Blessed are the Persecuted

The gospels at times are challenging because they are layered with meaning. Too often we choose to read them literally, at face value. It’s certainly easier than digging into the context, translations, audiences and logic.

The blessing we’re dealing with today invites us to dig deeper. First, here’s the passage:

Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Chosen One. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. Luke 6:22-23

In my mind this shortens to blessed are those who are persecuted because of me. And the first question it has me asking is “who are the persecuted?” Followed quickly by “why are they persecuted?”

At this point in Luke, Jesus is addressing his disciples but is surrounded by a large crowd of people hoping to hear him and/or be healed. But I don’t believe this fourth “blessing” was the crowd. The circumstance of the crowd was mostly addressed in the first three blessings. Blessed are the poor, the hungry and those who weep. They are the ordinary folks, the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed. Their situation was not great, but those in power were not seeking them out to persecute them, at least not in the sense that persecute means subjecting someone to hostility and violence, especially because of their ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation or their political beliefs.

So, who does “blessed are those who are persecuted” refer to? In context of the Gospel of Luke it refers to the disciples and apostles. But now consider the time and place that the Gospel of Luke was written and the audience it was written for. There has been a growing movement in the last 20 years of scholars who believe that Luke-Acts was likely written in the first two decades of the second century (about 30 years later than mainline scholarship had previously thought). As Marcus Borg says, ‘the parting of the ways’ between Judaism and early Christianity was more than well under way – it had already happened when Luke-Acts was written. Thus, we hear Luke emphasize the full inclusion of Gentiles into what began as a Jewish movement.”

So, in Luke’s time, the persecuted refers to all those who are choosing to follow Jesus over their Jewish roots, and any Gentiles who have joined this new movement. It is those who preach, teach and lead worship in the small communities they are creating throughout the Mediterranean area. And it is those who follow, contribute, and serve.

The Jewish hierarchy and the Roman authorities were not at all pleased to see this new movement gain speed. First it drew people away from Judaism. And second, their new ways were threatening to both traditional Judaism and the Roman government. This wasn’t about “believing” in Jesus, but in living what Jesus taught.

What was threatening about Jesus’ teachings? Just about everything. His path was one of truth-telling, inclusion, diversity, humility, servanthood, equality, grace, forgiveness, mercy. It almost scoffed at religious rules, putting compassion and love before everything. All these things were anathema to a hierarchy and government based on status, privilege, wealth, exclusion and following the rules (oh yes, they were made by those in power).

It is important for us to remember that Jesus is talking to his inner circle, not the crowd. The New Testament was written in Greek, but Jesus spoke Aramaic. So, the word Jesus used for blessed may have lost something in translation. Elias Chacour points out that “blessed” or “happy” in Greek is markarioi… but if we look back to the Aramaic, it appears to come from the original word, ashray. This does not have a passive quality about it at all but instead means “to set yourself on the right way for the right goal, to turn around.”

In relation to the persecuted then, this “blessing” is NOT simply a passive pat on the head and a promise of future reward even if they are reviled, defamed, beaten, jailed, or executed. It is instead a sacred affirmation of the road of justice and compassion they have chosen. It is a way to say Get up, go ahead, do something, build a world of justice and equality where there isn’t this disparity between rich and poor, where violence isn’t done to one another, where people aren’t laughed at and ridiculed, where some have more than they will ever need and others starve and suffer.

Your reward, Jesus says, will be “great in heaven.” But in Jesus’ words, the “kingdom of heaven is within.” The reward for risking persecution for doing the right thing was to know wholeness in one’s soul.

Today, those who are truly following the path laid out by Jesus are the ones standing up and speaking out for those who have no power, for the marginalized and oppressed, for those for against whom the systems are stacked.

And we must continue. This path is the only one that maintains our dignity, humanity, and integrity. We must continue to be the scratchy voice, the burr in the pockets that have been lined with bribes, the light that will not go under the bushel. We must continue to walk the path Jesus placed before us because IT IS THE RIGHT PATH. Even when people don’t understand us. Even when the Evangelical Christian movement is giving Christianity a bad name and is going in the exact opposite direction of his teachings. Even when people revile us and tell us we aren’t real Christians. Even when people shout horrible things at us at PRIDE rallies and other social justice events. Even when the odds seem to be stacked against us we don’t give up. As Marianne Budde wrote, we “show up, step up, and make our offering despite its limitations and our own.”

Marianne Edgar Budde is the Episcopal Bishop of Washington who earned a few moments of fame when, during her sermon at President Trump’s inauguration, she begged him to have mercy on the people in our country who were scared, especially the LGBTQ+ children, migrants and refugees. And the President of the United States defamed her because of it, saying she was ungracious, not very smart, boring and uninspiring (among other things).

Going back a little bit, she earned another moment of fame in June of 2020 when the country was in an uproar over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. The president had just finished a press conference in which he threatened to use military force against American citizens who were protesting across the country. From there he walked across the street to stand in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, what is known as the “Church of the Presidents,” the church that has been attended by every president since James Madison, held an upside-down Bible and proclaimed, “This is a great country.” They took a few pictures and left.

Bishop Budde, in print and television interviews that evening and in the days that followed, spoke decisively and courageously, “President Trump does not speak for St. John’s. We disassociate ourselves from the messages of this president and align ourselves with those seeking justice for the death of George Floyd and countless others.”

Speaking to CNN that night she said, “Let me be clear: the president just used a Bible, the most sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and one of the churches in my diocese, without permission, as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus. Everything he has said and done is to inflame violence. We need moral leadership, and he’s done everything to divide us.”

Marianne Edgar Budde’s book How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith, was published in 2023 in which she writes this in the Epilogue:

Now in my seventh decade, I think a lot about how to speak of the challenges of our time with honesty, but not despair, with a sober assessment of the problems we face, and still with genuine hope for our future as a nation and a species. It isn’t easy, for the divisions in our country have only deepened since President Trump left office in January 2021. Meanwhile, on the global stage, there are wars in many lands, large-scale migration on nearly every continent, and an ecological crisis imperiling the future of all humankind.

What I keep coming back to, as a source of hope and strength, are the historical accounts of men and women who faced the challenges of their times with grit and grace, the timeless stories of our spiritual and literary traditions that embody courage for us all, the people in my life whose courage and sacrificial love I admire, and the moments I have felt summoned to do what felt impossible at the time. Sometimes I succeeded; often I failed. But what seems to matter most in those moments is that we show up, step up, and make our offering despite its limitations and our own.

I am right there with her at that last line: “we show up, step up, and make our offering despite its limitations and our own.” Blessed are the persecuted.

Brother John Beeching, a Maryknoll missionary in Burma for 20 years wrote, “At times, living the Gospel demands more than mere kindness to others. We need to understand that our voices need to be heard by lawmakers who daily make decisions that impact whether those living in poverty live with justice, dignity, and rights.”

Get up, go ahead, do something for justice for all, and if we are excluded, reviled, defamed and persecuted by the powerful and wealthy, by Christian nationalists, by those who want to squelch our freedom of speech, that is probably a good sign that we are on the right path. And inside we’ll know we did the right thing.

Love & Light!

Kaye