“You are blessed when they insult and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.“
Matthew 5:11-12
Holy Bible Holman Christian Standard Bible, Black/Burgundy, Leathertouch, Personal Size Bible. Holman Bible Pub, 2014.
AND
“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! Take note – your reward is great in heaven, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the prophets.“
Luke 6:23
Holy Bible Holman Christian Standard Bible, Black/Burgundy, Leathertouch, Personal Size Bible. Holman Bible Pub, 2014.
As we tie up this series on the Beautiful Attitudes, I am struck with a touch of melancholy. I have thoroughly enjoyed this series. It has been a ray of sunshine to write it amidst this period of sheltering in place in the wake of the Coronavirus. It will be sad to see it go. It has perhaps been the most personally beneficial study I have undertaken so far. It has been good to go back to the words that Jesus speaks over the lives of His disciples. It has been beneficial to hear Jesus proclaim my identity and my mandate in a time where things have come to a halt. This has definitely been a moment for re-calibration and meditation in my life.
This entry is a continuation of the thought proposed in the last article. When we face persecution, we must hold tightly to our new identity in Jesus. What Jesus says about us as disciples must be more important than the words of other humans. This is our standard. We are not measured by the slanders of the world. We are measured in our sanctification by our purposeful ignorance of those cries and by our full embrace of that ideal which Jesus speaks over us. Our goal is to totally reflect that ideal image. Like the apostle Paul, we must put aside the world and press on to attain the pure reality that Jesus has called us to (Php. 3:14).
“But they kept ridiculing God’s messengers, despising His words, and scoffing at His prophets, until the LORD’S wrath was so stirred up against His people that there was no remedy.“
2 Chronicles 36:16
Holy Bible Holman Christian Standard Bible, Black/Burgundy, Leathertouch, Personal Size Bible. Holman Bible Pub, 2014.
The ridicule of the righteous and godly is not a new occurrence. If those who followed God in the Old Testament were persecuted and slandered, shouldn’t we as followers of Jesus expect ridicule in these days? Derision is the inheritance of the Jesus-follower in this groaning and sinful world, but take heart! Jesus has overcome the world (Jn. 16:33). We have only to walk this treacherous road a little while longer.
Do not be deceived! God will not be mocked (Gal. 6:7). Those who continue to embrace their evil in full view Jesus, who deals with sin on the cross, will surely embrace evil into eternity. God allows that we should slake our thirst how we will (Rm. 1:28). It will go very bad for those who stand in willful inadequacy on the day when God stands before us in all His holiness. God is a jealous and burning fire (Dt. 4:24). He will have you wholly, or you will have your sinful self alone and will face His flaming holiness alone.
“The picture of Matthew’s first hearers comes into the sharpest focus. They will be insulted and persecuted, and they will have all sorts of evil things said about them because of their relationship to Jesus. But the radical reversal of the first eight benedictions overflows here in the final blessing. Insults and persecutions are an occasion for rejoicing and gladness because the reward is waiting, a reward that is the goal of the kingdom. Their identity is not their present precarious persecution, not their mourning, not the insults they bear for Jesus’ sake. They are citizens of the kingdom of which Jesus is the king. The persecuted prophets have led the way before them. Their new identity is linked to the prophets!“
(Card, p. 53)
Card, Michael. Matthew: The Gospel of Identity, InterVarsity Press, 2013.
Michael Card summarizes the essence of this passage beautifully. Insults are platforms for the worship of God. When others spit in our face, we can praise God lavishly. When others let hate spew out liberally, we can choose to be a fountain of blessing in the name of Jesus. Our citizenship in the kingdom of God is the admission ticket to a festival of hymns and spiritual songs. While the battle around us rages, we can sing within God’s mountain fortress, safe behind the walls of His grace.
We are proclaiming prophecy in every verse we sing. In every good word we speak we are forecasting God’s ultimate victory that was secured on the cross of Calvary and Jesus’ resurrection. From the kingdom of God, His word will be spoken out loud and spread. Jesus-followers must be faithful to proclaim God’s goodness and grace even when the world strikes us across the face. This action itself may prove provocative. In the Layman’s Bible Book Commentary on Luke, Robert J. Dean poses the idea that the active love of God and His will, is sure to “arouse the anger of evildoers” (50). We should not expect the world to embrace us. They will not. We should follow Jesus still.
If we can find peace in the will of God, we should take heart in the knowledge that His joy will be ours. He will see us through with full spirit and a glowing countenance. We shall surely see goodness and experience the jubilation of unbridled enthusiasm for the work of the kingdom. In short we will be excited about the things of God! This excitement from God will carry us on eagles wings to the new creation and His heavenly abode where we will be seen by the standard Jesus called us to. What a happy day! To quote the Showings of medieval anchorite, Julian of Norwich, there “all manner of things shall be well.”
As we continue on together, we will be cracking open the book of James in a study called Praxis: Right-doing. I am looking forward to plumbing the depths of this practical book of New Testament wisdom for following Jesus.
“Remember, God is as Great as He is Good!”
Noah R. Hunt
POIEMA: Created for Truth 