IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 16

THE BEATITUDES (continued)

The final of the eight Beatitudes is another that is complex and prone to misunderstanding its intent. There is also an additional part to either this eighth Beatitude or to the entire list of Beatitudes that Jesus adds at the end.

◊Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is  the kingdom of heaven. This is the Beatitude, in the form of the others with the blessing and the reward. At the end here of the eight is added “Blessed are ye , when men shall revile you, and persecute  you, and shall say  all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they  the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12). Note that these verses are not in the same form as the previous short concise statements which were directed to no one in particular but to they who (the meek, they which, etc.) fulfill the virtue. Beginning with the main part of the text and the rather accepted eighth Beatitude we find a most complex statement. There are three words of note here; persecuted, righteousness and again, the Kingdom of Heaven.

Persecuted is, according to older Webster’s dictionaries, Harassed by troubles or punishments unjustly inflicted, particularly for religious opinions* and this works well in our context for a part of the persecution that may be suffered but in this day and age there is not the severity implied. Remember that this is not about persecution of Christians because they are Christians; this Beatitude is about persecution for righteousness sake. A more modern definition is to pursue with harassing or oppressive treatment, especially because of religion, race, or beliefs; harass persistently. to annoy or trouble persistently*¡* this says the same thing as the older except for the addition of the persistent nature.

In the bible the Greek word translated persecuted in this verse is dioko which is also translated as  follow after and follow, depending on how it is used. When used in the context of persecution, the Greek Lexicon says that it means to make to run or flee, put to flight, drive away; to pursue (in a hostile manner); in any way whatever to harass, trouble, molest one; to persecute; to be mistreated, suffer persecution on account of something without the idea of hostility**. Finally, the Strong’s usage is: to pursue, persecute, to systematically oppress and harass a person or group, as an extended meaning of pursuing a person on foot in a chase…***. These are the secular and biblical definitions of persecuted. Which of these persecutions happen because of righteousness or for its sake which should be understood as on account of or because of righteousness? In the next verses Jesus addresses the persecutions that may happen to one because of Him and in that context these definitions will apply but here in this Beatitude the persecution is limited to being because of righteousness.

Here is the complexity of this Beatitude. Did the Master mean to say that we may be persecuted for being righteous? That is what is says but how should we understand it. This Beatitude is not concerned with being self righteous (confident of one’s own righteousness, especially when smugly moralistic and intolerant of the opinions and behavior of others*¡*) because there could be no blessing in being self righteous and that is where one could expect the scorn of others and even perhaps some of the milder aspects of the definitions above. This Beatitude is concerned with true righteousness; the same as we defined in Part 12 as what is right, justice, the act of doing what is in agreement with God’s standards, the state of being in proper relationship with God*** using Strong’s definitions as guide. So what are really the persecutions for righteousness that Jesus may have been speaking of?

• Self persecution which can come to us from two different points of view. First as our spiritual self which is operating through the heart, the personality, is troubling the whole man because the lower self still has rule in some areas of life; this is an internal conflict of conscience vs. doing. Second is the opposite of this and occurs when the lower self has sway and causes one to doubt his spiritual life and to do things that are against the conscience causing great consternation and inner stress. The Apostle Paul speaks much about this in his letter to the Romans and in reading chapter 7 one can feel the self persecution that he suffers through. I can think of no better example that this.
• Outwardly one can also suffer a type of persecution. We can be made fun of and called names and perhaps incur the anger of those who vie for our time and attention. In certain instances one can be taken advantage of and abused because of his outward expression of goodness and love. I talk not here about being persecuted because of religious reasons in a hostile society, or the self righteousness that religious views sometime entail. I speak not about rousing the opposition against you for taking firm religious positions based on your doctrine or the dogma of your sect. I speak only about that righteousness as defined above away from the boundaries of religion of any kind.

What is it that Jesus meant then? Looking at it from the points above it can only be that self persecution and the persecution of inconvenience cited above. We will continue this topic into tomorrow with the added statements of the Master regarding persecution for His sake. For now we will close with an analogy of the types of persecution that we can expect for righteousness sake. This is from the text of a Tibetan disciple of the Christ. Speaking of being a disciple and its difficulties he says:

A disciple is one who is transferring his consciousness out of the personal into the impersonal, and during the transition stage much of difficulty and of suffering is necessarily endured.  These difficulties arise from various causes:—

• a. The disciple’s lower self, which rebels at being transmuted.
• b. A man’s immediate group, friends, or family, who rebel at his growing impersonality.  They do not like to be acknowledged as one with him on the life side, and yet separate from him where desires and interests lie.  Yet the law holds good, and only in the essential life of the soul can true unity be cognized.  In the discovery as to what is form lies much of sorrow for the disciple, but the road leads to perfect union eventually.

 If we liken the word difficulty above to the word persecution as outlined, we can see some of the sources of difficulty in seeking and being righteous in the pure sense of the word.

 Note on the Quote of the Day

This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.

The steps of a good man are ordered  by the LORD: and he delighteth  in his way. Though he fall , he shall not be utterly cast down : for the LORD upholdeth  him with his hand(Psalm 37:23-24). This is righteousness!

• *     Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
• **   from praus New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• *** Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
• *!* Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House Dictionary – 2011