And He opened His mouth and taught them, saying…

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven

“Blessed are you when others revile and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

(Matthew 5:2, 10-12)

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches a large crowd how things exist in the Kingdom of God. Through the declarations of who will be “blessed” in His Kingdom, He taught of a Reality that was completely antithetical to the structured Principalities of the World. These teachings are recorded in Matthew chapter 5 as a series of beautiful paradoxes that demonstrate how out of alignment we are. The meek will inherit the earth, and mourners will be comforted; peacemakers shall receive peace, and the pure shall see God. Christ will reform our failing institutions and rebuild the systems of the world to align with His Kingdom, and as the global Body of Christ, the Church is actively playing a part in that reformation. This Sermon gives us a solid foundation for designing incentives and structuring modes of operation as we seek the Kingdom of God.

What does resistance to this vision of Reality look like? Christ uses definitive language in last two Beatitudes to tell us we will be persecuted, reviled, mocked, and falsely accused of all manner evils as we seek to live out this Truth. We follow the difficult yet joyful task of standing as concrete outposts of the Kingdom of God in the midst of the Principalities of this World. The shadow is not happy when the light encroaches on its territory, and it will attempt to counter with its system of corrupted and falsified “justice”. The victory belongs to the Light for all time- from the days of the prophets, through the Resurrection of Christ, up to the communities and Churches seeking to build for God’s glory today, we stand ready to inherit the Kingdom of God.

Christ put the absurdity of Worldly “justice” on display.

And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”

So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” (Matthew 27:23-24)

Christ demonstrated for us all nine Beatitudes throughout His ministry on earth, with the hours of Passion and Crucifixion representing a particularly distilled view of all nine. His trial at the hands of the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate, the puppet King Herod, the ruling Sanhedrin council, and the mob in Jerusalem shows us clearly what the word “justice” means to the powers of this world. It is a concoction made of false proclamations of virtue, spineless caving to popular opinion, irrational calls to self-preservation, and blood-thirsty demands for public punishment. This is not simply misguided justice, and this is not a parody of true justice- this is pure injustice which comes from the corrupted systems of the Principalities of the World.

The Crucifixion and Resurrection demonstrate the futility of Worldly “justice”.

Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

Jesus was reviled and persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Now He is glorified. He could endure this world’s corrupted systems of injustice with joy, and even despise the shame that the world heaped on Him. The followers of Christ, those who adhere to the Reality of the Sermon on the Mount, are a natural threat to worldly powers and will be similarly attacked. For all its claims of mutual respect and love, the World cannot allow any diversity of thought to shed light on the inherent injustice and corruption. They will persecute and revile the Body of Christ as they have always done. And just as the Body of Christ has always done, we will continue to live in Reality, continue to seek His Kingdom and bless others by reforming corrupted systems, and continue to rejoice and be glad in His promises.

The Kingdom needs artists to create true beauty, it needs creative developers to build infrastructure which can be used and enjoyed by all, and it even needs managers and coaches to organize and administer our resources. How might we gird ourselves to prepare for attacks in the name of this world’s corrupted “justice” as we seek to build for the Kingdom of God?

(Cover image courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org)