Matthew 5: Blessed are you when people insult you

Captain Liam Beattie reminds us that many Christian values are counter to those of the world.

Key texts

• Matthew 5:11 and 12

Imagine that everything is going your way. Everybody agrees with most of the things you’re saying, they constantly want to be around you and there isn’t a single challenge in your seemingly blissful world.

Feeling optimistic, you wish to profess your faith in an intentional way, knowing that same sense of bliss and popularity will still be afforded to you. But, in fact, it isn’t. You are branded ‘delusional’, ‘ridiculous’ and are no longer taken seriously in your social circles. In such a situation, would you have an attitude of gratitude?

This has been my experience but, despite this, I have never felt richer. I can attribute this to one word: blessed. I love this word for many reasons, but most importantly because Christ himself is saying it to me.

Imagine the feelings of the many people gathered around Jesus – while Judea is under Roman occupation – hearing from the Teacher that they are blessed. The feeling must be overwhelming, as those who know Jesus as Messiah hear first-hand that God’s favour is upon them.

Like those mountainside listeners, Jesus also speaks to us. Though we can’t experience that same eye contact with Jesus as they did, through his Spirit we can have that same feeling of jubilation.

As we go against the tide of the world’s attitudes and values, we capitalise on this blessing by having an attitude of gratitude.

Pause and reflect

• When you are insulted for your faith, do you respond with grace or with challenge?

It isn’t easy being a dedicated Christian. Society is more of a challenge than an ally to God. Subsequently, there will always be conflict between the Church and the world. Why? Because Christian values are counter to those of the world. Rather than humility, the world favours prosperity. Rather than what’s right, the world favours might. The world operates with an attitude that looks to trivialise the concept of a grand heavenly Father.

This is not a 21st-century phenomenon. Every era in history has challenged God and his people. The Old Testament is full of accounts of faithful people challenging the ways of the world and striving forward valiantly for God. Though some were more successful than others, it is still a remarkable example of having an attitude of gratitude for God.

Pause and reflect

• What do you believe made the leaders and prophets in the Scriptures so successful?
• Do you believe they achieved what could be achieved?

A wise mentor of mine once told me that persecution ‘is a sign that you are following God’s direction’. In the adolescent stage of my spiritual journey, the very notion wanted to make me scoff at the idea. How on earth is that even helpful when you’re frustrated and irritated? What I found helpful, though, was knowing that being part of a Christian community meant that I wasn’t alone in my trials and persecutions.

In verse 12 of our study passage, Jesus, paying homage to saints of old, tells his audience to ‘rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you’. Not only is this an assurance for his hearers, but there is also a recognition that they are in this together. For today’s disciples, the Church is in this together, not only with contemporary believers, but also with those great leaders of faith who have gone before.

Another advocate with an attitude of pioneering for God was the apostle Paul. Despite being incarcerated in a Roman jail, he penned many letters to believers in the churches to persevere under such persecution. The fact that he wrote while in chains emphasised his point.

Colossians 1:24 says: ‘Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the Church.'

Paul rejoiced in his suffering. It is obvious that he grasped what Jesus said about those who are persecuted being blessed, even though that attitude of gratitude isn’t always easy to live out.

Pause and reflect

• How do you keep yourself accountable for living your faith, despite challenging circumstances?

‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade’ is a saying I’ve heard many times. If we add a biblical lens to this, we might say: ‘When the world persecutes you, dig deep and reap the blessings.’ Admittedly that isn’t as catchy, but the meaning is clear: we are to understand that to live by faith is to relish being in the Kingdom of God.

Hebrews 11 reminds us that the saints of old lived by faith in all that they were and all they were called to do: ‘Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawn in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and ill-treated – the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground’ (Hebrews 11:36–38).

In the face of persecution, we, like them, are called to live by faith, to have an attitude of gratitude in all we do, knowing that God will show us favour. What a blessing that is!