{"id":27313,"date":"2026-07-16T09:41:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T13:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27313"},"modified":"2026-07-16T09:51:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T13:51:14","slug":"rejoice-in-persecution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27313","title":{"rendered":"Rejoice In Persecution?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pressing On\u00a0Lyrics_Bob Dylan 1980\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xDavwn1gfmY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Thursday, July 16, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of justice, the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you.\u2026 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.<br>\u2014Matthew 5:10\u201312<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Father Richard considers how this beatitude challenges Jesus\u2019s listeners to prepare for the consequences of following him:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Up until now Jesus has been talking generally, saying \u201cBlessed are the poor, meek, merciful,\u201d and so on. But following this beatitude he says, \u201cBlessed are&nbsp;<em>you<\/em>&nbsp;when people revile and persecute you.\u201d He\u2019s likely talking about what\u2019s going on right in front of him. He continues teaching what could really be called the ninth beatitude, although it more likely is an explanation of the eighth. Persecution has begun to happen to the believing community, and he\u2019s encouraging them to \u201crejoice and be glad.\u201d <strong>Persecution for the cause of justice is inevitable. Instead of seeking to blame someone for their well-earned scars, he is telling them two clear things: You can be&nbsp;<em>happy\u2014<\/em>and you can be happy&nbsp;<em>now<\/em>! The self that Jesus proclaims is so grounded that it can consider persecution an asset.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus appears to be saying that the disciples\u2019 response is a prophetic action itself. <strong>To live joyfully in the midst of misunderstanding and persecution points beyond our smaller \u201ckingdoms\u201d to the larger kingdom of God.<\/strong> Jesus promises us that when we live joyfully under persecution, the world won\u2019t understand. In fact, it will hate us. Many before me have said that <strong>a clear sign that something is the true gospel is if it engenders criticism and a spreading of falsehoods, what we used to call \u201ccalumny.\u201d<\/strong> <strong>Goodness can never be attacked directly; the messengers or the motivation must be discredited.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Luke\u2019s Gospel presents the <strong>same message in the opposite form<\/strong>: \u201cAlas for you when the world speaks&nbsp;<em>well<\/em>&nbsp;of you! This was the way their ancestors treated the&nbsp;<em>false&nbsp;<\/em>prophets\u201d (Luke 6:26 emphases added). <strong>Too much praise or widespread acceptance is probably an indication that something is&nbsp;<em>not&nbsp;<\/em>the full gospel.<\/strong> In either case, <strong>Jesus clearly knew that his teaching would turn conventional values on their head.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus\u2019s Sermon on the Mount is not about maintaining the status quo. <strong>\u201cBad\u201d people didn\u2019t kill Jesus; conventional wisdom crucified him.<\/strong> Jesus taught an alternative way of being instead of the maintenance of the social order. When we can weep, when we can identify with the humble ones, when we can make peace, when we can be persecuted and still be joyful\u2014then we are doing it right. <strong>The Beatitudes are describing what holiness looks like in the kingdom of God.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reference:<\/strong><br>Adapted from Richard Rohr,<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/store.cac.org\/products\/jesus-alternative-plan-the-sermon-on-the-mount\"><strong>Jesus\u2019 Alternative Plan: The Sermon on the Mount<\/strong><\/a><\/em><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>(Franciscan Media, 2022), 150\u2013151, 152. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>=============================================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Caude Response to the Prompt, &#8220;Can you provide a brief devotional that studies Matthew 5: 10-12?<\/strong>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> Blessed Are the Persecuted \u2014 Matthew 5:10\u201312<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&#8220;Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness&#8217; sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven&#8230;&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the hardest beatitude to accept, because it doesn&#8217;t describe a virtue we cultivate \u2014 it describes a wound we suffer. The other beatitudes speak of inward qualities: poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, hunger for righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking. But this final beatitude turns outward. <strong>It&#8217;s not about who you are, but about how the world responds to who you are.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Notice the progression <strong>Jesus<\/strong> makes. He <strong>moves from a general statement<\/strong> (&#8220;those who are persecuted&#8221;) <strong>to something startlingly personal<\/strong>: &#8220;Blessed are&nbsp;<strong>you<\/strong>&nbsp;when people revile&nbsp;<strong>you<\/strong>&nbsp;and persecute&nbsp;<strong>you<\/strong>&nbsp;and utter all kinds of evil against&nbsp;<strong>you<\/strong> falsely on my account.&#8221; The pronoun shifts from third person to second person. Jesus isn&#8217;t offering a detached theological observation \u2014 he&#8217;s looking into the eyes of people who will actually suffer this, and calling them blessed&nbsp;<em>before<\/em>&nbsp;it happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why would <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">opposition<\/mark> be <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">a sign of blessing rather than a sign of failure<\/mark>?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Because it means your life has become legible as belonging to Christ<\/strong>. Cultures generally don&#8217;t organize resistance against people who blend in seamlessly with their values. <strong>Persecution<\/strong> \u2014 whether it&#8217;s outright hostility or the <strong>quieter forms of exclusion, mockery, or being misunderstood<\/strong> \u2014 often means your commitments have become visible enough to provoke a reaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>But notice the qualifier: &#8220;falsely, on my account.&#8221; This isn&#8217;t a blank check to feel persecuted whenever we face criticism, especially criticism we&#8217;ve earned through our own arrogance, insensitivity, or genuine wrongdoing. <\/strong>The blessing is specifically for suffering that comes from faithfulness to Christ and to justice \u2014 not from being difficult, self-righteous, or careless with others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&#8220;Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a strange command. Not &#8220;endure&#8221; or &#8220;grit your teeth through it,&#8221; but&nbsp;<em>rejoice<\/em>. Jesus adds a reason: &#8220;for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.&#8221; You&#8217;re in good company. The line of the faithful \u2014 Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah \u2014 was rarely a line of the comfortable. Suffering for righteousness doesn&#8217;t mean you&#8217;ve drifted from God&#8217;s path; it may mean you&#8217;re walking directly on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Something to sit with today:<\/strong><br><strong>Where in your life has faithfulness cost you something \u2014 a friendship, a reputation, a sense of ease?<\/strong> Can you receive that cost not as evidence that something has gone wrong, but as a strange kind of confirmation that something has gone right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>A closing thought: <strong>the reward Jesus names isn&#8217;t relief from persecution \u2014 it&#8217;s the kingdom of heaven itself, already present tense (&#8220;theirs&nbsp;is&#8221; not &#8220;theirs will be&#8221;). The blessing isn&#8217;t only future. It&#8217;s now.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thursday, July 16, 2026 Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of justice, the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you.\u2026 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.\u2014Matthew 5:10\u201312 Father Richard considers how this beatitude challenges Jesus\u2019s listeners to prepare for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27313"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27313"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27316,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27313\/revisions\/27316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}