Friday after the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on September 17, 2021 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 6:20-26 (NKJV)
6:20 Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said:
“Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
22 “Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, ad revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake.
23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25 “Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
26 “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.”
Devotion
There are some who believe that if they try to fulfill the Beatitudes by their own doing then they will receive the blessings of which Jesus spoke. They read them as guidelines or principles that inform people how they are to live, so that God will reward them, as if God is some sort of ‘karma’ god. The true triune God, however, doesn’t work that way!
The purpose of the Beatitudes is to point to and strengthen faith in the fully atoning merits of Christ Jesus! Look at how the Beatitudes best describe Christ. With unswerving faith, Jesus is the One who trusted His Father’s words regarding the fulfillment of His mission, and persevered all the way to the shame of the cross. Jesus is the One who was poor and hungry, and was persecuted, and wept like the prophets of old.
“Beatitudes” means “Blessings”—and what blessings they are as they keep all who hear them focused on the One who fulfilled them. Rightly focused Christians will always have their ears and eyes fixed on the author and perfecter of faith, Christ Jesus and His active and passive obedience for the forgiveness of our sins! Being in Christ Jesus by belief and Baptism, all of His merits and righteousness are accounted to you; and blessed are you, indeed!
Prayer: O Lord, we beseech Thee, let Thy continual pity cleanse and defend Thy Church; and because it cannot continue in safety without Thy succor, preserve it evermore by Thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
