“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:10, ESV)
A different kind of beatitude
In our ascent of the Sermon on the Mount, we have arrived at the final beatitude. If you are just now joining in, you can catch up by starting here:
Though Matthew 5:10 is among the beatitudes, it has a unique characteristic. The rest of the beatitudes are active in nature. They describe the characteristics that the Christian will be increasingly displaying throughout their sanctification. This final beatitude is passive in nature. What is presented here is characteristic of what the Christian will be increasingly receiving throughout their sanctification. It is as if Jesus is saying, “Here are the ways you are to live as a citizen of my kingdom. Here is your code of conduct. And here is what you can expect from the kingdom of this world.”
We will break this beatitude down in three ways.
A Conundrum
A conundrum is a “confusing and difficult problem or question.” We seem to have one here. In our modern times, we have been trained to define blessing in a way that most certainly does not include persecution. We view blessing to either mean that life turns out the way we want, we have enough money and materials for our preferred level of comfort, or we are able to escape much of the suffering that others seem to experience. For Jesus to say that the persecuted are blessed flies in the face of the world’s entire definition of the word.
Many of us have heard the phrase, “Play stupid games. Win stupid prizes.” The basic premise is that if you are wise in the way you conduct yourself, you will avoid pain and suffering. This is true in the sense that you will avoid unnecessary, self-afflicted pain and suffering. However, what are we to do with the righteous man who still receives pain and affliction? That is what Jesus answers in this beatitude. And His response is, “Consider him blessed.”
A Return to the Biblical View of Blessing
In order to understand and answer this conundrum, we have to abandon the world’s definition of blessing. We must instead embrace the definition that Jesus Himself gives us. What is incredible is that Jesus gives us the same definition of blessing in the final beatitude that He gives us in the first. This creates a bracket on either side of the beatitudes, showing us that all of the blessings we have seen are experienced under the umbrella of this ultimate blessing. Jesus’ definition of blessing is found in the first and final beatitudes:
“…for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
To be blessed is to be a member of the kingdom of heaven. It is to be a recipient of that eternal inheritance. Christ did not save us so that we could float around in independent, eternal bliss. He saved us so that we could be citizens of an eternal kingdom under His all-glorious reign. The pinnacle of blessing is the possession of that citizenship. It is citizenship in a kingdom that is already enacted and realized. It is also a kingdom that will soon be totally culminated. However, until it is, there is another kingdom that, although hopelessly doomed to destruction, still rages against God and His people. This is where the conundrum begins to clear up.
Persecution as a Marker
We get that the Christian is blessed because he is a citizen of heaven. But what does persecution have to do with this? To be a recipient of the world’s persecution is a manifestation of the blessing. It is a marker and outward evidence of the individual as a citizen of God’s kingdom. Notice the qualification that Jesus gives:
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake…”
This isn’t just any kind of persecution. This isn’t the kind of persecution in view when people say, “Play stupid games. Win stupid prizes.” This is persecution because of your status in God’s kingdom. Remember, the beatitudes have been showing us the kind of characteristics that will accompany the Christian. These are the attitudes of the righteous life. Because all of these characteristics and blessings are given within the context of possessing the kingdom, they serve as distinctions of those who are citizens of it.
This is how it works. When we display the behaviors described in the beatitudes, we signal to the world that we are citizens of God’s kingdom. The world belongs to the kingdom of darkness and rages against God and His people. Therefore, its citizens recognize us as enemies. When they come against us, as expected, they signal to us that we do not belong to them. Living the beatitudes shows the world we belong to God. Receiving persecution in return shows us the same thing.
It is in this way that persecution for righteousness’ sake serves as a blessing. It shows us where we belong. It further proves to us that the lines have been drawn between God and the world, and that we are standing on the right side. It helps us to see the world’s desperation on their way to destruction and our hope in knowing we are not going with them.
The persecution itself may not be a blessing, but it serves as a marker that we are ultimately blessed.
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