he will.
He is the glory of his people Israel.
And his glory is found in his cross.
Those who seek glory elsewhere will be sorely sorry when it finally
appears. But for us who bear our crosses
knowing that it is there where true glory is hidden, where we are conformed to
the image of him who patiently bore his cross to save us – for us who learn to
suffer with Jesus, we shall also learn to be exceedingly glad and rejoice
forever. Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly.
Let
us pray:
Although
my joyful Christmas lay is mingled with my sighing,
The cross shall never take away my joy and praise undying;
For where the heart is most oppressed, the harp of joy is tuned the best,
The better strains are ringing, the cross itself, at Jesus’ will,
Must aid my soul, that I may still in grief His praise be singing. Amen.
The cross shall never take away my joy and praise undying;
For where the heart is most oppressed, the harp of joy is tuned the best,
The better strains are ringing, the cross itself, at Jesus’ will,
Must aid my soul, that I may still in grief His praise be singing. Amen.
Now
may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may
abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
