By Barnabas Piper
Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:10-12, Psalm 9:7-10, John 15:18-25, Hebrews 11:13-16, 2 Corinthians 4:8-14
The Beatitudes aren’t a to-do list or a measuring stick for Christians (“do these things in order to be a good Christian…”). They are more like a portrait of life for those who dwell in the kingdom of Jesus, who are transformed into Christlikeness. It’s tempting to read them all as aspirational virtues, but then we get to verse 10: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” Can we rightly say we aspire to persecution? Jesus didn’t say that or exemplify it. Rather He was utterly realistic about it.
Jesus made it clear that the “the world hates you.” It hates all those whom He has chosen out of the world, those who are subjects of His kingdom (John 15:18–20). It hates us because it hated Him first, and we are His now. This is why Jesus emphasized that those who “are persecuted for righteousness” are blessed (Matthew 5:10). The joy, the blessing, comes from being so closely identified and in such close relationship with Jesus. Persecution for Christlikeness brings blessedness—persecution for being poor in spirit, being humble, for mourning over brokenness, for being peacemakers, for being merciful, and for hungering after righteousness. This fallen world is offended by those things, and it lashes out.
It seems odd to pair blessedness with persecution since blessedness means fulfillment and gladness, and persecution means pain and sorrow. But our blessedness comes not from our circumstances but from the promise and trajectory of Christ’s kingdom. If we are followers of Jesus, then we are citizens of heaven, “seeking a homeland….desiring a better place, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:14–16). Jesus so definitively promised that “the kingdom of heaven is theirs” (Matthew 5:10) because persecution is often evidence of our closeness to Him, our identification in Him. And His promise is sure because God “has prepared a city” for us (Hebrews 11:16) and because “The LORD is a refuge for the persecuted” (Psalm 9:9).
This means that our blessedness is tied directly to the person of Jesus, the character of God, and their victory in the end. This is why Paul so audaciously called suffering and persecution a “momentary light affliction.” Compared to the certainty of joy with Jesus and guarantee of peace in His presence forever, any persecution we face, no matter how severe, is but a blink and a blur. It is nothing next to the “incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2Corinthians 4:17–18).
Nor can we forget that Jesus did not offer empty platitudes or vapid inspirational speeches. He commanded and promised what He himself lived. Jesus knew persecution, and it was the certainty promised blessedness that moved Him to persevere faithfully. “For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). In the Beatitudes, Jesus invites us to the same promise, the same surety, as we navigate a hateful world as subjects of His kingdom.
Written by Barnabas Piper
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