Blessed are the Persecuted

 The last two of the beatitudes are warnings about what may happen when you strive to offer mercy, bring peace, find relationship to God, and confront wrong. Jesus states, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He goes on to add, Blessed are you when people 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 in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. As Shane Claiborne (see last week) and Presiding Bishop Curry both note we are part of a revolution. That’s not going to make everyone happy.

Being a revolutionary and becoming what the Episcopal Church names “a church that looks and acts like Jesus” is counter cultural. Jesus asks us to reimagine the world as one in which the downtrodden, the grief-stricken, the vulnerable, and merciful are just as valued as the powerful or wealthy. That means that we could be misunderstood, or ignored, or scoffed at, or even persecuted. This is where ‘the rubber hits the road’ and reality sets in. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be liked than persecuted or reviled. Standing up to wrong, however, can bring repercussions.

Right relationship with God requires real action. It may be changing the way we do business, or the products we buy so that we have greater care for creation and cause less pollution. It may be acknowledging that the refugee or prisoner are just as loved by God as the pastor or businessperson. It may be taking action to confront injustice.

There is so much need, that it can feel overwhelming. We can get stymied about what to do or how to act. Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) is quoted as saying “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.” That is similar to the motto of the Daughters of the King, an Order for women: I am but one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I ought to do. What I ought to do, by the grace of God, I will do. Lord, what will you have me do?

The core is that we CAN each do something. We have God given gifts that CAN be used to make a difference. We can bear fruit as Jesus promises in John 15:16. Revelation 22:2-3 adds “On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:1-3) Our daily fruit can be part of that healing, even if it’s just in smiling and saying hello to our neighbor.

What Mark Roberts of the DuPree Institute stated in 2016 is still valid today, “I find this aspect of John’s vision to be especially encouraging in a day when the nations of this world are desperately in need of divine healing, of being ordered according to God’s justice and peace…Revelation shows us that national healing will come in God’s glorious future. In the meanwhile, those of us who know and serve him can, in some small but significant measure, extend the healing of God into our world. We can act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8) in the place to which God has sent us as his royal agents. We can also share with others the confident hope that, one day, God will heal the nations and his kingdom will fill the earth.”

What fruit might you provide for the healing of your spot in the world?

Is there something God is asking you to do or be that will show that you are part of the revolution of the Love of God?

On Wednesday we enter Lent. This season can be a time to consider how God is working in and through us. On this blog, and in a Thursday Zoom (if there is interest), I’ll be exploring how the Lord’s Prayer can be the framework for living in a way that “looks and acts like Jesus.”