“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.” (Matthew 5:10-12)
“And the robbers who were crucified with Him also reviled Him in the same way.” (Matthew 27:44)
“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at Him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God…this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'” (Luke 23:39-42)
As we have meditated on this “blessedness” of persecution we have discovered that this type of ridicule from the world is unavoidable for the follower of Jesus. We have also seen that there are several purposes for this suffering that God allows us to endure. The suffering and shame that Jesus experienced on the cross, for example, illustrated that through His selfless sacrifice on our behalf during His life here on earth and through His death brought us salvation.
Our personal experience with Jesus, therefore brings us into the same persecution by those around us. The purpose, according to Scripture is to build endurance, character, and a reliance upon God for all that we need. It is also something that identifies us with Jesus as His disciples. But, the kingdom work is not just about us! In our world it is easy to become so focused on self improvement that you forget about others. We get so focused on growing ourselves and being a better disciple that we lose sight of our God issued calling to reach the world with the Gospel. As someone said, “We become so heavenly minded that we become no earthly good”.
We must remember that there is a greater part being “blessed” in this beattitude. It is the witness that it proclaims to those who are persecuting us! This is a powerful message to those who see it for the very same reasons that we struggle with it…it is not a natural. There is something supernatural going on when a person encountering persecution and suffering shows “blessing”. Today’s Scriptures show that Jesus was being “reviled” from every direction as He hung upon the cross. Even the thieves crucified with Him were participating. But, then something happened. As one of them saw the way Jesus suffered he was transformed. His heart softened and light came into the darkness of his condemned soul…He realized this was not of this world. There is another Kingdom and he wanted to be a part of it.
O Beloved Church, we are not just persecuted for our own strength and development…our response to the persecution is a testimony that can bring the very ones who are persecuting us to Jesus. To love our enemies is the best way to preach the Gospel to them. After all, like the unnamed thief, we were an enemy of Christ transformed by that same love.
Go and do likewise.