Iʼm going to talk about two things today: peace and persecution.

But first, two rules.

One: I will not trivialize persecution. Persecution is not an inconvenience. It is not what happens when
someone isnʼt fond of you. It is not what happens when someone isnʼt deferential to you. It is not what
happens when someone doesnʼt want to hear your opinion. It is not what happens when someone doesnʼt
want to talk to you. It is not a light matter. Luke is actually very clear when he writes about persecution:
“Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as
evil...”

There are people in the world who really are hated and excluded and insulted and rejected as evil
because of who they are or who they love or what they believe or who they call ʻfriendʼ. There are people
in the world who fear for their life or safety because those with power systematically seek to do them
harm. I will not trivialize that by pretending that persecution is anything less than what they endure.

Two: I will not trivialize peace or peacemakers. Peace is not simply the absence of conflict and
peacemaking is not simply staying out of the way and not causing trouble. Peaceʼs presence is found in
love, and peacemakers are active in bringing it about.

So, with those two rules in place, letʼs talk about peace and persecution.

Letʼs start with this: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness...”

Now, Iʼve already been clear about persecution. When Luke states the same - more or less - beatitude,
he puts it this way: “Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and
reject your name as evil...”

Or, as Matthew puts it: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds
of evil against you...”

But - and I want to be clear about this - the text does not stop at “Blessed are those who are persecuted.”
Persecution in and of itself is not good and when people call us evil it is not a time to be self-
congratulatory. It is a time to be self-critical and ask why people are calling us evil. We do not, in short,
seek to be persecuted, though we recognize that there will be times when we are.

The Bible recognizes the reality of persecution for the Israelites and for the early Christians, but it does
not tell us to celebrate persecution. Rather, it says this: Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness. Persecution is not the goal and we pray that one day all persecution will end, but we
recognize that persecution is a risk of righteousness.

The key is this word: righteousness.

The Greek word that is used here is dikaiosunes. Itʼs usually translated as ʻrighteousnessʼ is the Bible,
and as ʻjusticeʼ elsewhere. Those are two big concepts, and Iʼm not going to try to define them here
except to say this: it has something to do with living as God wants us to live. Figuring out the specifics of
how God wants us to live is a lifelong endeavor.

But let me start here:

“You have heard that it was said, ʻLove your neighbor and hate your enemy.ʼ But I tell you, love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He
causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If
you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if
you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be
perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Something about righteousness and justice has to do with loving even our enemy, with praying even for
those who persecute us, with greeting even those who are not ʻour peopleʼ. What does that mean? It
means loving even those who ʻour peopleʼ would call unlovable. It means praying even for those who hate
and revile ʻour peopleʼ - and here I would suggest that this isnʼt praying for them to be nicer to us, but
praying for their good. It means going outside ʻour circleʼ to be hospitable even to those who donʼt fit in
with ʻour peopleʼ.

To be righteous, to be just, has something to do with reaching across the boundary that divides us from
them, just as God reached across the boundary that divides the divine from creation and became human
in order to bring us closer to heaven. In that we see righteousness. In seeing that, we see our example
and we can strive to be perfect just as our heavenly father is perfect. And let us remember that being like
Christ means taking that same risk of persecution and of the cross.

And here we can also see the beginning of peacemaking.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

As I said before, peacemaking is not just staying out of the way. Peacemaking is not just avoiding conflict.
In fact, in my experience, conflict-avoidance usually ends up resulting in more conflict precisely because it
doesnʼt address the cause. Avoiding conflict is passive. Avoiding conflict changes nothing.

Peacemaking, on the other hand, is active. Peacemakers step into conflict and work to bring about
transformation; and peacemakers do that through love. In fact, true peace can only come about through
love. We seek peace - peace, not simply absence of conflict - when we love our enemies enough to want
to be in relationship with them. We seek peace when we love our enemies enough to want the conflict to
end for their sake, not just ours. We seek peace when we can say that the love that unites all of us - for
God so loved the world - is more important and more powerful than all of the things that divide us and
when we act in that love.

Is that easy? No. When we say to our enemies, “I love you,” we take the risk of our enemies taking
advantage of that. When we say to our enemies, “I love you,” we take the risk of our friends turning on us.
But we do it because the risks are worth taking, and so we are reconciled to God and to one another.

But we remember the risk: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has
no one than this: to lay down oneʼs life for oneʼs friends.” And more. We love our enemies, and we love
them with that love. Thatʼs a tall order. Thatʼs a hard commandment. Thatʼs a lot harder than “love your
neighbor as yourself.” To love is to take the risk; even the risk of persecution, the risk of having to lay
down our lives for others even when those others are our enemies.

Now I need to say this again: we do not seek persecution. We do not seek to be in danger. We do not
seek to lay down our lives. We do not seek the cross. We seek to live our lives in light of the love of Christ
and we recognize that living that way is dangerous.

But letʼs face it. When we donʼt act in that kind of love it usually isnʼt because weʼre afraid of facing threats
to our life and limb. I said I wasnʼt going to trivialize persecution, and I donʼt think Iʼm doing that by
pointing our that the price we are likely to pay for loving our enemies is not our lives or our safety but our
reputation. The real risk we take is people saying: “That church on the square is the wrong sort of people”
or “That UCC isnʼt really Christian because of who they love”. The risk we take as individuals is people
saying “That Chris, heʼs no good, he hangs out with the wrong people, what a geek, what a nerd... what a
loser.”
Well... blessed are the losers.

So I turn to my final point: the church was never meant to be popular. Being Christian was never about
being well liked. Jesus never said, “Blessed are the cool.” Popularity - as you may have guessed - is not
part of the deal.

In fact, when Luke writes the beatitudes - and for him, remember, the beatitude concerning persecution is,
“Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as
evil, because of the Son of Man” - he pairs them with woes. And the woe for this beatitude is: “Woe to you
when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”

“Woe to you...”

This is getting serious.

Iʼm going to say this again: We do not seek persecution. And we do not seek a poor reputation. Thatʼs the
risk we take, it isnʼt the goal. When people stand against us, we check ourselves; and if we are doing
Godʼs work - if we are living in love - we forge ahead.

On the other hand, though: We do not seek protection. And we do not seek to be well liked. That might be
a blessing we enjoy, it isnʼt the goal. When people stand with us, we check ourselves; and if we are doing
Godʼs work - if we are living in love - we forge ahead.

And this is liberating. We are free to recognize that the price of Christianity is the risk of being hated and
excluded and insulted and rejected and having to lay down even our lives; and we recognize that we are
blessed that we donʼt face that threat in our day-to-day lives.

And that recognition gives us the freedom to cross the line and go to enemies and outcasts in love; not
even though others might turn against us, but especially when.

That recognition gives us the freedom to be poor in spirit; not even though people will call us pathetic, but
especially when.

That recognition gives us the freedom to mourn freely; not even though people will ask us why we donʼt
celebrate more, but especially when.

That recognition gives us the freedom to be meek; not even though people will call us weak, but
especially when.

That recognition gives us the freedom to hunger and thirst for righteousness; not even though people will
complain we constantly cry out for justice, but especially when.

That recognition gives us the freedom to be merciful; not even though people will say we arenʼt tough, but
especially when.

That recognition gives us the freedom to be pure in heart; not even though people will say we are too
hard on ourselves, but especially when.

That recognition gives us the freedom to be peacemakers; not even though people will accuse us of
betraying our own, but especially when.

That recognition gives us the freedom to be instruments of Godʼs peace and Godʼs mercy and Godʼs
compassion, not even though it entails great risk, but especially when.
It gives us the freedom to walk humbly with God, and that is a great blessing indeed.