Sunday, February 15, 2026 - "Beatitudes: Persecution"

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The First United Presbyterian Church

“Beatitudes: Persecution”

Rev. Amy Morgan

February 15, 2026

Matthew 5:10-12

Jesus taught them, saying:

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people 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 in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

They were expelled from the faith community. 

They were Jews, just like everyone else in the synagogue. They’d grown up together, learning the scriptures, songs and prayers of their tradition. They shared the same worries when news came from other parts of the world about Jewish rebellions violently quelled. But they’d had different reactions to a group of missionaries who told them about a Jewish messiah who’d been crucified but then raised from the dead. This good news, and the teachings of this messiah along with stories of his power to heal, cast out demons, and even bring others back from the dead, transformed their lives. They still believed what they had learned in childhood about God from the Torah. But trusting in this messiah named Jesus created tension with their Jewish siblings in faith. 

Those tensions grew and intensified. They were reviled and persecuted. People in their community made up false accusations and disgusting lies about them. The whole community eventually turned on them and ran them out. 

This was likely the reality faced by the community that formed and cherished the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew’s beatitudes, when Jesus talks about persecution, his words hit home with the gospel’s audience. Though it’s a story told in the past-tense, it is the situation lived in the present for the Christians Matthew is addressing. 

When we think about persecution, particularly of Christians, we might jump to the martyrs killed by lions in Roman arenas to entertain the masses. We might consider the Christians living in Communist countries where religion is outlawed or punished. We might think back to Martin Luther King, Jr. and those Christians who marched for civil rights. We might also remember hearing American Christians longing for the good old days when the Lord’s Prayer was recited in public schools and labeling the lawsuits that ended this practice “Christian persecution.” 

So what is persecution, exactly? What was Jesus referring to when he pronounced blessing on those who are persecuted?

Well, first we should notice that, in the Beatitudes, there are two distinct groups who are blessed for being persecuted. The first is blessed for being persecuted for the sake of righteousness. 

Now, in Matthew’s gospel, whenever we hear the word “righteousness,” we might substitute the word “justice.” This word came up, you might remember, in an earlier beatitude, blessing those hungering and thirsting for righteousness. It’s a legal term, meaning something like an equitable ruling. It means that some authority, in this case, divine authority, pronounced something to be right or good. Reformer John Calvin gave an especially social-justice interpretation to this term: Jesus speaks of suffering for righteousness’ sake, Calvin wrote, “because in their concern for equity and justice [disciples] oppose evil causes, and defend the good, to the best of their powers.” 

So, first of all, we should note that righteousness, or justice, doesn’t come out of our own, individual, personal sense of what is right and wrong. It is something that is drawn from a mutually respected authority, a communal governance. In this sense, “vigilante justice” is an oxymoron. 

Even though justice is determined by a mutually respected authority, this doesn’t mean it is easy to carry out. It doesn’t mean everybody likes it or agrees with it. Because most of us want the kind of justice that reinforces our behaviors, attitudes, values, and beliefs, regardless of whether or not they are actually just, good, and right in the eyes of anyone else. 

This means that those who involve themselves deeply in commitments to justice will often create tension with what their neighbors see as right and good. Biblical scholar Frederick Dale Bruner argues that “people should expect persecution if they seek justice and that Christians in particular should expect bitter unpopularity if they are really Christians. For believers often have to say “no” to a hating and impure world, and they will be hated for this.” 

But one of the earliest Christian writers, known by the name Pseudo-Chrysostom, noticed that Jesus didn’t draw attention to the haters. He focused on why people are persecuted, even how they are persecuted, but made no mention of the persecutors. Pseudo-Chrysostom asserts that this was so “that you may learn to look not [at] by whom but [only at] why you suffer.” This pulls us away from the natural human tendencies toward resentment and revenge. People who are persecuted can easily become persecutors themselves. But if the focus is on suffering for the sake of what is good and right and just, for the whole society and not just for ourselves, Jesus promises that we possess the realm of God here and now. 

And that promise is not just for those who follow Jesus. The beatitudes are, with the exception of the last one, all addressed to people, generally, no matter who they are, where they live, or what they believe in. People can be mournful, meek, and peacemakers, no matter their faith, nationality, or social status. The cosmic scope of the beatitudes is often overlooked as Christians hold them to be prescriptions for distinctively Christian behaviors instead of descriptions of the objective reality in God’s realm. 

