MEETING 8: The Blessing No One Really Wants: Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted for Righteousness
Today we examined the eight beatitude in this series of life-giving blessings Jesus issued in his famous Sermon on the Mount. Rivaled only perhaps by "blessed are they who mourn," this is undoubtedly among the blessings that we are least want to hear. But because it is Jesus, we timidly draw close, knowing that our Lord came that we might have life, and have it abundantly.
And so, our small group gathered this morning to bravely explore this difficult beatitude. We began by sharing reactions, to paraphrase:
"This suggests how difficult it may truly be to be a Christian"
"I feel more than a small sense of dread when I hear this"
"I think of all those past and present who have endured persecution, civil rights leaders, those in regions of the world where Christianity is forbidden"
"It seems these verses can be misused, to justify acts in the name of righteousness"
"Most of us have probably never truly been persecuted. At best perhaps ridiculed."
"Are we doing enough? Are we active enough? If we are not being persecuted for righteousness sake, what does this mean?"
"In this verse particularly, I especially hear the translation of "loyal" in the word "blessed"
We thought of civil rights leaders, activists, parents, and adolescents who may all experience 'persecution' or revilement of some level for standing for, upholding, seeking to do God's will in the world. Some of the history buffs in our group reminded us of the socio-political dynamics in place at this time in history, both the time Jesus delivered these words, and when the writer of Matthew would have recorded them.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Jesus Christ
At least one bible scholar in outlining the Sermon on the Mount, divides it into three sections. This scholar observes that if you consider the preceeding verses describe character; and those that follow the Beatitudes focus on conduct (be the salt of the earth, etc.); these two verses speak of conflict.
As always, to help us go beyond what we hear with our modern ears and get nearer to the heart of Jesus, we traveled through time and the evolution of language through english, latin, greek and back to the Hebrew Jesus spoke in when he delivered these words. Through the landscape of Christian scholarly commentary and translators we learned that the greek word "diuku" means to "pursue, to persecute, to follow hard after, to pursue as one does a fleeing enemy, an intensity of effort leading to a pursuit with earnestness and diligence in order to lay hold of and oppress. (http://www.preceptaustin.org/matthew_510-12.htm).
We considered three interpretations of this language:
1. The most common~the idea of being persecuted by others for righteousness' sake. It is this interpretation that causes such important discomfort in hearers of this passage.
2. Matthew Fox, author of, "The Sermon on the Mount," offers an alternative view~the idea of being persecuted inwardly (by our own lower selves) when we find righteousness difficult, or are strongly tempted to hold the wrong thoughts about a situation or person, or give way to despondency or fear.
3. Another scholar offers that the Hebrew word "radaf" can be both translated as pursue or persecute, and notes that the former was far more common. He theorizes that because of the shift in pronoun of the following verses (from third to second person), the latter verse was probably placed there by the editor of Matthew's source because of the word persecution, which appears in both passages, but that it is referring to a different context. He proposes that the way to hear the first passage is "blessed are they who aggressively pursue salvation/righteousness."
Of course we can't really know for sure whether any or all of these interpretations is "right." Certainly biblical scholars agree that in the time and place of both the delivery of this sermon by Jesus and the time of the writing of Matthew, Jesus' likely audience could have been subject to persecution for acting out in righteousness. It is intriguing to consider whether they may have been aware of this, or whether Jesus was preparing them for persecution that could come. And as many writers note referring to John 3:19, persecution is not something that may come if you act in righteousness. You need to be prepared that it will come. For the world loves darkness, and evil hates the light.
This is the blessing that we would rather not partake of. It is the blessing no one really wants. But in some ways it is the most striking beatitude for it is the last, the longest, the only one associated with a command and the only one to address the reader directly.
Charles SimeonWe then reflected:
Had any of us ever experienced persecution or revilement in the name of righteousness--either for professing a belief, or acting in accordance with righteousness?
One of us shared a personal story of participating in a march once and being met with revilement from bystanders. This member acknowledged that it was frightening, and yet the member remembers feeling very glad to be there. Another pointed out that it was not until after World War II that Native Americans had their first medical doctor. This member challenged the desire most of us harbor to "hide in the shadows," and pointed out the importance of sharing our stories with others that we can learn from, lift up, and encourage one another in acting in the name of righteousness.
As we prepared to part, we contemplated again the meaning of these verses.
We are reminded that the word used in the opening of all eight of these passages is MAKARIA:
- Happy
- Loyal
- Enviably fortunate
- Spiritually prosperous, finding satisfaction in God's favor and salvation, regardless of one's outward condition or circumstances
We are reminded that rather than desiring to instill dread, these Beatitude passages are life-giving promises from Jesus, our Lord who came that we may not only have life but have it abundantly.
We challenged ourselves with the following questions to receive the message of Jesus in our hearts...
How would the world look if more of us were willing to put ourselves out there and open ourselves to persecution for righteousness sake?
Are we willing to open ourselves to revilement and persecution for the sake of righteousness? What holds us back? Do we trust in this blessing?
NOTE TO THE GROUP~It's all Greek to me:
We have one remaining small group meeting (the Sunday after Thanksgiving) where we will create our own Beatitudes--we will write, draw, write poetry, sing, type, dance, speak or otherwise record the messages we hear Jesus speaking to us in these Beatitudes in words that work for us, that speak personally and intimately to us--our own words. With hundreds of bible translations out there, what's one more--Jesus speaks to each of us in our own language. Y
ou are welcome to consider the format that will work best for you, that will allow you to take these Beatitudes we've explored together with you, to encourage you anew in life.
Peace,
April
