Our readings today (Daniel 12 and Revelation 13.11-18) describe times of anguish in which many are deceived and oppressed but where those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.
More than 5,600 Christians were killed for their faith last year. More than 2,100 churches were attacked or closed. More than 124,000 Christians were forcibly displaced from their homes because of their faith, and almost 15,000 became refugees. Sub-Saharan Africa—the epicentre of global Christianity—is now also the epicentre of violence against Christians, as Islamist extremism has spread well beyond Nigeria. And North Korea is back at No. 1 of the top 50 countries where it is most dangerous and difficult to be a Christian, according to the 2023 World Watch List, the latest annual accounting from Open Doors. Overall, 360 million Christians live in nations with high levels of persecution or discrimination. That’s 1 in 7 Christians worldwide, including 1 in 5 believers in Africa, 2 in 5 in Asia, and 1 in 15 in Latin America.
Tradition has it that Catherine of Alexandria was a girl of a noble family who, because of her Christian faith, refused marriage with the emperor as she was already a 'bride of Christ'. She is said to have disputed with fifty philosophers whose job it was to convince her of her error, and she proved superior in argument to them all. She was then tortured by being splayed on a wheel and finally beheaded. The firework known as the Catherine Wheel took its name from her wheel of martyrdom.
The Greek word "martus" signifies a "witness". It is in this sense that the term first appears in Christian literature; the Apostles were "witnesses" of all that they had observed in the public life of Christ. The Apostles, from the beginning, faced grave dangers, until eventually almost all suffered death for their convictions. Thus, within the lifetime of the Apostles, the term martus came to be used in the sense of a witness who at any time might be called upon to deny what he testified to, under penalty of death. From this stage the transition was easy to the ordinary meaning of the term, as used ever since in Christian literature: a martyr, or witness of Christ, as a person who suffers death rather than deny his faith. Catherine of Alexandria was one such.
Paula Fredriksen writes that “The martyrs are a heroic minority. They don't represent a huge popular swelling. We don't have tens of thousands of people being martyred. What we do have, is tens of thousands of people admiring the few who are martyred. So in that sense, the martyr stories have an incredible effect on the imagination of Christians.”
Elizabeth Clark thinks: “the martyrdom stories that got circulated were very important for the development of early Christianity. Several of the martyrdoms … say that there were pagans present … who were so impressed by the... courage of the Christians that they came to see the truth of the Christian religion themselves and immediately converted to Christianity.... Probably, for the most part, though, these martyrdom accounts were written for other Christians to try to bolster the Christians' faith at a time of persecution. To keep up your courage in case this happened to you as well.”
After three decades of their research, Open Doors, who prepared the statistics I shared at the beginning of this sermon, has learned that such needed resilience is found by being “anchored in the Word of God and in prayer.” Also, by being “courageous,” as the persecuted church is most often “active in spreading the gospel” and “vital and growing against the odds.”
As we have reflected, there continue to be Christians who experience persecution or martyrdom today and we must pray for and support our brothers and sisters in the persecuted Church, remembering those many, many places where persecution is real and Christians are being killed regularly and mercilessly or imprisoned and harassed for their resistance to injustice.
While it is, probably, unlikely that we will share with them in that experience, even so, we can still share with them in the other meaning of martus; that of being a witness who gives testimony. We are called, with the Apostles, Saints and Martyrs, to be those who tell our stories of encountering Jesus to others. To do this, we don’t have to understand or be able to explain the key doctrines of the Christian faith nor do we have to be able to tell people the two ways to live or have memorized the sinner’s prayer or have tracts to hand out in order to be witnesses to Jesus.
All we need to do is to tell our story; to say this is how Jesus made himself real to me and this is the difference that has made. That may even be the very best way to celebrate our Patronal Festival.
Paula Fredriksen writes that “The martyrs are a heroic minority. They don't represent a huge popular swelling. We don't have tens of thousands of people being martyred. What we do have, is tens of thousands of people admiring the few who are martyred. So in that sense, the martyr stories have an incredible effect on the imagination of Christians.”
Elizabeth Clark thinks: “the martyrdom stories that got circulated were very important for the development of early Christianity. Several of the martyrdoms … say that there were pagans present … who were so impressed by the... courage of the Christians that they came to see the truth of the Christian religion themselves and immediately converted to Christianity.... Probably, for the most part, though, these martyrdom accounts were written for other Christians to try to bolster the Christians' faith at a time of persecution. To keep up your courage in case this happened to you as well.”
After three decades of their research, Open Doors, who prepared the statistics I shared at the beginning of this sermon, has learned that such needed resilience is found by being “anchored in the Word of God and in prayer.” Also, by being “courageous,” as the persecuted church is most often “active in spreading the gospel” and “vital and growing against the odds.”
As we have reflected, there continue to be Christians who experience persecution or martyrdom today and we must pray for and support our brothers and sisters in the persecuted Church, remembering those many, many places where persecution is real and Christians are being killed regularly and mercilessly or imprisoned and harassed for their resistance to injustice.
While it is, probably, unlikely that we will share with them in that experience, even so, we can still share with them in the other meaning of martus; that of being a witness who gives testimony. We are called, with the Apostles, Saints and Martyrs, to be those who tell our stories of encountering Jesus to others. To do this, we don’t have to understand or be able to explain the key doctrines of the Christian faith nor do we have to be able to tell people the two ways to live or have memorized the sinner’s prayer or have tracts to hand out in order to be witnesses to Jesus.
All we need to do is to tell our story; to say this is how Jesus made himself real to me and this is the difference that has made. That may even be the very best way to celebrate our Patronal Festival.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Delirious? - History Maker.
No comments:
Post a Comment