Blessed Are the Persecuted

Kurelek, "The Hound of Heaven"

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

This Beatitude strikes some folks as strange. Righteous people are beloved by everyone, right? Who is persecuted for righteousness?

Just read the New Testament. Did everyone love Jesus? How did he end up crucified?

Just read today’s news: the Wuhan doctor who first raised the alarm about the COVID-19 virus was hauled in and berated by the authorities, and forced to sign an admission that he lied. He has now died of the virus—or perhaps through government action.

Social groups of all kinds are predictably less moral that their average member—on the premise that more selfish people are going to fight harder and less scrupulously for power over others. And bad people who have a guilty conscience will viscerally resent others who do not.

Good people, when they sin, feel bad about it, try to make amends, and to do better. They will admire the righteous. Bad people commit to continuing to sin. For these latter, relative sinlessness in another feels like an implicit rebuke. Worse than that--they are dangerous. They might start speaking truth out loud, and so wreck everything.

This is why, for example, it was never enough to legalize gay sex or gay marriage. It had to become illegal for anyone to criticize it, unacceptable to refuse to participate in a gay pride parade or a gay wedding. This is why it was never enough to make abortion legal. It had to become tax subsidized, implicating everybody. It had to become intolerable to speak out against it.

And so the righteous will often be persecuted rather than rewarded. They will always be persecuted by some. How severely they are persecuted is a good measure of how morally depraved the society or group is in which they find themselves.

Confucius advised that, when appointing an official, “if he has no friends, it is necessary to make enquiries. If he has no enemies, it is necessary to make enquiries.”

Either is an indication, although not proof, of a bad person.

Someone who has no friends is probably a cutthroat; although he might just be extremely introverted—or extremely righteous.

Someone who has no enemies is probably someone who simply agrees and goes along with whomever he is speaking to. He is duplicitous and has no principles.

A good person will be loved by good people, and persecuted by bad people.

Which is no doubt part of the divine plan. If one were being righteous only for the hope of worldly rewards, there would be no particular merit to it.