Each beatitude on its own can be the starting point for preaching/sharing the gospel. You could preach the whole gospel from just one of them! But first you must start living it. It needs to be like a fragrance in your life that people are attracted to.
So, assuming that you have that, why then would you get persecution? Wouldn’t everybody love you for it?
The fact is that some will be attracted while others, realising they don’t have it, will become jealous and angry. So, peoples’ reactions to that “fragrance” will determine their responses. Some may just dislike the difference between you and them or have political or religious views that override the appeal—and challenge—of the Beatitudes. Others will be drawn toward their Source. In contrast, a believer’s breach of a beatitude will also cause offence.
The beatitudes are a microcosm of the story of humankind. The fall (poor in spirit); mourning and yet comfort from God through salvation—as God covered Adam and Eve with sheep skins; meekness—the response of a good conscience toward God, and consequently inheritance of the earth, our home, which God always wanted to give from the time of creation; righteousness, essential for being right with Him and for regulating our relationships and communities; mercy, which enables us to remain by faith in that righteousness and that we’re dependent on God for because we can’t manufacture it ourselves; purity, singlemindedness in following Jesus and hence enjoyment of God because seeing Him gives us purpose and focus; peace-making—our responsibility as His children; which brings us back to reflect on the human condition of fallenness since persecution reveals people’s yet unacknowledged poverty of spirit and need to repent and receive God’s salvation. Our responsibility is to show mercy—though not expecting it. All this should give us joy and rejoicing because “so persecuted they the prophets” who were on the same journey of calling others to reconciliation with God.
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