Luke 6:22-23 meaning

The parallel Gospel account for Luke 6:22-23 is Matthew 5:10-12.

Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man (v 22).

Jesus’s final Blessed/Makarios statement deals with those who are persecuted for the sake of the Son of Man. This is the second time in Luke that Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man (Luke 5:24). The Son of Man was a cultural term in Aramaic that could mean “someone,” and within a Jewish context it was a term for “the Messiah.” From a Greek perspective, it emphasized Jesus’s humanity, as He was the perfect human.

Persecution occurs when a group or individual is harassed or harmed because of who they are, what they represent, or what they do. Persecution can come from a broad spectrum of sources and degrees. It can be social, such as public ridicule or shame. It can be political, where the abuse comes from a governmental authority in the form of fines, confiscation of property, imprisonments, or execution. Regardless of who is doing the persecution, the goal is always the same: shame the victim, isolate them from the wider group, and make an example of them in order to shape the behavior of others within the community.

Jesus tells His followers that even when people hate you, ostracize you, insult (try to shame) you, and scorn your name as evil because of Me—that you are Makarios. Notice that Jesus nowhere says that everyone who is persecuted for any reason is Makarios. It is only those who are persecuted for the sake of the Son of Man or those who are harassed because of Jesus that are Makarios.

Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets (v 23).

Rather than mourn or complain about their mistreatment, Jesus remarkably tells His disciples to be glad in that day and leap for joy! The reason for their gladness is not sadistic pleasure over the pain and shame, but because of the result of being persecuted: for your reward is great in heaven. Jesus regularly speaks of reward throughout the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew (Matthew 5:46; 6:1-6; 6:16-18; 6:19-20). This makes sense because He is teaching His disciples. His servants.

This reward in heaven is not ‘getting into heaven’ or ‘spending eternity with God,’ which is only granted on the basis of God’s grace through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9). Rather, the reward that Jesus promises is to be Blessed, to be Makarios. To be satisfied. To reign in harmony with Christ over His kingdom.

The reward is given for faithful service. For living a life of faith in the face of earthly trials, of which persecution is only a type of trial. Jesus’s half-brother, James, writes the same message in his epistle: “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials” (James 1:2). James also writes “Blessed [Makarios] is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12).

Jesus demonstrates that this is how God has always treated those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. He reminds His disciples that the prophets who were before you (Abel, Noah, Joseph, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, etc.) were persecuted in the same way. The implied upshot is that as God richly honored and rewarded those prophets for seeking harmony with Him instead of the world, despite constant persecution, so will He reward us if we do the same.

This attitude toward persecution for the sake of the Son of Man is in contrast to what Jesus says in Luke’s parallel “Woe” statement:

“Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.”
(Luke 6:26)

Having read and understood Jesus’s Makarios statements to His disciples in verses 20-23, we will now turn our attention to the “Woe” statements in verses 24-26.