Ah, the poor—you lucky dogs! Because you are the owners of God’s kingdom.
How lucky are those who are presently hungry—because
God will make sure you have your fill.
How lucky are those who weep in this life—because God
will make you laugh.
How lucky are you, my disciples, when people hate
you. You are fortunate when they won’t
have anything to do with you, when they call you names and tear down your
reputation. When that happens—have a
party! Jump for joy! Because you are lined up with great things from
God. Because, you see, this is the way
their type have always treated God’s prophets.
But you well off—I’m so sorry. You are getting all the good life you will
ever get.
It’s so sad about you who eat well now, because God
will make sure you will be hungry.
It’s so sad about you who are well entertained now,
because God will make sure that you weep and grieve.
And you who have excellent reputations with
everyone? Grieve, for that is how their
type treated the false prophets.
To Get Lucky Like A Dog…
When Jesus spoke these words
in Luke 6, it says that he was speaking to his disciples. These are his students who memorized his
sayings and spoke his message to the populace around. Some of these folks were sincere in following
Jesus, while some were in the business for the prestige of being close to
Jesus, of using his name to push their own agenda. Here, we see that Jesus fully recognizes that
some of his disciples he fully approved of, while others he felt were compromisers. And the compromisers would receive none of
the blessings.
…You’ve Got to Get Treated Like One
The true disciples, say Jesus, are the anawim—the
poor, the humble, the humiliated, the outcast.
They are the ones who, as a result of preaching the gospel that Jesus
gave them, end up in poverty, in hunger, in sorrow and completely
disregarded. These are the true
followers of Jesus, the true recipients of the kingdom of God
It’s just not fair!
But why? Why should the true followers of Jesus suffer
in this way? Well, let’s face it, Jesus’
reputation is mixed. In his day he was
known as a great healer and as a heretic teacher. Today he is connected to both mercy and
fundamentalism. He is seen as both a
wonderful teacher and a religious fanatic.
In this way, a person can use the name of Jesus to get ahead, or they
can be attached to Jesus and obtain infamy.
What Jesus is saying is to recognize that He is both
loved and universally hated. Those who
really know Jesus are, at the least, uncomfortable around Him. Some truly despise him—especially those who
want to uphold the standards of this age, who see the world as fundmentally
good, but needing a few minor changes.
We must remember that Jesus is speaking about a complete overhaul of the
world—the mechanical equivalent of replacing the engine. Jesus says, “It can’t be fixed! Just scrap the whole world system and start
over!”
So those who truly are saying that which Jesus says
will be hated as well. Jesus says, “If
they hated me, they will hate you as well.”
But not everyone who speaks Jesus’ name or words is hated. Why? Because they change Jesus’ fundamental
message into a lighter, more palatable affair.
Perhaps they do this because they want a hearing, or because they want
to get ahead in the world as it exists.
But Jesus states clearly that those who speak His gospel without
compromise will be rejected.
Persecution promise
Jesus’ promise for his
disciples is persecution. It isn’t a
possibility, it isn’t a suggestion, it isn’t even a command. It is a promise. If we truly follow Jesus, live his life and
speak his message, we will be persecuted.
Now some say, “But I’ve followed Jesus in all the ways I can, but I’ve
never been persecuted! Am I going to
hell?” Okay, now slow down. Often we have a bigger idea of persecution
than Jesus has in mind. We don’t need to
be beaten or martyred to be persecuted, although that is a good indication of
it.
Jesus has two parts to his concept of
persecution. First of all, we need to be
rejected in some way. We might be rejected
by beatings, or we could be rejected by people refusing to talk to us. People could see us and walk the other
way. People might scoff whenever our
name is brought up. They might call us
names behind our back. All of these
actions are types of persecution, types of rejection, as well as being
arrested, beaten and killed.
Jerks for Jesus
The second aspect of
persecution, according to Jesus is that we must be persecuted for living out or
talking about the gospel of Jesus. The
true persecution is rejection we receive due directly to our commitment to
Jesus.
A lot of people think that they are truly following
Jesus because they have been persecuted for Him, when in reality they have been
persecuted because they acted like an idiot in public. If you act hatefully, if you yell at people,
if you are a stalker for Jesus, if you do other things for Jesus that makes you
a jerk (that He didn’t specifically command), then you aren’t being persecuted
for Jesus. You are being hated because
you are acting inappropriately. Paul’s
statement, “Speak the truth in love” is too often ignored by Christians seeking
to please Jesus by being persecuted. We
are to be rejected because of the message of Jesus, not because of how we
deliver that message. If we speak the message
of Jesus in a way that could be received, and then we are rejected, then we are
being persecuted. But if we are a jerk
for Jesus, then we are not receiving the persecution Jesus promised us.
Suffering for Fun and Profit
Another thing Jesus mentions
in this passage about persecution is that it should be one of the best things
that ever happen to us. Once we are
rejected and openly hated for speaking Jesus’ word, we should be happy! We should celebrate and have a party—assuming
that anyone shows up, of course. This
seems like an odd reaction—and actually it is one of the more difficult
commands of Jesus to follow. “Okay, I’ve
just been rejected by my parents and my best friend… and so I’m supposed to call
people up and say—‘oh, isn’t it cool?’”
It is difficult, but it has a logic to it. Persecution is like a baptism (in fact, the
early Anabaptist reformers called it the “baptism of fire”)—it is an initiation
rite. When we get persecuted for Jesus’
sake, it is an assurance of our salvation.
Yes, Jesus recognizes that rejection isn’t fun, but we can truly rejoice
if we know that this persecution is our guarantee of God’s approval! So there are three kinds of initiation that
we should celebrate—our baptism, our first communion and our first persecution. Actually, we SHOULD have persecution parties!
Tom Hanks Need Not Apply
Finally, there are those who
do not get persecuted. We need to
remember that Jesus is speaking to those who were following Him. They have repented from their sins, some of them
have sacrificed their possessions for Jesus.
But Jesus is saying that sacrificing as a business investment just
doesn’t work. We need to recognize that
our lot in life in doing the ministry of Jesus isn’t a nice salary, a good car
and a comfortable lifestyle. Rather,
living for Jesus is a promise of poverty, hunger and rejection. Perhaps not everyone lives this way all the
time, but some do and the other followers of Jesus recognize that this is the
path that Jesus laid out for all of us.
If we use Jesus as a means to become a “professional” or to live the
“good life” or to obtain the American dream, then we are not following Jesus at
all. We are being a hypocrite.
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