Frederick Bruner asserts that “The Beatitudes embrace the world. At the very beginning of Jesus’ teaching ministry here in chapter 5 [of Matthew’s gospel] and at the very end of his teaching ministry in chapter 25 in the famous scene at the Last Judgment [where Jesus tells those who did not know him that whatever kindnesses they have shown to the most vulnerable were done to him] the Matthean Jesus reaches beyond the explicit Christian name.”

It is only in the 9^th and final beatitude that Jesus addresses his followers directly and exclusively. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Again, first we need to recognize that Jesus sounds like he’s speaking directly to that early Christian community being rejected by their neighbors, maybe even by their own families, for trusting in Jesus. They didn’t see themselves as any less Jewish or distinct from their faith community. But they had been transformed by good news, and it changed the way they experienced the world around them. And that created tension and conflict. 

And this reality continues to exist for millions of Christians around the globe today. Because much of Christianity outside of the Western Hemisphere tends to be more conservative, evangelical, and charismatic, Western progressive Christians don’t give much attention to the plight of Christian persecution today. It often gets overshadowed by general concerns around violence and geo-politics. But it is real and persistent. 

Just last Sunday, a Catholic priest was killed in Nigeria, just weeks after dozens of Christians were kidnapped during a worship service in another part of the country. Several incidents in Pakistan in recent years have left churches burned to the ground and Christians injured or killed because of oppressive blasphemy laws. In countries like North Korea, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, Iran, and Syria, Christians face extreme persecution, including being killed, detained, or forced from their homes. Hundreds of churches and Christian properties are attacked each year.

Some Christians in the U.S. may feel persecuted because their interpretation of our faith clashes with popular culture. Others may feel persecuted because their interpretation of our faith calls them to protest government actions. The White House has created a task force to eradicate anti-Christian bias while faith communities are suing the administration for refusing to admit refugees fleeing Christian persecution around the globe. Numerous churches in the U.S have been attacked in recent years, some for their inclusive stances and others for their exclusive theology. 

This is all to say, persecution is not easy to define, whether for the sake of righteousness or for the sake of following Jesus. What justice looks like, what it means to follow Jesus, whether or not persecution is the result of faith or something else, are not as clear and simple as we’d like them to be. 

But one thing is clear. And that is the commandment that comes with the beatitudes. In all these 12 verses, there is only one imperative, only one thing that Jesus tells us to do: rejoice and, literally, “jump for joy.” The beatitudes are not a list of “shoulds.” They don’t tell us to impoverish our spirits, to mourn and purify our hearts. Jesus pronounces blessings on people as they are, not as he wants them to become. But what he does want from us, for us, is joy. 

This joy draws from the ancient tradition of the prophets, those who boldly spoke the word of God at great risk to themselves, at great cost. They were persecuted, reviled, chased down and thrown out. Those experiencing persecution can rejoice in being part of their company. 

Jesus understands that joy is necessary for resistance. Those who are being persecuted and oppressed can be consumed by suffering. Jesus knows that this suffering can last for a long time, even beyond a single span of life. Only joy can sustain resistance without retaliation, without capitulating to the same cruel impulses of the persecutors. 

St. Irenaeus of Lyons, a second century theologian, wrote that “The glory of God is the human person, fully alive.” Irenaeus served as Bishop of Lyons during the persecution of Christians under Emperor Septimius Severus and was likely martyred for his faith. He understood what it meant to obey Jesus’s command to “rejoice and jump for joy” while enduring persecution. To be fully alive, one must live in joy, no matter our circumstances. 

These are difficult times for many people. Folks are living in fear. We can’t trust each other or understand each other. Even people in our own faith tradition are rejecting each other and driving each other away. 

Whether or not we would label this situation a form of persecution, it is hard for us to commit to justice, to stand up for what is right, to proclaim our faith in Jesus Christ. There are costs. There is fear.

But we are commanded by Jesus to “rejoice and jump for joy,” to reflect the glory of God as humans, fully alive. Only joy can sustain us. Only joy can unite us. Only joy can connect us with the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us. So let us rejoice, friends. 

To God be all glory, forever and ever. Amen.