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MATTHEW 5:11 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 5:10Matt 5:12
“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.”
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. The shift from third person (blessed are those) to second person (blessed are you) in the final Beatitude personalizes the promise: Jesus is speaking to the specific people in front of him, telling them that the reviling and persecution and false accusations they will face — on my account — are not signs of divine abandonment but of kingdom belonging. The on my account is the key: suffering for Jesus' name is suffering for the kingdom. Acts 9:4 records Jesus telling Paul that persecution of the church is persecution of Jesus himself — the identification between the king and his people is so complete that what is done to them is done to him.

Church Fathers on Matthew 5:11

The preceding blessings were general; He now begins to address His discourse to them that were present, foretelling them the persecutions which they should suffer for His name.

Rabanus Maurus · 9th century

It may be asked, what difference there is between 'they shall revile you,' and 'shall speak all manner of evil of you;' to revile, it may be said, being but to speak evil of. But a reproach thrown with insult in the face of one present is a different thing from a slander cast on the character of the absent. To persecute includes both open violence and secret snares.

Augustine · 4th century

But if it be true that he who offers a cup of water does not lose his reward, consequently he who has been wronged but by a single word of calumny, shall not be without a reward. But that the reviled may have a claim to this blessing, two things are necessary, it must be false, and it must be for God’s sake; otherwise he has not the reward of this blessing; therefore He adds, 'falsely for my sake.'

Pseudo-Chrysostom · 5th century
Read all 14 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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