Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:10).
 
This week, as we have listened to the beatitudes (blessings) with which Jesus begins his public ministry, have you found yourself being won over to Jesus’ way of life?  Even a little bit?  What Jesus pronounces “blessed” – the spiritually impoverished, those in grief and sorrow, those who hunger and thirst for what the world is unable to supply – seems so upside down! 
 
Have you noticed that each blessing contains a promise?  “The kingdom of heaven is theirs, they will be comforted, satisfied, shown mercy; they will see God.”  Those all sound pretty good!  But getting our world turned right side up isn’t easy.
 
Jesus says it’s hard to live this kind of blessed life.  There is resistance and opposition, both internally and externally, to living a blessed life characterized by poverty of spirit, meekness, mourning, purity of heart and all the rest that Jesus lists in his nine blessings.  Resistance and opposition means persecution.
 
As we learn to follow Jesus on the way of blessing, we are not to seek persecution (resistance and opposition), but we should expect it!  There is an unavoidable tension between our upside-down world and God’s right side up kingdom.  This final blessing, upon the persecuted, is the only one that Jesus expands upon.  Those persecuted because they are learning to live right side up in an upside-down world, Jesus says, are akin to the prophets (Matthew 5:11-12).
 
A Biblical prophet does not primarily predict the future; a prophet sees and points to the ways in which God’s future is already breaking in upon us.  Prophets help us learn to live out God’s future in the midst of our here-and-now.
 
Here’s the great good news in these blessings that open the Sermon on the Mount: you don’t have to wait for God’s future.  You can start to get in on it now.  How?  By starting to receive, live, and then give, these nine blessings.  But be advised: it will turn your world upside-down!
 
To which of these blessings do you feel the most internal opposition and resistance?  How could recognizing this become a springboard for prayer for you?
 
Which one of the beatitudes might God be calling you to practice over the next few weeks?  What would that practicing look like?