¹² One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. ¹³ At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their names:

¹⁴ Simon (whom he named Peter),
Andrew (Peter’s brother),
James,
John,
Philip,
Bartholomew,
¹⁵ Matthew,
Thomas,
James (son of Alphaeus),
Simon (who was called the zealot),
¹⁶ Judas (son of James),
Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).

¹⁷ When they came down from the mountain, the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸ They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those troubled by evil spirits were healed. ¹⁹ Everyone tried to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone.

²⁰ Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said,

“God blesses you who are poor,
    for the Kingdom of God is yours.
²¹ God blesses you who are hungry now,
    for you will be satisfied.
God blesses you who weep now,
    for in due time you will laugh.

²² What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. ²³ When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.

Luke 6:12-23

Dear God, I’ve never pictured this before, but the beginning of this passage paints a picture of a group of people sitting there and Jesus picking among them like a team captain picking his players. I can imagine the people looking around as he made each pick. “Will it be me?” “He picked him?” “Yes! He picked me!” “Why didn’t I get picked?” I would imagine there were all kinds of things going on in everyone’s minds. It’s also interesting that Jesus did this so publicly. That he identified these 12 among everyone else. It’s not that the others stopped following at that moment. It’s just that these guys got to the next level with the Messiah.

Then they come down the hill and I can imagine the pride that those 12 felt. I can imagine it because it’s the kind of pride I would have in that moment. Looking around at everyone looking at you and thinking, “Yeah, I’m special. Did you hear about him choosing 12 special people? Yeah, that’s me. I’m in that group.”

Then Jesus starts talking and things start to take a different turn: “What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. ²³ When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.“

Excuse me. What? People are going to hate me? But I’m a lieutenant of the Messiah. They are going to exclude me? Mock me? Curse me as evil? Well this doesn’t sound nearly as cool as I thought it would be. I mean, he’s talking about a reward waiting for me in heaven, but I really don’t want to be treated like Jeremiah and some of the others. Wow.

As for me in my life today, I must admit that I don’t suffer much for following you in my current South Central Texas culture. It’s politically correct for me to love you. Worship you. Talk about you. Yes, there are times when I see an injustice and I poke my head up with as much discernment as I can muster. And I take a risk when I do it. But for the most part, the more I wear my faith in you on my sleeve the more rewarded I am in my community. In fact, I have to be more careful about pride and ego than I do about avoiding scorn and hatred.

Father, I come this morning to eschew all of the things the world offers me and simply worship you. Yes, I do these prayers to you and publish them publicly, but it’s not for anyone who knows me. It’s so that others will be inspired to spend time in your scripture and see how it might be a good thing for them to do as well. I want them to see some of the things in scripture or music or other things that I encounter in my life to teach me and form me into your image. I want them to understand that the Bible is applicable for today. For our individual lives. I want them to see that another human, another sojourner in this world struggles through some of the same things the struggle through. I want to worship you with them in this way. They don’t know me. If they ran into me on the street, my name would mean nothing to them. That’s fine. It’s not about me. But for the small times when it is about me, when I do get proud, please help me to repent and return to the heart of worship. It’s all about you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen