The Beatitudes Part 8 (The Final Installment)

Matthew 5:10 & 11 “How blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them! How blessed are you whenever people insult you, persecute you, and say all sorts of evil things against you falsely because of me!

Here again Jesus is speaking to the crowd about real situations they are facing. The Jewish people were being persecuted and have been throughout there history. The idea of rebellion is one that has always been talked about among the oppressed. Jesus is throwing out an unheard of idea, basically saying that those who are persecuted for believing in him are blessed. It is a concept that makes little sense when seen by the world. The true blessing of an oppressed person is to be free. That is what essentially Jesus is telling them and us, that though we are persecuted for our faith in the end we shall be free. It is a promise made to those who are faced with certain oppression and even death. As an American I know very little of this kind of oppression, though many in our country like to think we are being persecuted. The truth is we are free to serve God and to share God with just about anyone we choose. There are parts of the world where Christians are arrested, tortured and killed because of their beliefs. This kind of situation is what Jesus is addressing, the idea of allowing yourself to be oppressed because you will be delivered by the God you serve. It is more than striving for martyrdom; this is about serving God and trusting in his word. Knowing that no matter how hard things get you will stay firm because of the promise Christ is making. He is warning us to not take matters into our own hands and revolt against our enemies but stay faithful and we shall be delivered. If you read the previous verses they all lead to this one. If we live as Jesus was teaching us to that day we will be able to live through such persecution.

The greatest example of this would be Christ’s own death. He feared it as humans do and he even cried out but in the end he chose to fulfill a promise and was killed for it. His sacrifice made this verse even more real because it was living proof that if we stick to our guns the promise is fulfilled. To live a life of true righteousness, not self righteousness, is going to be met with oppression, criticism and possibly violence. It is our call to rise above that and to rely on our faith in a God that promised our freedom. The freedom is that which can only come through Christ and in that freedom we are able to live according to his example. We will never be perfect on this earth but we can strive for peace, purity, love, truth, compassion and to share his Gospel with the world. Whether we are made fun of, beating, jailed or killed for our faith it comes down to how we were living that faith daily? Were we living it in a legalistic and hypocritical way where our own self righteousness was overshadowing Christ’s love in us? Or were we humble followers of Christ’s words and truly striving to live out his good news? This is an important question to ask ourselves because whether we are persecuted as people are in other countries are just ridiculed like in our own country, how will we respond? Will we react with vengeance and violence or will we turn the other cheek? My hope is that we can do the latter but reality has shown us that few will be able to stand up in the face of evil. The problem is that we have to apply all of these beatitudes in our lives so that we may be able to face oppression and ridicule as Jesus did. It goes beyond our dealings with the world because there are plenty of issues with in the church as well. There are modern Pharisees who stand to persecute their own to remain in power. There are also those who have become bitter and lash out in anger at the church creating division. The key is to rely on the words and actions of Jesus when faced with these internal problems. Not all who claim Christ are truly followers and not all who follow fit in a mold of what a Christian should be. We must remember that we represent God but we are not the authority, we are servants. It is our job to listen, learn and submit to the leading of his spirit in our lives. If we do this I assure you we will not only be free but we will become unified as one body.

Amen