“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matt 5:10-12 ESV)

Finally, the one who would follow the way of Jesus must never think that you can follow a way foreign to this world without opposition. Those that follow the way will find themselves walking in a way that the world at large wants no part of. The selfless path will not be embraced by a world dedicated to the exaltation of self.

Those that listened to Jesus will listen to us. Those that hated Jesus will in the same way hate us. We should have no illusions that we can defy the principles of this world without consequence. We must never be surprised at the reactions of this world. The rejection and exclusion, the slander and abuse of the unbelieving are exactly what we are told to expect in this beatitude.

This is the last of these short phrases that comprise the beatitudes. In these sayings Jesus gives us hope, and promises that beggar the imagination. But with them come the realities of living godly in an ungodly world. Nevertheless, we are blessed even on the worst day because our hope is not bound up in today, it is not measured in earthly success, it is an eternal blessing from God himself. One that continues long after this world is a distant memory.

The Anti-Beatitudes

“But woe to you who are rich,

Many people are unaware that in the Luke’s version of this sermon Jesus adds the lines above after the final beatitude regarding persecution. Here Jesus turns the beatitudes on their head to emphasize the importance of these simple sounding truths.

Regarding persecution and contempt from the unbelieving world, Jesus declares woe rather than blessing for those that everyone seems to love. Those that never offend are not blessed, they receive exactly the opposite. Our world seems obsessed with the idea of offense. It seems we must at all costs not offend, though I have to say there is no concern whatever with offending believers. Ironic? sure. Surprising? Absolutely not. Jesus tells us that is what we should expect and we are blessed if this is the worlds reaction. This reaction is inevitable if we are walking in the truth, if we are walking the way of Jesus. Selfless love of God and our neighbor will offend the self-serving and unbelieving world. Our very existence will be an offense to them, because seeing our faith and commitment to the truth tortures their damaged and neglected consciences.

There is a fairly common idea floating around that if we live our Christianity right then everyone will like us, and maybe even agree with us. This is a nice fantasy but unfortunately that is all that it is. When we attach ourselves to Jesus we take on the full blessing of that union, but just as real as the blessing is the outrage of those who have aligned themselves against the truth. No one is a better Christian than Christ himself, we should never expect to receive the blessing without the cross.

Remember the word that I said to you:

On walking the Way

So with all this in mind what should our response be? What else can it be, with such blessings and promises at stake? We must with whole hearts walk this path.

This is the way of life. This is the way of peace. This is the path of God’s Son. This is now the path of us all since Christ has opened this path at the cost of His own life.

Blessings of this sort do not exist in this rebellious and self-centered world. We would be fools to let such an offer go unanswered. We would also be wrong to respond to this worlds abuse in kind. We must never respond to hate and rejection with resentment, retaliation, and condemnation. Jesus died for those who crucified him. We are following him, we do not repay in kind to those that abuse us. We are called to the path of the cross.

The path is not complicated but it is hard, and it comes at great cost. It cost God his Son. It cost the Son his glory with God and finally his life. It will also cost us our self-serving, self-glorifying ambitions and passions, but it will not leave us destitute. Quite the opposite, it will leave us forever blessed and fulfilled, in this age and the next.

As we recognize our need and our inability to achieve eternal life and happiness on our own, we humble ourselves and allow the Spirit of God to do in us what we could never do for ourselves. As we obey Jesus and begin to walk the path of life, we will stop worrying about our own situation and begin to seek the good of others, we will find on this path the very blessing we thought we would never find.

We must learn to draw our strength from God alone, as Hebrews encourages us we should be, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God”. We must continue to value the opinion of God over the opinion of this world. We must continue to love those that despise us as Jesus loved us even when we were lost in sin. Jesus prayed for those that were killing him, this is our ultimate example. This same Spirit that empowered Jesus to endure the cross is in each of us now.

Let us walk in that Spirit this week, in a love that is unstoppable and eternal.

Have a great week!