Blessed are the Persecuted
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven
Bottom’s Up is a weekly publication looking at the upside-down nature of the Kingdom of God and the ways of Jesus. How can we live in the midst of the kingdoms of this world while being faithful to the ways of Jesus? I’m trying to figure it out and would love for you to join me
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1Jesus wraps up his beatitudes by bestowing a blessing on those who are subjected to violence.2
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Persecution Complex
In hindsight, growing up in the 90s and early 00s feels like it was peak Christian persecution complex era. Still you don’t have to go far to hear a loud, usually partisan Christian crying that Christians are “losing ground” or “facing persecution.” For better, but mostly worse, the persecution complex has moved from personal to political. But two decades ago, it was made to be very personal. Within about two years of one another, American’s witnessed two devastating tragedies in the Columbine shooting and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. At least in the circles I swam in, both of these events caused Christians to simultaneously bemoan and glorify the idea of being persecuted.
Surrounding the tragic events at Columbine High School, there was a, now debated, story about Cassie Bernall. As the story went, the shooters went around asking students if they were Christians and if they answered yes, they were shot. Cassie was, reportedly, one of those students. Regardless if this is exactly what happened or not, the story had legs and was used by many youth leaders and summer camp speakers to ask their students if they were prepared to answer “Yes” and willing to die for the sake of Christ. Both Michael W. Smith and Flyleaf even wrote songs about the incident.
The narrative surrounding 9/11 mixed American and Christian supremacy. “They did this because they hate us for our freedom. They hate us because we’re a Christian nation.” Some type of this messaging wouldn’t be hard to find on conservative talk radio, written in Christian think pieces, or circulating around the narthex of your church.
Around this same time, 1999 to be exact, DC Talk partnered with Foxes Book of Martyrs to publish Jesus Freaks. This book recounted many stories of people throughout history and spanning close to our present day who died for their faith. The book was another youth group staple. I had and read a copy myself.
All of this was in the air of the early 00s and the so-called “War on Terror” felt like, and was packaged as, a very Christian thing. This was the narrative I grew up with and believed. I now see it much differently. But it created an expectation that Christians have been persecuted in the past and while American Christians have mostly been shielded from that, it’s coming for us.
If I can throw one more ingredient into the mix, the 1950s-1990 saw the Cold War between US and the Soviet Union. This pitted the “evil, atheist communists” against the “righteous, Christian Americans.” It’s during this time that we saw “under God” inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance3 and “In God We Trust” adopted as the official national motto and first appear on paper currency.4 While people can, have, and do debate if America was more or less Christian in the past, the Cold War was definitely a high point in civic religion. For many, the open talk and recognition of God made them feel comfortable, welcomed, and like they were a part of something bigger than themselves. While I think it’s fairly clear that Christianity and “god talk” was being used as a political weapon, many saw and see it differently. And I do think it’s fair to say that the public facing status of Christianity has fallen over the last 20+ years.
Put all these things together and what do you get? A group of Christians who think they are being persecuted or at least on the brink of it. Certainly, Christians are facing real and dangerous threats to their lives in other parts of the world. Christians in America see that and experience the concoction I laid out above and, I fear, have learned the wrong lessons. Many, mostly White, Christians have turned to some form of Christian Nationalism in hopes of returning America to the place where Christianity was publicly favored and hoping to prevent coming persecution.
In hoping to regain positions of political influence and dominance, do American Christians spurn the blessing of Christ?
Courage, Not Comfort
There have absolutely been times in America’s history where it was more comfortable to be a Christian than it is today. Should we be praying, hoping, and working toward a return to those times? I’m not so sure.
In the early parts of Acts, we see the disciples out preaching and teaching on many occasions. Thousands are being added to the number of followers of the way of Jesus, the group is pooling their resources and creating their own counter economy and taking care of the needs of everyone involved, and they are seeing real miracles. One of these miracles takes place in Acts 4, where Peter and John heal a lame man. It causes quite a stir and the religious leaders who were not too fond of the stir Jesus had around him for 3 years, unsurprisingly were none too pleased with these guys. Peter and John are arrested and held captive. After a bit of interrogation and then deliberation by the those in the Temple, Peter and John are released but threatened that worse will happen if they keep preaching about this Jesus guy.
Peter and John immediately retreat back to their group of fellow believers and pray that God would make the threats cease so they could live in peace…
Wait, no. That’s not it…They started to put together campaign plans to run for local office so they could put Christian friendly legislation in place to keep themselves safe…
Wait, still not right. When they got back with their fellow followers they prayed. They thanked God and asked for courage to continue to live, act, and speak in the ways Jesus had taught them.
It was courage, not comfort that they sought. It was the power of Christ, not the power of the state they needed.
Pick Up Your Cross
The temptation to usher in the Kingdom of God without suffering is the foremost temptation Christians face. But it is not new. Jesus faced this same temptation. In the wilderness after fasting for forty days, the accuser offers Jesus three easy escape plans.
1. Use the power that is at your disposal to meet your needs and avoid suffering. 2. Use your standing before God to prove to everyone that you are His son. 3. Just avoid this suffering and bow down to me! I’ll give you the kingdoms of this world.5 Jesus refused to give in here, just as he would later. As Jesus tells his disciples that he must go, suffer, and die, his closest disciple says “May this never happen to you!” The accuser returns and this time speaks from Peters mouth. Both times Jesus says “Get behind me, Satan!” And for a third and final time, this temptation comes to Jesus in the Garden as he anxiously awaits what is about to happen to him.
