10/2/2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“Blessed are you when people insult you,  persecute you; falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice! Be glad  because great is your reward in heaven. It is in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5.11-12)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

For those who read Matthew 5.11-12 and recognize there is a distinct pattern difference to this “beatitude” compared to the eight before in verses 3-10, you are right. It is most like a different but connected teaching added by Matthew in his remembrance of these lessons from Jesus clustered together as “The Sermon on the Mount.” However, the very fact that this teaching begins with “blessed are….” helps us to keep it in the family of lessons concerning the life of righteousness. Remember, these beatitudes were not speaking of our “worldly” life (impoverished, mourning, timid, hungry and thirsty, forgiving others with the hope of being forgiven, single-minded toward God risking double-mindedness of those around us, soothers and bullied.) Rather, they were points of demarcation which established the believers’ position in the Kingdom of God on earth. The life of the Spirit and the spiritual life of human beings is the focus of these teachings. Jesus would sum up these teachings in accordance with those that followed saying “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and allow Him to make provision for your daily needs.” (Matthew 6.33) When we read so far as the “ninth” beatitude there is a point of intention to unite the past, present and future. That point is the mention of “…as it was with the prophets who came before you.”

Was Jesus saying that those who were “followers of the Way” (as the early Christians were called reflecting Jesus words captured by John “I AM the WAY, the truth and the life through which the only entrance into the Kingdom of God on earth and in Heaven is gained” were also prophets? Did this beatitudinal blessing elevate the status of all believers? Did it not also put the honus on all believers as well by the same token? Let’s quickly review the definition of a “prophet.” (And let’s please not get hung up on genderisms as the prophecy itself is a reflection of God and not the office assigned to human beings.) Too often a “prophet” is seen as one who predicts the future; that would be a soothsayer or fortune teller. While a prophecy does consider the future of human beings as it relates to God, it speaks more of a certain set of consequences based on choices which human beings will make with their own lives. In the Old Testament, most prophecies were not offered with more than a couple of generations in the future in mind. It was something the people to whom the prophecy was given could, would and should experience “in their day.” This helps to explain why the Messianic prophecies were seen as more static than dynamic. It was going to happen within their lifetimes. It would make sense, right, since their life situations were desperate, challenging and on the breaking point of bearable.

But, there is another element which must be considered which focused the attention of the listener on that most certain future. It was the element of “truth telling.” Today, some would call these fierce conversations. Now don’t get me wrong. Such fierce conversations were not in conflict with “the fruit of the Spirit” as found in Paul’s writing to the community of faith in Galatia: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We dare not interpret the “character” of a person who exhibits the “fruit of the spirit” as weak, timid, easy-going, non-confrontational, entitling and tolerant. Nothing could be further from the truth. Further, we must eschew the belief that the “fruit of the Spirit” are separate entities as if each person gets one or a couple. There is a reason why the word fruit is singular in this application. When you go to the grocery store, farmer’s market or roadside stand you may only buy one fruit or vegetable but you bought it from the collection of fruit and vegetable stand, market or department. They all belong to the believer. They are to be cultivated and practiced until they become default in our nature and character. And the hope is that we will be fruitbearing; thus planting seeds of the fruit in the ground of being of others. That would be the truth of our existence as shepherds and stewards of the gifts which God determined were a part of our natural and spiritual DNA. All of that to say this: all believers are intended and expected to be “truth tellers.” With that in mind, the title of “prophet” is assigned to each of us while some may be anointed to that specific task for a specific context for a specific time for a specific place.

But, we know from history, and Jesus confirms this for us and His followers with John the Baptizer as a prime example, that the truth is not always what people want to hear. It doesn’t mean that don’t need it. It doesn’t even mean they don’t know it. It does mean everyone has a sense of understanding that truth demands challenge, change and conformity. Is it little wonder why so many people, especially those in leadership positions, want the truth to be subjective and not objective? Subjective truth remains non-commital, plausibly deniable even by the one who spoke the “truth” to begin with and mallable to fit the need at the time for the benefit of the one saying it. Objective truth becomes undeniable, unchangeable and the measure by which all other truths and decisions are evaluated. So, Jesus was “the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE.” He was the measuring piece by which all would be evaluated and held accountable to. There is, however, that caveat which says “not everyone holds to the truth, loves the truth, accepts the truth, professes the truth and believes the truth.” Their response to prophets and truth-tellers is confrontational, destructive and deadly. But, Jesus speaks the truth in love saying “Speak the truth regardless of the cost and you will experience the blessings of joy and the reward of Heaven.” Put in that frame of reference, Matthew 5.11-12 does fit the paradigm of presentation of the eight beatitudes which precede it. I would daresay, it may even supercede it or be the defining point which keeps all the others in place, in tension and in dynamic relationship with God and humanity just as Jesus did as the Christ of God and the Messiah of the earth. That would be truth enough for us all!

TODAY’S PRAYER IN LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD:

Father, You have revealed to us best in Jesus the Christ. By Him and Him alone shall we gain the eternal life and our place in eternal rest, living for You always. Show us more and by Your Holy Spirit instruct us in the way we should go, the truth we should reveal and the life we shall live with you forever. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.