Exaudi - Sunday after the Ascension

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost.
 
Today gives Jesus’ last Words of instruction as we leave the Easter season.  We have come down from the mountaintop of Easter exuberance and now walk back into the valley of the shadow of death, the daily life of a Christian in this fallen world.  And Jesus doesn’t promise us sunny skies or the admiration of the world.  In fact, He promises quite the opposite.  There is no sugar coating today’s message: You will be hated because of your confession of Christ.  No matter how charming or kind you try to be, as long as you say that there is one absolute truth as found in the clear, inspired Word of God and Jesus is the only way to heaven, you will be hated.  Look at how worldly admiration has gone for the Prophets and Apostles!  Jeremiah is handed over to the king to be put to death because people thought the message of repentance and divine destruction was treason.  John the Baptist was beheaded for condemning Herod’s adultery.  Stephen was stoned for telling Israel that they rejected the Messiah and committed the unforgiveable sin of rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit.  Of course, none of this is surprising because the One to whom all of these martyrs pointed was crucified, and if that is the fate of their Lord, it is no surprise that their fate is similar.

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