MONDAY
Today is the feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, two apostles we know very little about. Although they do share names with two disciples who loom much larger in the Gospel. Simon the Canaanean obviously shares a name with Simon Peter. And St. Jude, well, there’s probably a reason we translate his name a bit differently than his moniker-sharing counterpart, Judas Iscariot. And so, just by their names alone, we learn something about the Christian faith from these men. Whether you’re a famous Christian or not, whether you are known by the world for generations or remembered by none, things are going to go the same for you. Sin will swarm around you, and in order to kill your faith, the world will hate you. And the only way out is to cling to the love of Christ.
The world hated Simon Peter. And he tried to escape it by hating the world back, by screaming in the world’s face that he didn’t know his Lord. And yet, Peter came to repentance and found mercy in the arms of the One he denied. The world hated Judas. Judas joined the world’s hatred by betraying Christ. And then, when he was filled with guilt, he sought the solution by hating himself instead of running to the forgiveness of Christ. The world hated Simon and Jude. Both were, according to tradition, martyred in Persia. But clinging to the promises of their Lord, they overcame the hatred of the world and have now been welcomed into the love of God.
Do likewise. When the world hates you because of Christ, don’t think you can escape this through hatred of your own. You won’t get closer to God by hating your brother, by hating this world of sin, or by hating yourself. But you will get closer to God by clinging to His promises and seeing everything through Christ-colored lenses. This world of misery, Jesus saw it as something worth dying for. Those who hate and mock your Lord, Jesus saw them as more precious than His own blood. So you can see them that way too. We are all, in a sense, Simons and Judases, constantly facing the challenges that can either drive to redemption or despair. Follow the way of Simon Peter, Simon the Galillean, and the one we call Jude. Cling to Christ and the hatred of this world will never steal your love.
TUESDAY
As Moses is nearing the end of his life, knowing that he’s not going to enter the promised land, there’s a strange sort of way that the Lord speaks a word of comfort to him. God tells Moses all about how, after his death, the people he’s set free from a land of idolatry are going to give themselves over to idolatry, for which they will be torn apart and devoured. In all of this, God basically tells Moses, “don’t be sorrowful about dying before you cross that river. You don’t really want to live to see what’s next.”
Now, this isn’t exactly the greatest comfort imaginable, but it’s a fitting comfort because Moses is a figure of the law. And this is about the best comfort the law can give. And it’s a comfort that sometimes we cry out for. When you see your children running away from Christ, it’s tempting to cry out, “Lord, just let me die before they leave your hands altogether. Lord, if my children, my grandchildren are going to give themselves over to the idols of this world, let me die before I see it. Let me die because I see them consumed with addiction, with sexual immorality, with hatred for your name.”
But there is, of course a greater comfort, a comfort that the law cannot give but that the Gospel can and has given you. The comfort that Jesus Christ, the newer and better Moses, has accomplished what Moses couldn’t. The Good Shepherd has come into this world, laid down His life, and picked it back up. He gave His life to save you, to save your children, your grandchildren. He has destroyed our idolatry and given us the right to live with Him in His kingdom forever. And through His Holy Spirit, He is still calling to those who are running away from Him. So while you may not live to see them return to the arms of their Lord, according to His will, He will find His lost sheep. He will bring the straying back. And in all things, He loves your lost little ones more than you ever could, even when your love for them is so great no words can express it. Be at peace. The Lord of forgiveness has not abandoned you or your children.
WEDNESDAY
“You have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” This is a quite telling line that we get from the men who have spent all day in the master’s vineyard. The vineyard, of course, is a figurative one. It represents the kingdom of God, in particular living as a Christian in the kingdom of God. The work of that kingdom is hearing God’s word, keeping His commandments, asking for forgiveness, hungering for salvation, forgiving your neighbor, showing kindness and compassion to the poor and the needy. That’s what the self-righteous men who have been in the vineyard since the beginning view as “the burden of the day and the scorching heat.”
To the self-righteous, to those who think they’ve earned the love of God, serving God seems like a chore, a miserable job that you wouldn’t do if you weren’t going to be compensated for it. To those who think they are worthy of eternal life, serving God is just an end to their own self-glorification. Ah, well, then take your glory and go. That’s all you’ll get.
But to the repentant, to those who hunger and thirst for the righteousness of Christ, to enter Christ’s vineyard is not to begin a miserable day’s labor. It’s being called out of the wilderness, out of nothingness and being given honor. For those who despair of their sins and trust in Christ, to labor in God’s vineyard is a joyous thing because with every plunge of your hands into the soil, that’s a moment when you get to know that you belong to the God who doesn’t actually see you as a nameless, faceless day laborer. He sees you as His beloved child. So labor like you believe it. Labor with joy, knowing that the day is coming when the one who worked Himself to death to make you His own will bring you into His eternal presence where no sweat, no thorns, no sorrow will ever afflict you again.
THURSDAY
You came into this world as a slave. From the moment of your birth, even from the moment of your conception, you were a slave to sin, under the power of the sinful nature you received from your mother and father. Before you knew what it was to breathe, to nurse, you knew sin. You knew corruption.
As you grew, you grew in knowledge of sin, just as the weight of it grew heavier around you. In your earliest days, you came to embrace greed and selfishness, disobedience and dishonesty. You grew up to make yourself a slave of lust, a slave of bitterness, of pride.
As you grew into adulthood, you surrendered to your temptations over and over again. You tore others down to build up your reputation. You turned away from the needy to bathe in comfort. In all of these things, you placed yourself under the power of the devil. You made the one who was your master even more your master.
But then your King came and crushed your master’s skull. Your King, the Son of God, went to the cross. He destroyed everything that gave Satan power over you. With His perfect life and death, He ripped you out of the hands of the devil. The Son of God whom you did not know, He knew you, loved you, laid down His life for you, picked it back up for you and has now declared that you are forgiven, you are perfect, you are pure. You are worthy of eternal life because you are covered in the blood of His death.
Rejoice. The hour of your slavery is over. The Son of God has set you free. You are free indeed.
FRIDAY
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” You were not poor in spirit. You boasted before the Lord in your heart. You were certain that you were worthy of eternal life. But Jesus Christ became poor in spirit for you. He humbled Himself, lowered Himself. Dug His hands into the dirt of your sin and made you righteousness. And because of this, now you are blessed.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Your heart was grieved because this world of sin devoured your loved ones, devoured your flesh, devoured your joy. You wept. But Jesus Christ who mourned this world of sin conquered this world of sin. He destroyed the power of the one who brought death and tears into this life. And because His victory is now yours, He will clothe you in His comfort.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” You were not meek. You were prideful and arrogant, cruel and dismissive of those around you. But Jesus Christ has clothed you in His forgiveness, in the meek salvation He won by going to the cross for you. And because of this, your sins are forgiven and the earth is your possession.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. And now you are blessed, because the Lord who comes to you in the water, in the word, in the sacrament of the altar, has now fed you with His righteousness. Through that righteousness, He has fed you with the mercy that makes you blessed, the purity of heart that makes you blessed, and the peace of the Peacemaker, which makes you blessed.
The world, of course, will hate you for this. Because you have been clothed in the blessedness of Christ, the world will seek to rip it away from you. The world will persecute you for the name of Christ. But when it does, remember that this too is a sign of your blessedness, a sign that you belong to the Son of God, that you are a coheir with Him of His eternal kingdom.
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