All Saints Sunday, November 3, 2024
All Saints Sunday, November 3, 2024
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Mt. 5:11). Blessing comes under the sign of its opposite. Jesus tells his disciples they will be most fruitful (blessed) when they are reviled, persecuted, and accused. As these blessings come under the sign of the opposite, they express Luther’s theology of the cross. Indeed, the cross stands over all the beatitudes present here. The nine conditions given for being blessed (poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungering and thirsting, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted, and reviled) are not conditions of triumphalism or glory. No, the conditions present you with humility and suffering. However, beneath these conditions… beneath these opposite signs… you will find your true theology: Jesus Christ, him crucified, and him alone. Jesus promises those who come after him… those who are ultimately sent out to bear witness to him… that they will be most fruitful—that is, bear the truest witness to him—not by preaching glory or triumphalism but by preaching Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life (Jn. 14:6).
Prayers from those who hear triumphalism and glory in these verses rather than the cross…
Father in heaven, open my ears that I might hear your Word and receive the kingdom of heaven through the work of your Holy Spirit rather than my own poor spirit.
Father in heaven, open my ears to receive your Word of comfort in the midst of my mourning.
Father in heaven, train me up to be meek beneath your direction such that my inheritance is the earth of the New Creation.
Father in heaven, grant that your Word so work upon me that I am stripped of all my pretense at righteousness and, being famished for it, satisfy me with Christ’s righteousness.
Father in heaven, hold me in the peace established by your Word so that I do not seek justice for my own sake but, instead, exhibit mercy in all that I do.
Father in heaven, so deliver Jesus Christ, your Word, to me that my heart of stone is taken away and Jesus provides me with a pure and clean heart, his own heart, and then I will know you.
Father in heaven, so establish your promise within me that I can seek peace between any disparate factions because I have nothing of my own to gain.
Father in heaven, open my ears that I might hear your Word promising me the kingdom of heaven when all other words are words of accusation and persecution.
Father in heaven, so call, gather, and enlighten me through your gospel that I would know the fruitfulness of Jesus Christ as I find him beneath the signs of his opposite.