Sunday Devotional: Matthew 5:11-12

¹¹ Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say every evil against you falsely on account of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward [is] great in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets [who were] before you.

In the last of the Beatitudes, Jesus offers encouragement to those who suffer for his sake. This beatitude carries on the thought from the previous one, but this time Jesus makes it personal: not just “those who have been persecuted,” but you, when you are reviled and persecuted. Clearly Jesus expected his followers to be ill-treated, and he speaks of this ill-treatment in three ways: reviling (Greek: oneidizô), persecuting (Greek: diôkô), and saying every evil (Greek: eipon pan ponêron). This goes to show that Jesus did not expect persecution to always be in the form of beating or legal sanctions. Indeed, the believer doesn’t have to be in physical torment to be suffering for Christ’s sake.

Reviling comes when you are insulted or verbally abused because of your faith. The early Christians were mocked because of their belief in the resurrection. They were called “atheists” because they denied the Roman deities and believed in a God the State did not recognize. The Jews considered them heretics and blasphemers because they identified Jesus as God. Their sacraments were ridiculed, and they were generally held in low esteem. And while Christianity has, over the last 2,000 years, more or less gained respect, I think we can see that as societies become more and more secular, toleration for people of faith–and particularly Christians–decreases. In our day, it’s common to see “Bible-believing” Christians held up to scorn. When Christians are represented on television or in movies, it’s often an extreme caricature. Our Biblical worldview is often called “intolerant” or “hateful,” and those that hold to such a worldview are given the same labels.

By persecution, I think we can understand Jesus to mean what usually comes to mind: physical abuse, and blatant singling out for “special treatment” on account of one’s faith. This may encompass the other two (reviling and speaking evil of someone), but I think it also brings in beating, political pressure and punishment, social restriction, and so on. Whenever Christians are denied advancement, either politically, or in the workplace, on account of their faith, or where they are forced to pay taxes, or are in other ways treated differently–and adversely–because they are Christians, persecution is taking place. This happened in the first few centuries of the church, and it happens today especially in communist and Muslim countries–and it is even sometimes reported in so-called “free” countries in the West.

“Speaking all evil against you falsely” covers false accusations brought against a Christian to sully his or her reputation, often to justify persecution. In the early church, the Christian sacrament of communion was said to be an orgy, with the participants engaging in illicit sexual behavior and cannibalism. Whether or not this was a genuine misunderstanding of the Christian “love meal,” wherein the symbolic body and blood of Christ is consumed, or a deliberate distortion, it didn’t help the Christians gain favor in the world. The Roman Emperor Nero blamed the great fire of Rome in 64 AD on the Christians, and used that as an excuse to persecute them. In our day, at least in the West, we can certainly identify with Christians being caricatured, and our doctrines being misrepresented, to make us look foolish, and hence easy targets for political sanction and social disdain.

Not only are Christians in this situation blessed, but they should in fact rejoice and be glad. Why? Because their reward is in heaven. Note that this is in the present tense.* This means that the heavenly reward that belongs to the ill-treated Christian is not some future hope, but it is a present reality. Because the Christian is willing to suffer reviling, persecution, and character assassination for the sake of Jesus, he or she is blessed. And what’s more, the Christian can–and should–rejoice and be glad in the face of such abuse, because God has already granted him or her a reward in heaven. What is that reward? Jesus doesn’t say. But it should be enough that the Lord knows what we go through for his sake, and while he doesn’t promise to make life easier here, he does assure us that we already have something infinitely better waiting for us in eternity.

I hope that brings encouragement to you today. Have a great week!

* There isn’t actually a verb expressed in the Greek, but the grammatical construction and the context demand that we supply the present tense verb in English.