"Happy are you when people will reproach you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of gushing misery against you falsely, on account of me. Rejoice and be glad because your upward vision reward is great, for thus they persecuted previous people, the ones who had spoken out." From Jesus' day to ours, the response to those who speak out for justice and all that is right is often one of bitter recrimination and personal attack. Note that the word often translated "evil" is here "gushing misery." In this instance Holy Wind Living Breath New Testament retains the etymologically based translation of the ENT. The particular kind of evil that Jesus speaks of here is a gushing misery, one that flows from a deep hatred of fairness. Also notice that the hallmark of this kind of person is that they are false. False in their reproach of others and even false to their own best selves. Yet we are encouraged to "rejoice and be glad." Our upward vision reward, our compensation of the highest and best vision of life, is great. And, we have for company all those who have spoken out in earlier generations. Often translated "prophets", one reads "those who have spoken out" in Authentic Teaching of Jesus. The word "prophet" is merely a transliteration of the Greek word. In HWLB, as found in Authentic Teaching of Jesus, a very literal sense of the word is captured by the phrase "those who speak out." When we speak out for the poor, we join with those who have spoken out in their time for equality and integrity in our world.
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