“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.” (Luke 6:22-23)
As I have mentioned many times in previous blogs, billions of people around the globe are crying out for peace and justice. They long to hear these words of Jesus from Luke’s gospel called the Sermon on the Plain. But most would not want to pay the cost Jesus is asking of those who would be His disciples who were the ones Jesus desired to instruct. The words Jesus spoke were possibly a response to the popularity which He was experiencing as a result of the miracles of healing and deliverance which marked His ministry. Jesus had to teach His followers the cold reality of the life to which He had called them by outlining some of the characteristics of discipleship.
According to Jesus, discipleship is marked by persecution, injustice, insults, and loss but also by blessing and joy. Joy results from the love that the Lord has for His disciples and from the resources, assurance and strength He provides them. But joy and love are qualities which also engender antagonism and hatred from many others for, after all, all human beings are sinners and their default mode is to hate God and those He loves.
The good news is that the Lord empowers His disciples to display love and joy for all the world to see, not just in times of blessing and peace, but also in the midst of suffering and trials. Such qualities oppose and overcome evil as they demonstrate the truth of salvation in Christ Jesus as well as the power of God. But those whose hearts are hardened against the Lord seek to silence truth and righteousness for they reveal the dark side of man, the corruption and evil which humans cling to with such tenacity.
We Christians today rant and complain about those in our world who promote sin and injustice in our government and legal system as well as those groups who persecute and seek to silence us. Rather than get angry or engage in counter demonstrations, we should rejoice. The hatred others have for us reveals the glory of God in us. Evil men may have there way for now, but the Lord has given us peace in the sure the hope of eternal life.