With The Many Blessings Of Being A Saint, You Will Laugh

11.2.25 Luke 6:20–23

All Saints Day

Looking at his disciples, he said:

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you

and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.”

With the Many Blessings of Being a Saint, You Will Laugh

When it comes to politics, there is a great amount of anger and even hatred over popular political figures on both sides. Wear a MAGA hat, and see what happens. Put on an “AOC for President” shirt, and see what kind of looks you get. We would call them polarizing figures in our society. When Charlie Kirk was assassinated, you would think that the temperature might ratchet down a little, but if anything it might be getting worse.

Jesus said that something similar happens to those who have a different hat on, a different bumper sticker, named “Son of Man.” He said people would hate you, insult you, and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. It’s part of the privilege of being called a “saint,” a believer in Jesus. Jesus called it a blessing.

Jesus often referred to Himself as the “Son of Man” because it WASN’T as politically charged of a term as “Messiah” was. When anyone heard that title, they associated the Messiah with political upheaval and rebellion, the rise of the Jewish nation. And that’s not what the Messiah was really supposed to do, but Jesus couldn’t change the fact that it was misunderstood. So He used this lesser known term from Ezekiel to refer to Himself. But even the Son of Man would bring hatred to those who followed Him.

Why would that happen for the disciples? Back in His day, He called out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of His day. Jesus made fun of their man made rules and openly broke them in front of them. There was one time that he healed a man on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were angry at Him for “working” on the Sabbath. But then Jesus completely embarrassed them. He basically said to them, “You’ll rescue a donkey from a ditch on a Sabbath, but if your fellow Jew has been suffering from a lifelong ailment, you don’t want me to heal him?” They knew that Jesus was getting the people to question their authority, and as time progressed He would have people refer to Him as the Messiah and openly hail Him as King. They hated every inch of His being, along with anyone associated with Him. None of the disciples would be safe. All of them ended up being martyred except for Judas and John. Jesus knew what was going to happen, and He let them know.

Is it still true today? Well, yes, of course. It has recently been reported that in 2025 there has been an average of 32 Christians being killed per day throughout the world specifically for their faith, especially by Muslims in Nigeria. It’s not just in Nigeria. There is a vitriol towards Christianity in the West as well, and there has been for years. I mentioned George Carlin the other week, here’s another thing he had to say in a rejection of Christianity. “I’ve begun worshipping the sun for a number of reasons. It brings me heat, light, food, and a lovely day. . . . And the best thing about the sun, it never tells me I’m unworthy. Doesn’t tell me I’m a bad person who needs to be saved. Hasn’t said an unkind word. Treats me fine. So, I worship the sun.” Yes, that’s it. He nails it in his own comedic way. He didn’t want to be judged.

What really angers our society against Christianity is when we judge things to be sinful, which God’s Word clearly defines as sinful. Homosexuality is a big one. Transgenderism is another. Abortion. It happens within the church as well. There are children who stop talking to their parents because their parents keep talking to them about coming back to worship. Or maybe they have a drinking problem. Maybe they start living together with someone outside of marriage. So when their parents or their pastor calls, they just stop answering the phone. They stop coming to worship. When you try to reach out, you get nothing but a short answer in anger. “What do you want?!?” It hurts. Most of us don’t want conflict and don’t like conflict. We try to avoid it at all costs. But this happens more often than any of us would wish for.