Persecution prerequisites and the Kingdom
"Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Well this will be my last Lectio Divina for the season. This one was amazing and I've found that though I've not been as faithful to it (and even less so to the Augustine daily readings), it has included the path of the next daily disciplines that start tomorrow. They will be meditative and contemplative in nature similar to the Lectio Divina, but I'll blog about that a later.
I came to today's like many, a little depressed, not expecting much, realistically seeing it as another thing to get done today. Literally, one of the issues to work through today is the litany of tons of stuff to get done. And this was one of them. I guess when push comes to shove, it shows some foundational stress that needs to be addressed before the foundation drastically impacted. But, even in the terrible motives, God met me. As I was going through it, I found I was in constant communication with the Lord. It finally occurred to me that this was the connection, I even said out loud, "This is the connection with you that I've been looking for, right?" The answer, "yes, Yes, YES!!!" This isn't new to me, but it seems to be something I forget easily.
Verses 11 and 12 are the most intimate of the Beatitudes. In the ESV, Jesus refers to "you" five times while in the others he never does. It is the first one where he places himself within the story. It recognizes that words hurt, that being misunderstood hurts. Particularly, when you are walking in truth and trying to live an honest life.
It is the first Beatitude where others are mentioned. There is an us and there is a them. But they are not the issue. You are. Jesus doesn't call us to a relationship of enemy and hero, rather he gives us a response to persecution. As I was reading it, I misread this word multiple times and instead of "persecution," I was inserting "prosecution." What an amazing mishap. What if this had been written in terms of prosecution? Our just recompense from the others? Or do they even see what Jesus is saying as persecution, but rather righteous prosecution? When someone messes up the biblical apple cart in our eyes we prosecute them! Perhaps a subtlety is that at any point the you and the others can easily reverse - be cautious.
Jesus connects persecution with the prophets of old. I have to stop for a second. Like anyone I've experienced injustice. I've experienced pain. I've experienced desperation. But that's not what Jesus is talking about. I would like it to be. Perhaps they fit under meek or poor in spirit, or even those who mourn, but not the persecuted. To have someone hate me and act upon that because of Jesus, no that is something altogether different. I was enjoying the Lectio Divina to this point and then I asked, "What does this call me to?" In Brian McLaren's The Secret Message of Jesus he talks about Jesus' scandal. I would have thought the scandal was his message, hope, God loves you, redemption, the repressed haven't been forgotten, tears are not arbitrary to God, etc. But the prophets had had similar messages from God for years. The scandal was that the Kingdom of God is now and through Jesus. It is so specific. It is so risking and unintuitive. How nice it is to talk generally of God's love and how one day his hand will be strong. How nice it is to speak of heaven as the down hill ski-ers' paradisee or the ultimate hiking location depending on your thing. And the scandal touches us today, Jesus holds us accountable for ushering the Kingdom in every moment of our life with him. You see, before I can be counted among the "reviled" and "persecuted," I actually have to be doing something. Not just counting myself as part of the church or stopping sin. These are important, but I suspect that this Beautitude throws light on all of the preceding ones. It's in living a life that is poor in spirit, mournful, meek,thrusting for righteousness, being merciful, being pure in heart, and being peacemakers that we engage others and the Kingdom of God is manifest. God's standard through Jesus incarnates humanity again and again and again through us. And the others around us can submit to the Holy Spirit's mercy and grace or revile. So the scandal is will I lead a prophetic life? They heard God's voice, did crazy things on occasion, had a life and message that were in full continuity, sometimes said things that the established biblical authority didn't particularly appreciate, took responsibility for their life and message, and realized that the change God was doing was beyond them and even beyond their life spans. It would be presumptuous to say God is calling all Christians to a life of Isaiah, John the Baptist, Amos, Elijah, etc. but I think we should pause and let him shape our lives in ways that may be more congruent to these figures than we realize.
I've read these verses hundreds, maybe into a thousand times and always read them like this, "If tough stuff happens to you as a Christian, rejoice because heaven will be better." I missed the prerequisite of the prophetic life in Christ altogether, and I think artificially grouped persecution and rejoicing as the first step and then reward in heaven as the second step. But what if rejoicing while being persecuted is the message? That as the insults are being hurled the response is gladness and rejoicing because in this interaction God can work. What if rejoicing is a form aviolencee against the other (Matthew 11:12) that keeps them in the role of other until they move under God's mercy? If this is the case then the only reason to distinguish the other is to rejoice. Kind of different from how it happens today. Perhaps the message isn't, "Grin and bear it, when you are dead it all works out," but rather, "Be the poor, mournful, meek, spiritually hungry,mercifull, pure, and peacemakers and this is how I (Jesus) intersect with humanity on a moment-by-moment basis, but resistance will come and you are still responsible for how it plays out. Rejoice and be glad, and it continues to move forward and that finds a reward beyond today. You can't lose and the Kingdom cannot be stopped."
As I was meditating on this, I kept looking for an apology from Jesus. If people are hurt "on my account" I feel bad. Jesus doesn't apologize and as I was meditating on this aspect, itoccurredd to me how much grander his perspective is than mine. The last sentence of the paragraph above came together after I had written this paragraph and just highlights this point majestically.
Well this will be my last Lectio Divina for the season. This one was amazing and I've found that though I've not been as faithful to it (and even less so to the Augustine daily readings), it has included the path of the next daily disciplines that start tomorrow. They will be meditative and contemplative in nature similar to the Lectio Divina, but I'll blog about that a later.
