Eastertide
May 5, 2016

Scripture Reading: Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

‘See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.’

 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. –Revelation 22:12-14

What do you think would be a meaningful reward to Jesus? Being good to attain some future reward has never really set right with me nor am I a supporter of instant gratification. I prefer to do things that are rewarding in their own accomplishment. Eating right and exercising regularly every day is how I lost weight. I cannot even image what my reaction would have been if two years after all my dieting and exercising I went to bed one night grossly obese and out of shape and awoke the next morning trim and fit. I doubt very seriously that I would have even lasted two months before giving up, if I had seen no results. Jesus’ reward was in loving every day. He delighted in the one leper who returned to thank him for his healing touch; the dedicated service of Mary Magdalene, who after being freed from seven demons devoted the remainder of her life in service to God; and in the little boy who offered his fish and bread to feed the masses.

That said, Abraham was promised outcomes he knew he would never see and the writer of Hebrews encourages us to work for the future of the faith that will continue after we are gone. I hear more and more people longing to provide a better world for their children and grandchildren.

In systems theory we learn about something called throughput, the amount of resources invested in achieving a desired outcome. Being productive as the Body of Christ in the world today is essential in hastening the realization of the Kingdom of God. I think that is the reward Jesus wants for us all.

Prayer: Lord, make our daily walk with you an answer to your call in Micah 6:8: He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? It is a reward in and of itself and it is the path to the Kingdom of God. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.