Scripture

“God blesses you when people mock you, and persecute you, and lie about you, and say all kinds of evil things about you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward waits for you in heaven.”

Observation

This scripture is the beginning of what is called The Sermon on the Mount. This section consists of a series of blessings or beatitudes.

Each of the Beatitudes starts with the words “blessed are…” In some versions the word for blessed is translated as “happy.” The New Living Translation uses the phrase “God blesses.”

Jesus says that various groups of people who may appear to be abandoned by God, or even cursed, are in fact blessed by God above others. The poor in spirit own God’s Kingdom; those who mourn will be comforted by the Lord; the humble will inherit the earth; those denied justice will receive it; the merciful will receive mercy; the pure in heart will see God; peacemakers will be called “children of God”; the persecuted will attain God’s kingdom.

So Jesus overturns our understanding of who is blessed by God.

Application

In the West, we are now entering dangerous territory for christians. We didn’t think this would be possible a few decades ago, but now followers of Jesus are mocked, lied about and defamed widely. What people would not say about other groups, they will say freely against christians.

How we react to such events will be critical. Jesus tells us to rejoice and be very glad. After all, it is not us they are hating, it is Him. If they hate us for following Jesus, then we must be doing a fair job of representing Jesus to the world.

That is the key of course. We must always be obedient to the Father and gracious to people, so that they really do see Jesus in us and react to Him, not us.

Prayer

Father, when people mock me for your sake, may I find grace to love them in Your name. Amen.