Podcast of Voices of the Martyrs" (MP3)
Acts 3:12-19
Psalm 4
1 John 3:1-7
Luke 24:36b-48
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Martyrs are seen as a different breed of people, a different breed of Christians in particular. There is a lot of truth in this statement. The list of Christian martyrs is long and storied. Stephen is recognized as the first Christian martyr. In the year 34, months after the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord, Stephen stood before the Sanhedrin unjustly charged with speaking “blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”[1] At his trial, the Chief Priests and the Elders asked him the first great question of faith, the Easter question, “Is it true?”
Stephen’s answer did three things. He began by recounting the great history of the faith. Stephen affirmed the magnificence of what all Jews believed. From his lips he told of the greatness of the Patriarchs. He spoke of the words and deeds of Moses. He ended these words with the splendor of Solomon and the temple.[2]
This brings us to the second thing Stephen’s answer did for his judges, they were appeased. He was speaking the truth in words they understood and with the deference they expected to hear. So far, so good. The judges were undoubtedly pleased with Stephen’s words and more relaxed that he was not speaking blasphemy.
This is when Stephen dropped the hammer. After sharing the history of the faith and putting his earthly judges at ease Stephen began his diatribe at human rulers who would neglect the Lord crying “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised.” He declared these rulers to be just like their ancestors, men who sought the power of their own works and wisdom over the power of the Lord. He accused them of resisting the Holy Spirit, murdering the Lord Jesus Christ as he accused their ancestors of killing the prophets who predicted the coming of the Righteous One.
This is the third and literally the last thing Stephen’s words did, he told the Sanhedrin exactly who Jesus was and who they were, sealing his fate. For this, he was dragged out of the city and stoned to death.
There is an old joke among bible study groups. It’s not very funny, but not all old jokes are. When considering the spiritual gifts, the least popular gift is martyrdom, but that’s because you only get to use it once. Like I said, it’s not very funny, but on top of that, it’s a misunderstanding of what being a martyr means.
The word martyr is adapted from ancient Greek. It means witness, that’s all. Its ancient root comes from a word that means “to remember.” So basically, a martyr is “one who remembers.” Massaging this a little more it means, “‘one who has knowledge of something by recollection, and who can thus tell about it,’ i.e., the witness.”[3] In the language of the day, a martyr was a witness in a legal proceeding of course, but this word has a more general usage too.[4]
In its broader use, to be a martyr also signifies “the proclamation of views of truths of which the speaker is convinced.”[5] This way, a martyr can be a witness to something that cannot be proven by observation or scientific experimentation. This doesn’t stand up in any court of law, but in the church it is very important. Scripture teaches us “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”[6] Understanding faith as confidence in what cannot be proven by observation or scientific experimentation is being a witness, a martyr to the Lord.
As we heard in last week’s gospel reading, those who did not see Christ’s physical presence, those who did not see his deep wounds; those who do not have the experiences of the first disciples and still believed, they are blessed.[7]
In short, there are two kinds of martyrs, those who are witnesses of events and facts, and those who are witnesses in the sense of evangelical confession.[8]
If you are wondering where this is leading then wonder no more. Jesus told his disciples, “You are witnesses of these things.”
Our reading doesn’t seem to be very important as resurrection experiences go. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of drama in it. This passage begins with the disciples who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus returning to the place where the disciples were staying to share the Good News of his appearance. While sharing the Good News of the resurrection, Jesus shows up on his own with that wonderful offer, “Peace be with you.”
They were startled and frightened, and who with any sense wouldn’t be startled and frightened. They thought they were seeing a ghost. Jesus asks, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself!” While the English is clumsy, the disciples did not hear Jesus say “It is I myself.” They heard him say “I AM,” invoking the name of the Lord to declare his presence.
Then comes a piece, a fact, evidence that Luke the Good Physician would value highly, “Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones.” This is the kind of witness a physician can get behind.
With this they were filled with joy and wonder and disbelief. Let’s face it, this isn’t the combination we expect, but it is true. So Jesus, again in a way a doctor would understand, asks if anyone has a bite to eat.
Literature and cinema have recently been on an “undead” binge. There have been a ton of books and movies and TV shows about vampires and zombies.[9] There has been debate about the dining habits of these characters in real honest-to-goodness academic study. (So some people have too much time on their hands… what can I say…) One of these great debates is currently coming down on the side of saying that these undead have neither human digestive needs nor working human digestive systems. In short the undead do not eat like we do.
Jesus breaks bread. Jesus shares food. Christ is not reanimated. Christ lives.
Over a simple meal, Jesus opens the minds of the disciples. Jesus shows them how his life and death and resurrection fulfill the scriptures. He tells them that they are witnesses of these things.
They are witnesses of truth. They are witnesses who have seen with their own eyes. They have seen the events of history and prophecy unfold in their lifetimes. They are now witnesses of historical events and evangelical confession. They, more than anyone else, are equipped to testify that Jesus is Lord.
The word Jesus uses to say they are witnesses is the same word we use to get our word martyr. Jesus has appointed these disciples to be the first martyrs. Their words are the first voices of the martyrs.
As I said, we cannot be witnesses in the “witness of events” form of the word. We are left with evangelical confession. To live into Christ’s gospel, we need to be witnesses. We need to add our voices to those of the martyrs.
The current issue of “The Christian Century” begins with Editor John M. Buchanan’s comment called “Life after resurrection.” In his editorial, he writes that one of the lessons of the resurrection is that “goodness and truth are not ultimately overwhelmed by evil and untruth, regardless of what is transpiring at any particular historical moment.”[10]
He is more than willing to accept that at any given moment of history this sounds “far-fetched, unrealistic, and naïve.”[11] There are days when the definition of martyr goes beyond simple witness and moves all the way into that more common view; the witness who shares the truth into peril and death.
