Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you [from them], and shall reproach [you], and cast out your name as wicked, for the Son of man's sake
The last of Luke's four blessings turns from poverty, hunger and tears to what people do on purpose: hatred, exclusion, insult, and the ruin of a good name. Two questions decide how we read it: who is Jesus speaking to, and what makes such treatment a blessing rather than plain misery?
Luke aims this sermon at the people standing in front of Jesus. One clause that Matthew has is missing here.
Lastly, notice that Luke leaves out persecution for righteousness' sake altogether. That has its fitting, though not exclusive, place in Matthew… Luke keeps only the blessing of those persecuted for the Son of Man's sake. This fits beautifully with the way he speaks directly to his four classes. The blessed here stand right in front of the Lord, and the persecuted here suffer only for His sake. It is all deeply personal.
The effect is to draw a line through the crowd. Everything depends on standing near Him.
He says, if we may put it this way, "I am setting you apart." He is not stating abstract principles, as at the start of Matthew 5. He is speaking to the hearts of those gathered around Him. "I have come as the centre of power and active love. There is only one place of blessing on earth. With Me you are blessed." Others may be lighthearted and cheerful where Christ has no place. But this is a time when a truly spiritual soul can find no good except with Christ.
Two words need explaining. Where the ESV says "exclude" and "spurn your name as evil," older translations read "separate" and "cast out your name as wicked." Commentators differ over how wide the shutting-out is:
"Separate" is usually understood to mean being put out of the synagogue (John 16:2). But the scholar De Wette took it, like the English translation, to mean being shut out of society in general.
The next phrase is about reputation.
To have your name "cast out" is to have it spread around, bringing you into bad repute.
The blessing does not rest on being disliked. It rests on the last phrase of the verse.
More than this, the believer is blessed in persecution — even when hated and shut out, with his very name treated with contempt as though it were evil (v.22). Yet there is a condition here: "for the Son of Man's sake." We can only claim the blessing if the persecution is for His sake. But if it is, the blessing is deeply real and valuable.
That condition also narrows what counts as a cross:
People often use the word "cross" loosely, for every kind of trial and suffering. It is used commonly even by unbelievers and about unbelievers. But in the language of Scripture, no unbeliever bears a cross. The world loves its own; it does not hate them (John 15:19)… Only one thing can be called a cross: suffering or insult that flows from man's unjust judgment on what is like Christ in us.
Verses 24 to 26 answer these blessings with matching woes. The arrangement sorts the hearers into two groups.
Some were identified with Himself and shared His sorrows. Others belonged to the world and shared its passing joys. On the one group He called down a blessing, and on the other a woe. This, of course, involved a tremendous paradox. The sad and rejected are the blessed: the glad and the popular are under judgment.
Jesus says this before any of it has happened to them — which is itself part of the kindness.
Would they be hated for the Son of Man's sake? That only showed whose they were. So they should rejoice. Here the Lord gives them an antidote to the sting of the trial by pointing them up to heaven. It is certainly a trial for anyone to have his name unjustly thrown out as evil. But He provided the antidote before the disciples had begun to feel the sting.
Taken seriously, the verse re-rates the whole experience.
I believe, beloved friends, to be thoroughly hated for Christ's sake is a wonderful thing. When a man is here really for God, and the light, the truth, and the grace of God are streaming through that man, he is sure to be hated, and if he is hated for Christ's sake, let him thank God.
And even a small share of it settles something inside:
It is an immense thing when you see and accept that suffering for Christ is the place of the highest distinction on earth. We may not suffer much. But simply being convinced that suffering is the highest place, and the only place of real progress, will always be healthy discipline and encouragement.
- Cause — The hatred comes from being close to Christ. Luke drops "for righteousness' sake" and keeps only "for the Son of Man's sake." It is personal.
- Company — Being shut out marks whose side you are on: separated from the synagogue or from society, but joined to Him.
- Condition — No condition, no blessing. Suffering that does not flow from what is like Christ in us is trouble, not a cross.
