The Command

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:12, NAS)

Rejoice is CHAIRO, χαιρω, a common word in the Greek NT that really expresses what we mean in English when we say “rejoice.” This word is a very common command for Paul, too in Romans 12:15, 2 Corinthians 13:11, Philippians 2:18, 3:1, 4:4, and 1 Thessalonians 5:16. We all know the common experience of rejoicing when we discover something good, when we meet our aims, when things go our way. The “Wise Men” of Matthew 2 rejoiced when they saw the Christmas star in Matthew 2:10 (the first use of CHAIRO in the NT). The shepherd of the ninety-nine and one sheep in Matthew 18 rejoices when he finds the one lost sheep. These are instances of rejoicing upon encountering a circumstance that motivates joy. Circumstantial rejoicing is something God designed us to do.

But what about the command to rejoice? This is not the same as plodding along through life and meeting a happy circumstance that inspires joy. Sure, there are surprises along the way that “make our day,” but the Christian life is not designed by God to be a mere series of reactions to the circumstances we encounter. The Christian life is a life of deliberate
joy. Jesus, the “author and finisher of our Faith” exemplified this life of joy and commands it here.

We should also avoid the alternative error. Many, rather than drifting through life with no deliberate joy, being “tossed about by waves” as “circumstantialists,” are trying to pump themselves up with an artificial joy that rings phony in our ears. This kind of bootstrap joy is akin to the person who loves hypocritically. Not having the love of Christ produced within by the Holy Spirit, the hypocrite lover pretends to love because, after all, Jesus commands it. The hypocrite jubilant is similar, and the discerning can spot the lie pretty easily.

So if we aren’t supposed to “fake” it, how can we obey the command to rejoice? Read the explanatory seven words beginning with “for” in v12: you focus on God’s revelation of your situation, not your situation itself! The answer to the hard questions is always “Go to God’s Word.” Careful, though, we go the Word not for “relevant answers” to our little questions but for life, for wisdom, for embracing our Father. And there we find better answers than our questions, answers that really satisfy.

CHAIRO can also mean “Hail,” which is the outer expression of inner joy at seeing someone you are glad to see. “Hail to the King,” a rejoicing at his presence, is how the king’s subject is supposed to feel at seeing him. Few today know about this connection between word meanings and our cultural expressions. We hear the band play “Hail to the Chief” whenever the president appears at a public gathering. We think it means honor–and it does–but the sense of honor is that we are overjoyed at his presence. The Christian life is inside-out, not like our hypocritical, shallow niceties that amount to public manners. You can say “Hail to the Chief” and be anything but rejoicing inside. Yet when we hail our King of Kings, the obvious motivation should be “joy inexpressible and full of glory.”

The Context

Perhaps there was never a more important verse to read in its context than Matthew 5:12, one of the most exciting and encouraging commands we will find in the Bible. This verse is the conclusion to the famous Matthew 5 Beatitudes, the nine beloved pronouncements of “blessed are you,” which really emphasize the resultant inner happiness of those who are blessed by God. \

To understand the full impact of v12, you have to read verse 11, for the two are a package deal. “Blessed (Happy) are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. ” (Matthew 5:11, NAS) The context for the command to rejoice is persecution for Jesus’ sake. Not just any persecution: He says, “because of Me.” Some misappropriate this encouragement for self-inflicted “persecution,” which really means painful and appropriate consequences for foolish choices. We rejoice now in view of great future reward in Heaven despite, and really because of, great suffering here and now. The reason for the suffering that draws “reward” is His marvelous Name.

The broader context of this counter-intuitive blessing package is the “Sermon on the Mount,” where Jesus teaches the first of the five major Discourses around which Matthew organized his Gospel. This teaching event called a “Sermon,” Jesus presents the truth of God’s Righteousness and explains how the Mosaic Law required that Righteousness from Israel inside-out. The heart is the target of the Lord’s teaching, and this was in direct contradiction to contemporary teachers of the Law. The historical setting is very important. The Pharisees and their associates, who were the best “students” of the Law, had actually twisted it to be a system of external behavior whereby man could act righteously and somehow please God by his fleshly energy. The teaching of the Pharisees and the teaching of Jesus were exact opposites of one-another, in other words, though they used the same Text. That opposition would take Jesus to the Cross, for which we read in Hebrews 12:2 He actually rejoiced as He taught us to do in Matthew 5:11-12!

Three Thoughts

1. Joy can and should be the deliberate experience of the believer in Jesus Christ despite horrific circumstances, including persecution of all kinds.

2. Hypocritical, artificial joy is deliberate but not genuine.

3. Jesus showed us how to have real joy despite trying circumstances: focus on what God has said in His Word, rather than what others say. Truly, if every day for you has as its primary focus your encounter with the Living God in His Word, you will be able to obey this command.

Passage to Pray

Matthew 5:1-12

Memory Verse: Matthew 5:11-12

““Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. ” (Matthew 5:11–12, NAS)