The first century was a particularly difficult time for Christ’s followers. Of the original disciples, Christian tradition has only one of the twelve facing a death not wrapped in violence. Of the twelve, only John was thought to die of old age. The remaining disciples were crucified, stoned, flayed, beheaded, clubbed, skewered, and axed to death.[12] Judas gets special mention for his suicide. The witness of their lives; their witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ; almost without exception ended violently.
But not all stories of martyrdom end like this.
Pastor Richard Wurmbrand was a Romanian Lutheran/Anglican pastor, who had worked with the underground church in Romania after it was taken over by the Soviet Union in 1944. It wasn’t easy being a Christian behind the iron curtain. Among the tricks he taught believers is that when you carried bibles into countries that forbid sharing the Good News, walk backward. That way, when the police tried to track you, if they weren’t careful they would end up going the wrong way.
One night, after the Soviet invasion of Romania Pastor Wurmbrand stood up for Christ at a community meeting. Consequentially he was imprisoned for fourteen years. He was freed only after a ransom was paid for his release.
In 1967 he founded The Voice of the Martyrs, an international alliance of Christian mission organizations. These missions aim to raise awareness about the many thousands of Christians annually who are killed, tortured, imprisoned or harassed for their beliefs. Funded through donations of supporting churches and individuals, these organizations also provide practical assistance to persecuted Christians throughout the world. [13]
I said that there is a lot of truth in saying that martyrs are a different breed of people, but as true as this is, there is also truth that the voice of the martyr is as common as fresh air and refreshing as cold water. So how do we live into our commitment to a life of being witnesses to Christ in the world?
Tom White, the current Director of The Voice of the Martyrs offers these suggestions:[14]
· First and foremost, we need to pray. We need to pray that the Holy Spirit give us specific people, situations, and things to pray for. We need to learn about those who share the witness of Christ crucified with the world and lift them.
· We need to continue to meet together to stand in unity with those who risk their lives by meeting together.
· We need to share the gospel. Support missionaries. Support the work of bible translators and bible distributers. Remember that love and encouragement may not spend the same way a dollar does, but the blessings can last longer for those who send and receive encouragement.
· Write, write, write—Share the Good News and the work of those who share the Good News with elected officials, appointed officials, newspapers. Shoot, share this news with Georgia so for the church newsletter because evangelism, sharing the Good News, begins at home!
· Share the Good News with your friends and neighbors.
In my opinion, this last one is the sticky one. It’s easy to do those first things from our computers and from the comfort of our homes. This last suggestion puts us out in the community with our faith on our sleeves. We get to remember that not everybody is blessed with the same gifts; the Lord does not expect everyone to be a great orator. I expect the Lord doesn’t want everyone to be a great orator because all talk and no action is not the Good News.
We need to live our lives as a witness to the reality, the importance, and the implications of the resurrection. We need to live knowing that we can never be good enough to go to earn God’s love. We need to live knowing that if we wait until “we’re right with God” before living a life worthy of God we will never live a life worthy of God. We need to live knowing that a picture is worth a thousand words, especially when that picture is a life lived in the peace of Christ, a peace offered when Jesus comes to us.
Remember this lesson from this resurrection appearance, we don’t go to Christ, Christ comes to us.
In the words of The Christian Century’s John M. Buchanan, “then came the resurrection! For the disciples, this meant that his ideas were true, that working for their realization would always be holy work, work worth living for and dying for.
“Everything is different because we now live in a world where death did not have the final word, where truth and goodness and love are the final realities, and where a resurrection has happened.”[15]
On a final note, let me add this note of encouragement from The Voice of the Martyrs. The book where I got the story about Pastor Richard Wurmbrand is from a collection that took its title from the Jesus movement of the 1960’s and a popular Contemporary Christian song from 1995, “Jesus Freak.” Tom White ends his introduction with these words of support: “The greatest encouragement I can give my fellow Jesus Freaks is that you are never alone… Continue to set your light—Jesus Christ—on a hill.”[16]
With this advice, all I can add is “amen.”
[1] Acts 6:11, 12
[2] Acts 7:2-47
[3] “Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.” Gerhard Kittel, Editor. Vol. IV. Grand Rapid, MI: Eerdmans, 1967, page 475.
[4] Ibid, page 477.
[5] Ibid, page 478
[6] Hebrews 11:1
[7] John 20:29
[8] Ibid Kittel, pages 489, 492.
[9] I wanted to add “You can’t swing a dead cat without it coming back to life.” but that joke would have been for me and not the glory of God. Hooray for the endnote!
[10] Buchanan, John M., “Life after resurrection” in “The Christian Century.” April 18, 2012, Vol. 129, No. 8. Page 3.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Apostle (Christian), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Apostles#Deaths_of_the_twelve_apostles, retrieved April 21, 2012.
[13] Voice of the Martyrs, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_the_martyrs, retrieved April 21, 2012 and dcTalk and the Voice of the Martyrs, Inc (VOM, Inc.), “Jesus Freaks, Stories of Those Who Stood for Jesus: The Ultimate Jesus Freaks.” Tulsa , OK
[14] Paraphrased from Ibid dcTalk and VOM, Inc.., pages358-361
[15] Ibid. Buchanan
[16] Ibid dcTalk and VOM, Inc, page 13
Good work, Paul. Thanks.
ReplyDelete