Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted

Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted.  It is enlightening to observe those whom the world considers lucky. Vegas bookmakers determine the odds of various outcomes of luck in sports, which sounds like the wolf setting the menu for the sheep. An anecdote for professional poker players says that a life-long gambler is considered lucky to break even playing his last hand. Many (½ to ¾) large-dollar lottery winners ironically yet consistently lose all their prize money, if not file for bankrupt, within 3-5 years after winning. But luck is fickle, impersonal, and stupid to chase. Far better than luck, chance, fate, karma, etc., is grace. Because grace is an attribute of God, who never changes his essence though he holds the prerogative to change his methodology, then grace is entirely consistent, highly personal, and wise. Those who receive the grace of God are called blessed, which can be translated as happy.

But blessed is not the word that comes to mind when I read last week about the 70 Christians beheaded in their church building by ISIS-aligned militiamen in eastern Congo. Happy is not the description reported yesterday on Voice of the Martyrs of a man in Afghanistan, poisoned by his brother for becoming a Christian, and his widow who went into hiding. But Jesus does! 

In the cataclysmic introduction of his famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus takes several examples of people considered highly unlucky by the world, if not accursed of God, and calls them blessed, happy. It was shocking then. It still is shocking now! The end of his list of the blessed ones, which often signifies an emphasis, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:10). As if anticipating the crowd’s disbelief at his statement, Jesus doubles down, saying it again, making it personal instead of general, “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 in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:11-12). 

How can persecution be a mark of blessing? Because blessing hinges on Jesus’ phrase, “for righteousness’ sake,” which he further clarifies, “on my account.” Faithful association with Jesus, even if it is met with a bloody and unjust reaction, is friendship with God, which can only be called happy in the long view. The Church Father, Tertullian, said it well in his Apologeticus (197 A.D.), “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church … we are not a new philosophy but a divine revelation.” It is not the presence but the absence of persecution that is abnormal when one envisions the entire, historic, global church at once. Persecution is not an ancient phenomenon. Today, in over 60 countries, having and sharing the Christian faith is illegal and unwanted. The mistreatment of Christians seems to occur with impunity.