As Brian Zahnd points out, “Despite its seductiveness, Jesus always identified the impulse to achieve glory apart from the cross as satanic in origin.”6 Jesus knew that suffering and persecution were the way to glory. While the temptation to reach that end through other means was real, he was able to avoid giving in at each turn. His disciples eventually got on the same page, but we risk making the same mistakes they did in the early going. We’ve already seen Peter tell Jesus that his plan will never happen and be rebuked for it. Peter is at the center of another example of how we can go astray.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is met by the temple guards to be arrested and Peter takes out his sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest’s servant. Again, Peter is rebuked by Jesus when Jesus tells Peter to put his sword away and tells all of us that “those who live by the sword will die by the sword.” Violent means lead only to violent ends. In Fight Like Jesus, Jason Porterfield makes another helpful observation from this scene, “When the mob arrived armed with clubs and swords to arrest Jesus, the disciples stayed by his side. They were ready to kill for Jesus, and perhaps even to die for him. But as soon as the disciples realized that Jesus refused to fight, Mark writes, ‘Then everyone deserted him and fled’ [Mark 14:50].”
As far as I can see, American Christians are more than willing to fight for Jesus. They are willing to pick up the swords and clubs of the culture war and fight, fight, fight to gain power for Jesus. But in doing so they abandon the nonviolent Jesus of scripture.
Desiring Persecution
While I think it is clearly anti-Christ to use power over others to avoid ones own suffering, does that mean that we should desire persecution? Should we invite persecution? No. I don’t think we should. However, I do think that we should live in ways that put us in positions that make us vulnerable to persecution. When we accept the invitation of the beatitudes and reorient our lives so that we live alongside the outcasts, downtrodden, and lowly we put ourselves in the way of those in power. In the garden is was not the powerful who were cut by the sword, but a servant. It is always the poor and powerless who are most effected by violence and so when we, like Christ, identify with them we open ourselves up to the risk of persecution. When we, like Jesus, speak out against the inhumane and unjust practices of those in power, we do so to invite them to a better way but we also open ourselves up to their outsized retaliation.
Romans 13 begins by telling the Roman church to “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities.” And the verse just before that, Romans 12:21 says, “Do not be conquered by evil, but overcome that which is evil by doing what is good.” Now our Bibles have chapter and verse demarcations that separate those verses one from the other. Because of this they appear as two separate ideas. The end of one train of thought and the start of another. But what if they weren’t intended that way? What if Paul is saying “Do not be conquered by evil, but overcome that which is evil by doing what is good. One way to do this is to be subject to the governing authorities.” To put a finer point on it, Jesus overcame the evil powers of this world by being subject to them and put to death by them. We should be willing to follow suit.
The Kingdom of Heaven
Jesus says that the persecuted are blessed because theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. In Revelation we read exactly that. Revelation 6:9-11:
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they had given. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 So they were each given a white robe, and they were told to rest a little while longer until the number would be completed of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters, who were going to be killed just as they had been.
And Revelation 20:4-5:
Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.
Praise God that those who are truly persecuted will one day reign with King Jesus. I do not wish the type of persecution described here on myself or anyone else. But I do know that if we, as Christians in America, are to be persecuted I want it not to be as victims of a culture war in which we have picked up arms, but instead as defenders of the poor, humiliated, mourning, and downtrodden. If we are to face persecution, may it not be because we have persecuted others, stripping them of their rights and freedoms in the name of Christ, but rather because we lived in ways that threatened the powers and principalities of this world through subversive acts of love and peacemaking.
It’s been awhile! Thanks for your patience. For three weeks, my two graduate classes overlapped and getting to this was too difficult. Onward we go!
I’m reminded of an excerpt from Daniel Nayeri’s Everything Sad Is Untrue:
Imagine you’re violent.
Not misunderstood.
Not angry.
But violent.
Imagine you’ve got a heart that spends all day wanting more.
Imagine your mind is a selfish room full of pride or pity.
Imagine you’re like Brandon Goff and you find poor kids in the halls and make fun of their clothes, and you flick their ears until they scream in pain and swing their arms, and so you pin them down and break their fingers.
Or you spit in his food in the cafeteria.
Or you just call him things like cockroach and sand monkey.
Imagine you’re violent and you don’t do any of those things, but you’re like Julie Jenkins and you laugh and you laugh at everything Brandon does, and you even help when a teacher comes and asks what’s going on and you say nothing’s going on, and he believes you because you get A-pluses in English.
Or imagine you just watch all of this. And you act like you’re disgusted, because you don’t like meanness. But you don’t do anything or tell anyone.
Imagine how much you’ve got compared to all the kids in the world getting blown up or starved, and the good you could do if you spent half a second thinking about it.
Suddenly violence isn’t punching people or even hating them.
Suddenly it’s all the stuff you’ve left undone.
All the kindness you could have given.
Imagine that for a minute.
Imagine what it means.
I have written about the temptations of Christ in the past. This is the intro piece and the three subsequent pieces look at the temptation more in depth.
This is from The Wood Between the Worlds