Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
[Matthew 5:11-12]
“Blessed are you.”
Jesus doesn’t say “Blessed you will be.” There’s a word for that in Greek, and he doesn’t use it.
No, the verb is in the present tense; and what it communicates is that there is a present blessing upon the followers of Jesus.
What is that blessing? Obviously not the praise of men. Jesus makes it clear that quite the opposite is true of his followers: they will be reviled, mocked, and falsely accused of evil on this earth.
To identify what the blessing is, we must simply observe what Jesus points to as the proof:
He says that those who follow him already have reward—great reward—in heaven. “For your reward is great in heaven.” (We’ll learn later in the Sermon why treasure in heaven is so much better than treasure on earth.)
He says that those who follow him into persecution join the ranks of the prophets. They become like the great saints of old who, though they saw trouble, did awesome deeds for God and gained eternal glory. “For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Think of Elijah on Mount Carmel and going to heaven in a chariot of fire [1 Kings 18; 2 Kings 2], and all of Hebrews 11.)
These two statements show us that Jesus considers his disciples blessed now because of where and what they are headed to and whose experience they are entering. He considers them so blessed, in fact, that he commands them, “Rejoice and be glad!”
So despite the increased difficulty of life here on earth (which Jesus teaches us in this passage to expect), Christ’s followers can still have joy in the midst of it all, even today. That’s because we have faith—ah, there’s the key—that what Jesus says of us is true: we are in the shoes of the great saints of old, and we have a substantial and sure reward in heaven.
January 28, 2010
The Present Blessing of Persecuted Saints
Posted by Tyler under CommentaryLeave a Comment
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
[Matthew 5:11-12]
“Blessed are you.”
Jesus doesn’t say “Blessed you will be.” There’s a word for that in Greek, and he doesn’t use it.
No, the verb is in the present tense; and what it communicates is that there is a present blessing upon the followers of Jesus.
What is that blessing? Obviously not the praise of men. Jesus makes it clear that quite the opposite is true of his followers: they will be reviled, mocked, and falsely accused of evil on this earth.
To identify what the blessing is, we must simply observe what Jesus points to as the proof:
These two statements show us that Jesus considers his disciples blessed now because of where and what they are headed to and whose experience they are entering. He considers them so blessed, in fact, that he commands them, “Rejoice and be glad!”
So despite the increased difficulty of life here on earth (which Jesus teaches us in this passage to expect), Christ’s followers can still have joy in the midst of it all, even today. That’s because we have faith—ah, there’s the key—that what Jesus says of us is true: we are in the shoes of the great saints of old, and we have a substantial and sure reward in heaven.