Who Wants to be Persecuted?

Dolores: 00:00:00

We come now to the final beatitude, the one that may be

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the most complex, challenging

and difficult to accept.

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So let's join a conversation with

our Good News team Lynn Shematek,

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Lauren Welch and Jon Shematek.

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Lauren: Our Beatitude today

is, Blessed are those who are

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persecuted in the cause of right.

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Theirs is a kingdom of heaven.

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Jesus saved the tough one for last.

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Jon: This is the hardest one, I think.

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Lauren: Who wants to be persecuted?

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Lynn: Not me.

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Lauren: So what did Jesus mean by this?

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It is good, unless sometimes

is, translated as happy.

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So happy are those who are persecuted.

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What might Jesus mean by this?

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Jon: I think that's what makes this,

one of the more difficult, beatitudes

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to grasp or buy into because, you

asked the great question at the

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beginning, who wants to be persecuted?

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The answer has got to be no,

nobody wants to be persecuted.

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I think that would not be a

sign of a healthy person if

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you wanted to be persecuted.

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If we look deeper, the persecution

is actually for a reason.

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you're not being persecuted

because someone disagrees with

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you politically, let's say.

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There's no blessedness to being persecuted

because of the color of your skin the

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language you speak your sexual identity

or preferences, your gender, your age.

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There's no blessing in being

persecuted because of those things.

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those are all injustices in the world.

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But what is Jesus really saying

about what kind of persecution

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can lead to blessedness?

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Can lead to happiness,

as you said, Lauren.

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That word is supposed to be happy, too.

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When can, what kind of persecution,

or for what reason, can someone

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being persecuted actually lead to a

happy or fulfilled life in some way.

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Lynn: the person is being persecuted

because they believe in Jesus.

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They show they believe in Jesus and

God by the love in their heart, their

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peacemaking abilities and all that.

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And then they're persecuted because people

can be petty, they can be, just evil.

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and they will persecute you.

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if you have those feelings in your

heart, then you are probably feeling

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closer to God, closer to Jesus, and

closer to the Kingdom of Heaven.

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Jon: Yeah, I think there's

something to that for sure.

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a lot of what you were talking about,

Jesus as he goes on there's more to

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that beatitude than on that piece.

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The verse continues and talks about being

blessed because, these were the ways that

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things were for the prophets before you.

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There was a certain kind of blessedness

or happiness that prophets achieve.

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And that's still hard.

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I'm still struggling with this one.

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just to be clear, being a prophet

was not about telling what

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the future was going to bring.

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Being a prophet was telling

the truth about the present

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world, the present state.

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if you are there as a Christian,

making prophetic statements about, the

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disconnect between the current state

of the world and what we understand

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to be the divine intention for

creation, you can get into trouble.

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If you're in a safe, space with your

churchy friends and everybody's okay

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with that, then that's one thing.

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But once you get beyond that group and

say the truth about what's happening

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around us, that can lead to persecution.

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Lauren: Just like it did for Jesus.

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Jesus was calling people to live

more deeply out of love and to see

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each one, as a beloved child of God,

and people didn't want to hear this.

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they wanted to obey the rules.

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I think even, Christians today find it

hard to follow these blueprints that we've

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been talking about these last eight weeks

because they are harder to follow than

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the rules and the dogmas that we proclaim,

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Jon: here

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Lauren: I know that we talked about, John

Lewis before one of our, sessions, but

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he's the first person that comes to mind

for me again today as being persecuted

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for the evil that he fought against.

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he was beaten, and he called people.

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get into trouble.

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John calls it good trouble.

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When we are fighting for justice,

and I think that's what this,

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is about fighting for justice.

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Peacemaking, bringing peace,

bringing, justice for everyone.

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That's what Jesus was doing.

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Jon: a

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Lauren: with the wrong people

of his time, with women,

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Jon: it,

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Lauren: tax collectors,

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Jon: to

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Lauren: he eventually was crucified.

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That will happen to us, and we may

not be crucified, but if we live

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out our faith, if we practice these

Beatitudes and really work to,

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Jon: to

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Lauren: for all people

to live without want.

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Jon: New

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Lauren: to have, not everything

they want, but what they need,

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Jon: Okay.

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Lauren: to be healthy and happy,

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Jon: I'm

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Lauren: we aren't going to be the

most popular people in the world.

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If we stand up for the refugees

who are coming to our country,

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That's what we're called to do.

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I still like, John Lewis's phrase of,

Calling us to get into good trouble.

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I think that's what Jesus was talking

about in this particular, Beatitude.

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Jon: Yeah, it sure

sounds like it to me too.

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I was listening to some of those

examples we've been talking about for

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eight weeks through the Beatitudes.

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what strikes me, or what's coming

to me as a question is to what

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extent is this all about change?

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It's part of human nature, I think,

that we tend not to embrace change.

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I'll speak for myself.

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I don't embrace change, usually.

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sometimes even though people are

in a terrible situation, they're

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willing to have the status quo

continue rather than have it change.

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And so I think that this is where,

Jesus, was a huge change agent.

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He wasn't trying to start a new religion.

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just trying to get people to

change their hearts and get

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back to being right with God.

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And that's what this is all about, too.

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And so I think that, you're right.

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Lauren and I think, and Lynn, when we

think about persecution, I think what

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that might mean, is persecution is a

resistance to change that I'm trying to

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advocate for or bring about in some way.

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and change meaning to do something

to change the situation of

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poverty, injustice, oppression,

of all kinds of oppression.

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and we could still disagree.

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disagreement's okay, and healthy.

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We can all learn from that.

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but I think being a true peacemaker,

that's bringing about change.

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It's bringing back a

change from the status quo.

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each and every one of these, Beatitudes

has to do with change, internal change, or

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change in some societal or relationship,

primarily about relationships.

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I think that's what the Christian

belief is about loving relationships.

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and involves change.

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it's tough to do and a reaction

to that is the negative thing

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we can call persecution.

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just name it.

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Say that's what it is.

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I think it's like the flip

side of all the Beatitudes.

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Is the hope that this change

will actually take place.

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And that we can make

we have a role to play.

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and bringing about that change.

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And when we do, and we start to see

it, or at least hope for it, that's

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what brings the happiness, that's

what brings the blessedness, having

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the hope that things are changeable.

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Lauren: Jon, I agree.

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even if we don't see it, it's

that hope that our children

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or grandchildren will see it.

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change is so hard to embrace.

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There's been so much

change, in our own lives,

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Lynn: And I often think too, is

that, I think of what you say,

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Lauren, and I think I'm beginning

to understand what you mean when you

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say, we have to become brokenhearted.

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We have to have our hearts broken, open,

so that we can have God show us the way.

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And, that's the big change.

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That's a terrible thing to do.

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But the promise is so wonderful.

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Lauren: I would ask people who are

listening to us, what is it that

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is changing in your life that you

find, difficult to embrace, and

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what might happen if you begin

to find a way to embrace it?

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might you find something good?

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And, if it's something that really

should not be embraced, then

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you can, stand up and get into

trouble for standing against it.

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Jon: Thanks to all of our viewers

and listeners for being with us.

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This is the eighth and final episode

of the Beatitudes of Jesus and

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the Blueprint for Christian Life.

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We look forward to seeing you next

time when we have something new.

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Lynn: Take care.

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Lauren: Peace and blessings

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..............

Dolores: This episode on the Beatitudes has been brought

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to you by listening for clues.

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You can find us at our

website listeningforclues.com,

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on our YouTube channel or on just

about any audio podcast channel.

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hope to see you soon.