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Crown of Life
As we witness confirmations in our Lutheran church, we are reminded of our commitment to our faith. In Revelation 2:10, Jesus promises the crown of life to those faithful unto death. Jesus wore our crown of shame, bearing our sins on the cross, so we may inherit eternal life.
Revelation 2:10, 2 Corinthians 5:21
Well, it’s that time of year again where there’s a lot of confirmations happening in the Lutheran church, and maybe you’ve even been invited to a confirmation party, for a family member or friend from church. And it’s a wonderful time for our young people to be able to say that the faith of their baptism, the baptism that they had when they were a baby, is their faith. They can profess and confess that before the church and before the world, that it’s their faith. And they promise even to be faithful to their Christian faith and to their Lord Jesus till death. It’s quite a promise.
Typical Bible verse that we often hear in conjunction with confirmation is Revelation chapter two, verse ten. And there Jesus, the risen and ascended Lord, speaks to, John and the revelation. He says to his Christians,
Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10 EHV)
And we think about what a beautiful promise that is from our Lord Jesus. We don’t deserve the crown of life. Not one of us deserves to go to heaven. We’re all of us sinners. If anything, we deserve the crown of shame, not the crown of life. So how is it that we will receive the crown of life by faith in God’s heavenly kingdom one day?
Well, for that, for the answer to that question, we have to think back to what kind of crown Jesus wore while he was on this earth. And we think about that crown and we’re reminded as he was put on trial, as he was suffering and nailed to the cross, Jesus was forced to wear the crown of thorns, the crown of our shame. We’re reminded right after Adam and Eve sinned at the beginning of time, our first parents, when they sinned, part of the curse of sin, Adam would have to deal with thorns and thistles that the earth would bring forth for him. That he’d have to work hard by the sweat of his brow to be able to provide for his family. That was part of the curse of sin. And so when we see Jesus wearing the crown of thorns for us, we can see that as a beautiful picture of the fact that Jesus bore our sins for us, that the sins of the whole world were heaped upon Jesus. Jesus was made to be the king of sinners for us, so that he might save us and make us his holy people.
Saint Paul tells us that
God made him [Jesus], who did not know sin, to become sin for us, (2 Corinthians 5:21 EHV)
Jesus didn’t have any of his own sins. He was perfect in every way. And yet your sins and my sins and the sins of the whole world were heaped upon him. And there on the cross Jesus paid for, atoned for every one of those sins, so that you and I can be confident that we are forgiven, that we’re loved by God, that God sees us as his dear sons and daughters through faith. And of course, at confirmation, we’re reminded how we really are God’s sons and daughters, that he’s made us his own in the waters of Holy Baptism.
And so we think about that crown of life, then, that the Lord Jesus will give to us in heaven one day. How unworthy we are of that crown. What amazing love our Savior Jesus has for us, that he wore the crown of shame for us so that we might wear the crown of life. All glory be to Jesus. Amen.
