Blessed?

            Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12)

            This is another of those passages that make a person want to say, “Wait. What?” Are we blessed when people insult us? When they beat us up? When they say nasty things about us? Are we supposed to be masochists? If we stop with ourselves, however, we’re missing the point because after the word “you,” there’s a reason… because of Him.

            If we suffer because we’re Christians, just as the prophets who came before us suffered for speaking God’s Word to the Jewish people, we will receive a reward in heaven that will more than compensate for our sufferings here. The problem is, of course, that we don’t believe in the reward in heaven. It doesn’t help that we’re not told what the reward will be. It’s not nearly as real to us as the insults, the persecution, and the slander that we may face today.

            The reality is that our reward in heaven is far greater than anything we can imagine, but we have nothing on which to base our imaginings of it. All we can do is take Jesus’ word for it. And that’s enough…sometimes. Other times, it’s harder. But the reason it’s harder is because when we don’t take Jesus’ word for it, we’re dealing with our emotions and our interpretations of our experiences. Those don’t always tell us the truth but are very convincing in their lies.

            Being blessed isn’t about happiness in the sense of our getting all we want. It might be better described as well-being.  And we are better off when we’ve been ridiculed and persecuted – and survived – than if we haven’t been ridiculed and persecuted because the person who has endured and overcome mistreatment is stronger than the one who hasn’t. We don’t believe it when we’re in the middle of it, but as some experts have described it, we are anti-fragile. We grow stronger when and where we’re broken if we allow ourselves to be.