If I were to look at the life of Christ, I
would not want to be in His shoes. John summarized His life pretty well: “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the
world was made through him, the world did not recognize him” (John 1:9-10). From his
birth to his resurrection, he experienced rejection:
- He was denied a decent place to be born in Bethlehem by inn keepers (Luke 2:17)
- He was intended to be killed by the ruler King Herod (Matt 2:16)
- He was belittled by reflective thinkers like Nathaniel (John 1:45-46)
- He was rejected by His religious leaders (Mark 11:27-12:17)
- He was disowned by His own town mates (Luke 14:14-30)
- He was the subject of suspicion by the masses (Mark 5:17)
- He was deserted by His other disciples (John 6:66)
- He was denied by His closest friend Peter (John 18:15-27)
- He was doubted by His own disciple (John 20:24-29)
- He was the subject of conspiracy by the chief priests (Matt 28:11-15)
Worst of all, He was so hated by many that he
ended by being murdered.
The
Persecuted Church
The night before he died, he had a serious
conversation with His disciples, and some are these words:
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would
love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have
chosen you out of the
world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is
not greater than his master.’ If they
persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will
obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent
me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now
they have no excuse for their sin.23 Whoever hates me
hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they
have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written
in their Law: ‘They
hated me without reason.’ (John 15:18-25).
These are not very encouraging words. They
are extremely gloomy words. But the fact is clearly stated by Jesus: His
followers will be rejected and persecuted, just as He experienced the same. In
other words, if the church is the body of Christ, then just as the head
experienced suffering at the hands of the world, so should the body expect the
same. This is what it means for the church to be the body of the crucified
Christ. John said, “Do not be
surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you” (1
John 3:13).
Truly, just as Jesus said, the church has
always been under persecution. The beginning of radical persecution that even
led to brutal murders started in AD 40, during the reign of Emperor Nero.
Historians report that during his reign, Christians were used as human torches
to light Rome. Christians were fed to wild animals. They were burned alive.
They were beheaded, if they were Roman citizens. They became entertainment at
the arena. They were stripped naked and displayed for the world to see and
mock. They suffered shame and death, just like Jesus did. Some of the disciples
died brutally. Peter was crucified upside-down in AD67/68. James son of Zebedee
was put to death by Herod Agrippa in AD44. John brother of James died at Patmos
as an exile between AD89-120. Andrew is reported to have been crucified at
Achaia.
Up until today, the church still suffers at
the hands of the world. Rejection, persecution, and mockery come from religious
communities (e.g. Islam), from atheists (e.g. Dawkins, etc.), and from immorals
(e.g. LGBT community). And just like Jesus Christ and the Christians of the
early church, Christians today suffer shame and death.
For
the Sake of Others
We have all decided to follow Jesus, and
hopefully there is no turning back from such a commitment. Jesus Christ did not
turn back from His commitment to us, although it has cost Him everything. Christ
embraced the cross for the sake of others and the world. Such is also the challenge
for us. We endure pain and shame not because we are masochists, but because we
are thinking of others. But in particular, we are thinking of Jesus Christ.
Jesus did not flee from the cross, but
accepted it. The church must be the same. Just as Christ was crucified for the
world, the church is also called to take up the cross for the world. Just as
the suffering of Christ leads to the salvation of humanity, our sacrificial
suffering can lead others to Christ. The paradox of the Christian experience is
that even our suffering can be used by God as a testimony to Him. Luke
writes: “They will seize you and persecute you. They will hand
you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before
kings and governors, and all on account of my name. And so you will bear testimony to me”
(Luke 21:12-13).
In fact, suffering for Christ is an integral
part of our being witnesses. This is particularly highlighted in Acts 1:8, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on
you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth.” The Greek word used for “witnesses” is martyrion, where we get the English word “martyr” today. So,
literally, Jesus is saying: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes
on you; and you will be my
martyrs in Jerusalem, and in all
Judea and Samaria, and to the
ends of the earth.”
Two things are important
here: First, our witness involves being martyrs. Being a
martyr might mean different for us today, but in the NT era, this meant being
killed publicly. Our witness as Christians is tied to our willingness to accept
suffering, pain, and shame. Secondly, we
need the Holy Spirit to empower us. On our own, we are incapable of rising
above ourselves and our instinct to steer away from pain and humiliation. We
are creatures of self-preservation, and apart from God’s empowerment, we will
always be “me-people.” It is only when we are able to look beyond ourselves,
our own needs, our comfort, even our lives that we are able to truly accept our
calling as witnesses of Christ.
It is probably just coincidence, but it seems
that being witnesses/martyrs of Christ really involve persecution. The call of
Acts 1:8 is to be martyrs in Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth; Acts
8:1 later says, “On that day a great persecution
broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were
scattered throughout Judea and
Samaria” (Acts 8:1).
I am not saying that we
must be persecuted in order to become witnesses. But a wholehearted acceptance
of possible persecution and suffering is what’s important. According to John
Piper, “comfort and ease and affluence and
prosperity and safety and freedom often cause a tremendous inertia in the
church.” The church must be careful in investing a lot of its efforts and
resources for the sake of providing comfortable and relaxing worship
experience, because it might produce Christians who are self-centered,
apathetic, and pre-occupied with security and comfort. In the parable of the
sower, Jesus said that “the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come
in and choke the word, making it unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). John Piper once said:
“Persecution can have harmful effects on the church. But prosperity, it seems,
is even more devastating to the mission to which God calls us.”
There is power in suffering. In fact, we are
saved precisely by the suffering of another human being for us. The forgiveness
of our sins is grounded in the sacrificial suffering of Christ. That is the
power of the cross. Paul writes: “The message
of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being
saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
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