“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:11-12
“Blessed are you when … persecuted” is a promise of Jesus and appears the most difficult one to accept, but it promises the greatest rewards. However, it does seems strange when we see people experiencing persecution, do we think, “Blessed”? Hardly! Why? Because we are not truly kingdom oriented. If we can really believe what Jesus is saying here, it will revolutionize our attitude toward our trials in life.
The truth is that our positions of service and glory that we will enjoy in the kingdom are being determined today by how we handle the experiences of this life. It seemed contrary, in fact, to the covenant promises of material blessing for righteous living, on which the Pharisees built their materialistic view of life.
Jesus spoke the first eight beatitudes using the third person (“they”). In this final beatitude, He addressed His disciples directly using the second person (“you”) for emphasis.
Perhaps He is saying that if the Beatitudes are lived out in life, the Lord’s followers may expect persecution. Persecution is not unusual. Proper response is! The Beatitudes emphasize character.
“Rejoice and be glad” continues Jesus’ teaching that the source of joy for a disciple who suffers persecution is the promise of heaven. When Jesus used the term “reward”, He taught that the reward would be based on God’s goodness, not the amount of work done. Any reward our heavenly Father gives is an expression of His grace.
The Lord begins this discourse with the purpose of showing that being precedes doing. Sometimes it is said that a person’s character should not be at issue but only his or her ideas, viewpoints, or actions. The Beatitudes do not support this premise or perspective. Character stands behind each of our thoughts and beliefs.
God’s blessings on your day…