I came to today's like many, a little depressed, not expecting much, realistically seeing it as another thing to get done today. Literally, one of the issues to work through today is the litany of tons of stuff to get done. And this was one of them. I guess when push comes to shove, it shows some foundational stress that needs to be addressed before the foundation drastically impacted. But, even in the terrible motives, God met me. As I was going through it, I found I was in constant communication with the Lord. It finally occurred to me that this was the connection, I even said out loud, "This is the connection with you that I've been looking for, right?" The answer, "yes, Yes, YES!!!" This isn't new to me, but it seems to be something I forget easily.
Verses 11 and 12 are the most intimate of the Beatitudes. In the ESV, Jesus refers to "you" five times while in the others he never does. It is the first one where he places himself within the story. It recognizes that words hurt, that being misunderstood hurts. Particularly, when you are walking in truth and trying to live an honest life.
It is the first Beatitude where others are mentioned. There is an us and there is a them. But they are not the issue. You are. Jesus doesn't call us to a relationship of enemy and hero, rather he gives us a response to persecution. As I was reading it, I misread this word multiple times and instead of "persecution," I was inserting "prosecution." What an amazing mishap. What if this had been written in terms of prosecution? Our just recompense from the others? Or do they even see what Jesus is saying as persecution, but rather righteous prosecution? When someone messes up the biblical apple cart in our eyes we prosecute them! Perhaps a subtlety is that at any point the you and the others can easily reverse - be cautious.
Jesus connects persecution with the prophets of old. I have to stop for a second. Like anyone I've experienced injustice. I've experienced pain. I've experienced desperation. But that's not what Jesus is talking about. I would like it to be. Perhaps they fit under meek or poor in spirit, or even those who mourn, but not the persecuted. To have someone hate me and act upon that because of Jesus, no that is something altogether different. I was enjoying the Lectio Divina to this point and then I asked, "What does this call me to?" In Brian McLaren's The Secret Message of Jesus he talks about Jesus' scandal. I would have thought the scandal was his message, hope, God loves you, redemption, the repressed haven't been forgotten, tears are not arbitrary to God, etc. But the prophets had had similar messages from God for years. The scandal was that the Kingdom of God is now and through Jesus. It is so specific. It is so risking and unintuitive. How nice it is to talk generally of God's love and how one day his hand will be strong. How nice it is to speak of heaven as the down hill ski-ers' paradisee or the ultimate hiking location depending on your thing. And the scandal touches us today, Jesus holds us accountable for ushering the Kingdom in every moment of our life with him. You see, before I can be counted among the "reviled" and "persecuted," I actually have to be doing something. Not just counting myself as part of the church or stopping sin. These are important, but I suspect that this Beautitude throws light on all of the preceding ones. It's in living a life that is poor in spirit, mournful, meek,thrusting for righteousness, being merciful, being pure in heart, and being peacemakers that we engage others and the Kingdom of God is manifest. God's standard through Jesus incarnates humanity again and again and again through us. And the others around us can submit to the Holy Spirit's mercy and grace or revile. So the scandal is will I lead a prophetic life? They heard God's voice, did crazy things on occasion, had a life and message that were in full continuity, sometimes said things that the established biblical authority didn't particularly appreciate, took responsibility for their life and message, and realized that the change God was doing was beyond them and even beyond their life spans. It would be presumptuous to say God is calling all Christians to a life of Isaiah, John the Baptist, Amos, Elijah, etc. but I think we should pause and let him shape our lives in ways that may be more congruent to these figures than we realize.
I've read these verses hundreds, maybe into a thousand times and always read them like this, "If tough stuff happens to you as a Christian, rejoice because heaven will be better." I missed the prerequisite of the prophetic life in Christ altogether, and I think artificially grouped persecution and rejoicing as the first step and then reward in heaven as the second step. But what if rejoicing while being persecuted is the message? That as the insults are being hurled the response is gladness and rejoicing because in this interaction God can work. What if rejoicing is a form aviolencee against the other (Matthew 11:12) that keeps them in the role of other until they move under God's mercy? If this is the case then the only reason to distinguish the other is to rejoice. Kind of different from how it happens today. Perhaps the message isn't, "Grin and bear it, when you are dead it all works out," but rather, "Be the poor, mournful, meek, spiritually hungry,mercifull, pure, and peacemakers and this is how I (Jesus) intersect with humanity on a moment-by-moment basis, but resistance will come and you are still responsible for how it plays out. Rejoice and be glad, and it continues to move forward and that finds a reward beyond today. You can't lose and the Kingdom cannot be stopped."
As I was meditating on this, I kept looking for an apology from Jesus. If people are hurt "on my account" I feel bad. Jesus doesn't apologize and as I was meditating on this aspect, itoccurredd to me how much grander his perspective is than mine. The last sentence of the paragraph above came together after I had written this paragraph and just highlights this point majestically.
posted by Learner at 4/15/2006 09:09:00 AM
1 Comments:
Seek first...
Excellent encounter with God.
The good life in the Gospel.
How do we become Kingdom livers?
It seems that the message was the revelation of God through Christ. We should follow His way of peace, grace, blessing, and mercy as we go through tough times or persecution.
It seems that the only way to do or be is to move forward in God. The most important thing I have found is to keep your relationship fresh with Christ.
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