- Comfort — He hands over the antidote before the sting lands. He also turns the world's scoreboard upside down: the rejected are blessed, the popular are warned.
- Crown — Hatred for His sake is the highest distinction on earth, and the reward waits in heaven.
rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in the heaven, for after this manner did their fathers act toward the prophets.
Jesus tells hated, insulted disciples to leap for joy. Three questions follow. What suffering counts? Why rejoice now? And where is the reward kept?
In Matthew the Lord describes a class of people. Here He speaks straight to the men in front of Him, and that splits His hearers into two camps.
On this occasion the Lord addressed His disciples personally. In Matthew He described a certain class, and says that theirs is the kingdom. Here He says, "yours is the kingdom," identifying that class with the disciples… This of course involved a tremendous paradox. The sad and rejected are the blessed: the glad and the popular are under judgment. But the first group follows in the footsteps of the Son of Man and suffers for His sake. The second follows in the way of the false prophets.
Not all suffering carries this promise. The blessing of verse 22 hangs on one phrase — "on account of the Son of Man" — and that phrase controls verse 23 too.
More than this, in persecution the believer is blessed, even when people hate him and shut him out, and despise his very name as evil (v.22). Yet there is a condition noted here: "for the Son of Man's sake." We can claim the blessing only if the persecution is for His sake. If it is, that blessing is deeply real and valuable. We are urged not to let persecution discourage us, but to rejoice and leap for joy. Being identified with Him this way is worth far more than a popular life on earth.
That condition also corrects a loose habit of speech, where any hardship gets called "a cross."
The word is used loosely, as if it applied to every kind of trial and suffering, and often even by and of unbelievers. In the language of Scripture it is clear that no unbeliever bears a cross… Every believer does bear a cross, but he has only one, and he should bear it not now and then but "daily." It is the reproach of Christ. No suffering or reproach is a cross, except what comes from man's unjust judgment on what is like Christ in us.
Being called evil hurts. Notice the timing of the Lord's remedy: He acts before the disciples feel anything.
Would they be hated for the Son of man's sake? That only showed whose they were. So they should rejoice. Here the Lord gives them an antidote to the sting of the trial by pointing them up to heaven. It is a real trial for anyone to have their name falsely cast out as evil. But He provided the antidote before the disciples had begun to feel the sting.
Full barns once looked like proof of God's approval. The word "heaven" moves the whole inheritance somewhere else.
But the Messiah had come to earth, and men rejected Him. So He began to teach that heaven, not earth, was to be the home of His faithful disciples (Luke 6:23). He taught the heavenly calling. Saints may experience suffering and trials here. These are not to discourage them. Beyond death is their portion, their home. The full barn and the crowded storehouse were now no proof of special Divine approval. They were no sign either that everlasting misery would not be the owners' portion.
The last line of the verse looks back. The disciples get what the prophets got, and that likeness marks them out as belonging to Christ.
His disciples are separated from all the world around them by this fact, that they are His. The world stands against Him and against His own. It hates them, shuts them out, and casts out their name as evil for the Son of man's sake… Yet they may well rejoice, for their reward is great in heaven. On earth they only continue the line of the prophets whom the world rejected long ago.
If that is the line you stand in, insults are not a step down.
It is an immense thing when you see and accept that suffering for Christ is the place of the highest distinction on earth. We may not suffer much; but the mere conviction that suffering is the highest place, and the only one of true progress, will always be healthy discipline and encouragement.
- Cause. The blessing rests on one condition: persecution "on account of the Son of Man." Only suffering that comes from what is like Christ in us counts as a cross.
- Company. Hatred puts you in the line of the rejected prophets. It shows whose you are.
- Antidote. Jesus points His disciples to heaven before they feel the sting, so joy is ready in advance of the pain.
- Place. The reward is kept in heaven, not in full barns on earth — this is where He begins teaching the heavenly calling.
- Result. Suffering for Christ is the highest honour on earth. Even believing that fact strengthens you.