“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great.”
Matthew 5:10-12, LSB

We now turn our attention toward this final, yet startling beatitude found in the opening of our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness” (v.10) appears to us something like a paradox. We are left asking ourselves, “how is persecution a blessing?” How are those who find themselves ignored, dismissed, disowned, ridiculed, attacked, imprisoned, and even martyred for their faith in Christ Jesus ever to be considered as ‘happy’ and ‘favored’?”

What Jesus (and the Apostles after Him) never do is present to the public what some call “easy believism.” Not once in Scripture are we given a picture that says, “if you trust in Jesus, all your trials and suffering will come to an end.” No, the Christian life is never described as broad and easy. Quite the opposite, in fact. Jesus tells us in Matthew 7 (which we will consider more deeply later on) that “the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (v.14).

Consider Jesus’s striking words in Luke 14. “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple” (v.26). This does not mean we hate with burning contempt those around us. What is shown here is hyperbole meant to show us the depth of treasuring Christ Jesus above anyone and anything else in this world.

Consider also the calling of the Apostle Paul at his conversion in Acts chapter nine. Jesus tells Ananias, “I will show him how much He must suffer for My name” (v.16) And indeed he does suffer (2 Cor 11:16-33; 12:7-10). Nevertheless, Paul happily says, “I count all things to be loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:7-11).

What we must remember, friends, is that the very nature of true discipleship is such that we will, more often than not, find ourselves at odds with the world and its “wisdom.” Even our own family members may come against us. But Jesus here in this beatitude tells us that this persecution is a blessing. It is a mark of truly belonging to Jesus.

Indeed, friends, we gain “the kingdom of God” (Mat 5:10) and are counted among the prophets of old as ones to be blessed (v.13). More than that, we find our solidarity with our Savior Himself when we suffer persecution (Rom 8:17). Jesus says to His disciples: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you… ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:18, 20).

“The very nature of true discipleship is such that we will, more often than not, find ourselves at odds with the world and its ‘wisdom’.”

With all this in view friends, let us be deeply in prayer to the Lord that He strengthen our resolve, that we may endure whatever loss or affliction necessary for His name’s sake and for the sake of seeing our Savior as our priceless treasure!

Soli Deo Gloria