Happy To Be Reviled

Happy To Be Reviled

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:11-12

Christ made some shocking statements in the Sermon on the Mount. He equated lust with adultery; hatred with murder; and taught to ‘turn the other cheek,’ instead of retaliating. So much of what Christ says goes against our natural inclinations. If we think about the implications of it, our text for today is equally as shocking. ‘Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’ This is not a desirable prospect. No one really naturally desires to be persecuted, lied about, and misrepresented. Christ says in our text, not that we should be happy, but that we are happy, or ‘blessed’ as the older versions have it, when these things occur. How can this be so? Several thoughts come to mind. First, there is the idea that the persecution we suffer is because we are associated with Jesus Christ. ‘It is for my sake,’ that we suffer. Beyond that, the lies and misrepresentations are false. God is the Judge of all. He knows the truth, regardless of what anyone says. Also, another consolation is that we stand in a grand tradition for ‘so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.’ These are all worthy reasons to not only be happy under such conditions, but to go on to ‘rejoice and be exceeding glad.’ It is a joyful prospect to receive the treatment which Christ received, and to bear insult, shame, and slander for Him, Who suffered so greatly for us.

Great God and Savior, we praise Your Holy Name,
that You permit us to suffer insults, and reviling,
for the sake of our association with You.
Enable us to evermore look to You, to bear us up in all of these afflictions.

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice