Beatitudes: Happy are you when people persecute you …. Rejoice and be glad….

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 

Matthew 5:11-12

When you are despised
For loving outcasts, Be glad!
You’re on the right track.

HAIKU

When we come to this last beatitude, suddenly we get a dash of unwelcome reality.  Instead of comfort, being filled and satisfied, and being shown mercy, we get the message to be glad when we are insulted, persecuted, and defamed.  Who can be glad for that?  Why can’t we just stop with becoming “children of God” who enjoy comfort and peace.  I’d like that, wouldn’t you?

Yet we are not spared the reality that following the way of loving God and neighbors (that is, the way of the “kingdom”) generates pushback from many quarters, sometimes strong and even violent.  Moreover, this beatitude comes at the end, as the last word in the series.  What a down note to end on.  This is a sobering beatitude, one I have had to wrestle with and still do.  It is not all negative in content, as it does say “rejoice and be glad” even in the persecution.  But the question remains, “How can that be?”

What Sort of Persecution?

Take note — this beatitude is not about every sort and instance of persecution.  There is a qualifier on the kind of insults, falsity, and persecution being referred to.  We can be badly treated for all sorts of reasons, many of which have nothing to do with the goodness of our character or how well we have acted.  Obvious examples are the persecutions that arise through  racism, sexual harassment, and prejudice against the disabled, LGBTQ people, immigrants, and the poor, among others.  While much of this may arise from individual actions, these kinds of harm also derive from  social structures that perpetuate them.  When we suffer from these sorts of prejudices, it is not an occasion for joy and gladness.  Or, again, if we are punished for messing up (justifiably or not), it is not joy that follows — more likely responses are guilt, resentment, anger, and fear.

The kind of persecution this beatitude talks about is that prompted by being in tune with and acting out of the core values of the way of God – loving kindness, compassion, service, whole-heartedness.  When we exhibit these in our very being, through our character, and in our right and good actions and are persecuted for this, then we are being invited to be glad and rejoice. Still, joy and gladness may be hard to perceive in the midst of such opposition.

On the other side of the coin, this beatitude is not an invitation to seek out persecution for the “joy and gladness” that may produce.  It is not about becoming a martyr for the sake of martyrdom.  It is not a celebration of the suffering of persecution engendered by right action.  It is simply a recognition that the world pushes back against these values and when it does and we are caught up in the pushback, we can take consolation (including joy and gladness) in the assurance that we are on the right track and that within the realm of God’s commonwealth we are rewarded at some deep level for our faithfulness.

Why the Opposition to Divine Values?

If the core values of the kingdom of God are such things as compassion and kindness, why is there such opposition?  Shouldn’t everyone (or almost everyone) appreciate these? Who can be against a kind neighbor, a whole-hearted friend, or a loving family member?  Especially, who can be against an enemy who seeks reconciliation? Aren’t we often praised or deeply appreciated when we offer these gifts of being to others? 

Well, yes, but not always.  Consider our common desire to be in control of the circumstances of our lives, and to be free to make decisions that promote our happiness.  Good things in themselves, perhaps.  But when we make this desire our top priority and give it free rein, we shift into making power (a strong form of control) a prime value; it becomes (in Thomas Keating’s phrase) a false program for happiness.  Power is the ability to alter the circumstances and behavior of others in service of our own need for what we want.  When we wield power for this purpose, we can easily bring harm to others and often do.  Wealth is another of those false programs, as we seek to store up possessions as a bulwark against insecurity and do this at the expense of others.  Seeking prestige is a third such program, when we seek above all else to have the adulation of others as an assurance of our worthiness.  To be loving, kind, and of service to others requires inevitably at times to let go of power, possessions, and prestige.  They are fundamentally in opposition.  To live out of these kingdom values is to live in opposition to predominant strains in the culture, our current American one in particular.  No wonder it results in resistance, opposition, dismissal, and even persecution.

When a person – and even more a community – acts out of the deepest values represented by the beatitudes and the kingdom of God, the world notices, and strong elements within the outer world push back.  Strongly.  Even such simple acts as giving money to one who asks for a handout meet with scorn, derision, or judgement (“How stupid can you be, they will just use it to feed their addictions.”)  Stronger stands at a societal level, such as support for national policies that provide communal care for sick, humane treatment for the incarcerated, hospitality for the immigrant are met with political opposition couched in practical terms or fear-based rationales. Deep down, how much of this opposition wells up from our desires to be in control, hold on to and increase our possessions, or maintain our status in the eyes of our in-group?  Good as compassion, kindness, and service may be when considered in the abstract, when they are put into real practice in the real world, they do generate resistance and pushback that can be quite strong and punishing.

On the Right Track

The challenge of this beatitude is believing the promise: “Happy are you when people persecute you.”  We don’t like being insulted, despised, persecuted, dismissed, or harmed in any other way.  How are we to understand this happiness, joy, and gladness?  First, it is not about being happy over such assaults per se.  No one likes to be the object of scorn and persecution no matter the motivation, and there is no encouragement in this beatitude to seek it out or relish it.  It is harmful, painful, sometimes debilitating.  The blessing does not lie in the persecution itself.  We do well to stay out of harm’s way when we can without compromising our integrity.

Second, the blessing is specific to one kind of persecution alone: that which is “because of me,” or “because of righteousness” in another translation.  When our way of being and ways of acting in line with the divine values of compassion, kindness, and service are what provoke the persecution, that is when there is cause for joy and gladness.  When we suffer harm as a consequence of our own wrong actions, bad choices, or suffer from the collateral damage of others’ actions that have nothing to do with us, there is no blessing offered by this beatitude. 

Third, the blessing is not one of protection from or relief from the persecution or from harm.  The assaults are real; they do real damage to you and to others.  There is no glory in the persecutions themselves.  They are wrong, evil if you will, and contrary to the desire of the divine mystery, God. 

The consolation — the joy and gladness — comes at a deeper level. It is an inner consolation of knowing the divine is still with you, has not abandoned you, and that at the deepest level “all will be well” as the 15thcentury mystic Julian of Norwich assures us. The persecution resulting from our good and faithful action is actually an indicator that we are acting out of kingdom values. It is evidence that you are “on the right track” as I put it in the haiku above. To live in such a way is to live with inner integrity, to live in alignment with what is most good, and to be accompanied, even in hard times, by a sense of the presence of a divine accompanist with you no matter the circumstances in your life. It is to live already in the life of love and service — the “kingdom” of God.

A Personal Story

When I reflect on how this beatitude and I have gotten along in life, I recognize that I have not fully trusted in the promise (this, by way of confession).  I do not like to be caught up in conflict — it feels like an assault on my inner tranquility.  It stirs fear in me of how to handle myself in such situations.  In conflict, my confidence in doing the good thing, or saying the helpful thing is weak.  As a consequence, I’ve gotten pretty skilled at conflict avoidance, smoothing over, “peacemaking” (at a superficial level), even at finding the faults (both real and false ones) in myself.  With accumulating experience, I have grown more able to stand in conflict, to confront, when necessary, to speak truth instead of staying silent.  And it is hard.  I have a long way to go here.  The blessing of the beatitude is to encourage me to continue to grow in this direction: to be discerning about when mixing up in conflict is the right thing to do (it isn’t always, or even usually), and to have courage when I choose that option.  To know there is joy and gladness to be found in this path is a great encouragement.

While the persecution we may fear or experience from rightful living can be painful and even deeply hurtful, the alternative is compromised living, being unintegrated with one’s deepest values. This is ultimately much more damaging to the soul. The moral injury is far greater than physical or financial harm. The joy and gladness, then, is that which comes from faithful living, from acting in line with love and justice, and with being on the side of truth and goodness. On the day of my death, I would rather look back and be able to say, “I acted as faithfully as best I knew how in service to love and justice, to God and neighbor” than to say, “I did a great job of staying out of harm’s way,” or “I had a nice house and an ample investment account,” or “Everyone thought I was a nice guy.”

Pause and Reflect

o   Have you ever experienced push-back or even persecution because of stances or actions you have taken in line with your core values?

o   What questions does this beatitude raise for you?  How does it sit with your own understanding and experience?

o   Does this beatitude seem to fit and complete the other seven, or does it seem to contradict them in some way?

Conclusion

While this beatitude seems to come across initially as less comforting and encouraging than the first seven, there is in it a dose of reality that needs to be said to give greater credence to the others.  This beatitude reveals Jesus as a realist.  “No good deed goes unpunished,” is a modern version of his saying.  We may wink and smile at this modern version, but we recognize, if half-consciously, that it is true.

Entering into and acting within the kingdom (or “commonwealth” or “society”) of God brings many graces of comfort, peace, fulfillment, and consolation.  And it also generates resistance in the world at large, and even close to home.  Yet even in the face of such push-back and persecution, there is the hope held out for a joy and gladness that lies deeper than the suffering itself.  This is the joy of “being on the right track”!

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