Suffering: Case Text (Part 2)

Four elements in Matthew 5:10-12 stand out: (1) this is characteristic of Kingdom people, (2) the relationship of righteousness and Christ, (3) suffering partakes in the heritage of the saints, and (4) we are to rejoice in our sufferings.

The Church of Christ, his Body, Bride and Building, comprises the kingdom inhabitants of the Kingdom of God, for which Matthew uses his favored phrase, “kingdom of heaven.” The characteristics found in the Beatitudes are purposefully striking in their tension with the world’s expectations and values. Our persecution for Christ’s sake comes not from our own obnoxiousness or self-righteousness, nor should it. It comes directly from “the clash between two irreconcilable value-systems.”[1] The Lord values humility, service, honesty, and selfless love. The world does not.

Christ blesses those persecuted for righteousness sake and those who are persecuted because of faith in him. Ridderbos argues that righteousness is connected with the concept of the kingdom of heaven, and not the righteousness imputed to us by Christ.[2] However, this is close to the traditional Lutheran view, and paints the Beatitudes as a revision of the Ten Commandments – a new law. Christ immediately dismisses this notion, illustrating that he came to fulfill the Law, and concluding that “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”[3] Christ is not giving another law, impossible to fulfill. As James Boice explains, this righteousness is obviously unattainable on our own accord. It is only because of our own despair that we might turn to Christ and find new life in him.[4] The Beatitude examples are the working out of salvation, our sanctification. Just as Christ later urges us on to perfection, because we are perfected in him, so here he can speak of our becoming righteous as his righteousness.[5]

When Christ speaks of persecution in the Sermon on the Mount, he is not merely stating that those who stand for righteousness will face the possibility of persecution. This is a plain proclamation for all who trust in Christ. Jesus shifts, expanding from addressing those to addressing you.[6] Persecution is coupled with you, the disciples and followers of Christ, and it is the direct result of Christ himself.[7] The heritage of the disciples and the Body of Christ are one, because all are coheirs with Christ, “provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”[8]

The Church is linked with those who have gone before, offering a firm reminder to those that often benefit from others who have cleared the way. Barclay calls this “the bliss of the blood-stained way,” and he recounts that “to have to suffer persecution is, as Jesus himself said, the way to walk the same road as the prophets, and the saints, and the martyrs have walked. To suffer for the right is to gain a share in a great succession.”[9] As those called to suffer, the Church is now joined with Israel and the Old Testament prophets. This gives cause to rejoice, as it demonstrates the Church’s position as the Lord’s chosen people.

Commanding his followers to rejoice in our sufferings, Jesus reminds us that this is no small thing to be counted as his. The Church is chosen to display the Lord’s glory to the earth, and lest we become inflated with self-righteousness and pride, it must be done through suffering for the sake Christ our Lord. It is through the Church’s suffering that the world should look to the treasure of Christ, not to the jars of clay containing the prize.[10] We can rest in the hope that suffering produces, boasting in our weakness for the gain of Christ.[11]

[1] Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, 52
[2] Ridderbos, The Coming of the Kingdom, 286
[3] Matthew 5:20
[4] Boice, The Gospel of Matthew, 72
[5] Matthew 5:48
[6] Matthew 5:1-2
[7] Matthew 5:11
[8] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, (New York. Simon & Schuster, 1995), 107; Romans 8:17
[9] Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, 115
[10] 2 Corinthians 4:7
[11] Romans 5:3; 2 Corinthians 12:9