Matthew 5:11-12

AMP – 11 “Blessed [morally courageous and spiritually alive with life-joy in God’s goodness] are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil things against you because of [your association with] Me. 12 Be glad and exceedingly joyful, for your reward in heaven is great [absolutely inexhaustible]; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

NRSVUE – 11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for you reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

VOICE – 11 And blessed are you, blessed are all of you, when people persecute you or denigrate you or despise you or tell lies about you on My account. 12 But when this happens, rejoice. Be glad. Remember that God’s prophets have been persecuted in the past. And know that in heaven, you have a great reward.

Suffering for Christ

Jesus states that believers have God’s favor when their faithfulness to God brings them suffering. Christians can find joy that Christ brings and that the fact that God sees, remembers, and rewards the endurance we deal with. The suffering that Matthew talks about is the public ridicule and mockery that believers faced at that time in the effort to expose the world’s rebellion against God.

Early Christians were ridiculed for not participating in idolatry and confessing Jesus as their Lord. The hostility the early Christians faced included isolation, loss of various kinds, imprisonment, and even violence. Christians are called to count these experiences as an honor to suffer when it honors God. False accusations were prevalent as well during this time. Jesus was charged with blasphemy and rebellion. His followers were slandered as enemies against the Roman empire and the ancient Jewish traditions. God doesn’t commend suffering caused by wrongdoing, but suffering endured while living faithfully before Him.

The focus of this is our relationship with Christ, which makes all the suffering worth it. Opposition arises because Christians bear His name, follow His command, and give testimony of their salvation.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: When it comes to suffering when it comes to following God’s command, how do you see it affect in your own life?

Handling Disrespect

When people push us, ridicule us, bully us, and everything in-between, we are called to respond with love and forgiveness. However, there’s a difference in our society between how we respond to abuse that causes physical and mental harm and how we respond to things like name-calling, gossip, etc. No deserves to be dehumanized physically, emotionally, and spiritually. While the Bible teaches reconciliation and restoration of relationships, it’s okay to end relationships. It’s okay to walk away from people that do not respect you and treat you as God loves you. No one should have to endure abuse of any kind. If you find yourself in a situation where abuse is happening to you, please reach out to a safe and responsible person to help you get out of this unsafe situation.

When it comes to situations where we face things like name-calling, gossip, and more – these are situations that allow us space for grace and mercy. Situations like that may not put us in harms way. (If they do, they equate to abuse in my eyes.) These are situations where we can find joy in the suffering. How I’ve always interpreted that is that people will often slander you because they want to create a different image of you. They are facing turmoil within themselves that want to put others down while lifting themselves up. We can ignore this, allowing them to share the lies while you walk In the image and reputation that your words carry. We can have conversations, attempting to understand why they are sharing the slander and how we can work towards reconciliation and restoration of our relationships. Even if we can’t, we can walk away working towards respect and mutuality. We can be frustrated with people, but we can still treat them with respect. As Christians, we can still treat them with the same grace as God loves us.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: How do you handle situations when people tease or slander you?

Heavenly Rewards

The idea of suffering for God shows who His disciples truly are and confirms their allegiance to God’s kingdom. This type of Joy rests in God being present in our lives and our faith in Him instead of the hope of immediate relief. God sees what we suffered through and with in His name and will bless us in response. This blessing is not salvation, for that comes by God’s grace. The rewards reflect God’s recognition of us because of we endured for Christ. Similarly, prophets like Elijah, Jeremiah, Zechariah suffered rejection because of how they shared the Gospel to people who didn’t follow God’s command. Persecution believers are viewed in the same vein as faithful witnesses. Opposition shows God’s disfavor, but calls people to obey His command.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: The reward for enduring by faith for God is eternal and divine. How can the impact your actions here on earth?

The Goal of Community

God wants us to fight against the injustices of the world, both personal and communal. When think about the ridicule that we can face, we may struggle with self-esteem issues, trauma, and even can lose opportunities in our career and different relationships. When we look at how things like that can be overcame, then it we can talk about how to have tough conversations to learn why people would treat us wrongly and work through those tough emotions to ensure that they don’t turn into abusive situations. We can work towards not letting these situations affect us because we can rest knowing who we are in Christ. Jesus showed us what it meant to endure in our own suffering, for He stayed true to who He was in God and didn’t let the haters get in His way. Not only enduring our own suffering but helping others through their endurance. Creating safe spaces to allow for healthy conversations, allowing others to share the things so that they can process things and work towards healing and restoration. The Holy Spirits gives us the words and relationships that we need to endure through life. Life can be a lot to handle, and we don’t know when Christ is returning, so we fight and endure to ensure that we can bring God’s kingdom down to earth as a community!

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: What are different things we can do to be in community with each other?