June 3rd, 2020
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Wednesday Words All Saints 6-3-20
Psalm 119: 49 – 72 Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 3: 1 – 15 Galatians 2: 11 – 21
Psalm 49 & Psalm 53 Matthew 14: 1 – 12
When being a Christian is dangerous….
What an interesting week for 2 sets of Christian Martyrs to be among the holy women and holy men that we honor. It seems strange to think about our faith as being dangerous for us, but in much of our history believing in Jesus has not been popular.
Late in the 2nd Century, when Christianity was young and definitely not a legal religion in the Roman Empire, there were 2 small communities in what we know as Southern France. Both communities had seen an influx of Greeks from Asia and Phrygia who brought their Christian faith with them. These foreigners settled in, worked hard, and prospered. Life was good for them!
It is interesting, is it not, how often we do not like it when others not of our tribe, others who are different from us, succeed as well as or better than our tribe. It is always easy to make those who are different the hated other, the feared other.
In about 177 CE, trouble began in the little town of Lyons. We are not sure of the cause, but very conveniently about that time the Roman Emperor took pity on his rich noblemen. Gladiator fights were quite popular with the people but procuring gladiators from other towns cost a lot of money. The Emperor announced that the noblemen could provide local victims to go against the gladiators. Messy, but an efficient way to execute those who were causing trouble. Christians were an easy target.
For years Christians had lived under heavy restrictions in Lyons – they were not allowed at the public baths or in the market. Eventually they were not allowed to go to any public places. Christians were considered polluted and outcaste because they did not worship the Roman gods. Christians – young and old, male and female, free and slaves – were targeted.
We know the stories of several of those sacrificed: the much loved and respected Bishop, Pothinus, an old man 90 years old, was tortured and beaten to death. A young slave girl, Blandina, tortured and hung on a stake as food for wild beasts. Ponticus, a 15-year-old boy, was thrown to the lions. Attalus was dragged through the streets, tortured, then beheaded when the local Governor found out that he was a Roman citizen.
Moving to more modern times, the Anglican Church Missionary Society began working in Uganda in 1877, and by the end of the 1900s, close to 25% of Ugandans were Christians. In the early days of Christian work there, the king at the time had many young men as pages in his court. These young men acted as the king’s personal and household servants.
This particular king was a pedophile and included the power to rape the young men who served him at will. As some of the Christian young men refused him because of their faith, the king became angrier and angrier. On June 3, 1886, in a rage he called all the pages before him. Any who would not deny being a Christian were immediately given a death sentence. That very day, 32 young men, both Anglican and Catholics, were burned to death in a single funeral pyre. These young men are honored today for their faithfulness.
Why would we want to talk about these terrible events? For several reasons: we need to be reminded of the steep price many have paid for this our faith. With a church on every corner, we rarely think about being persecuted for our faith. In fact, we find it so foreign that we resist being even uncomfortable for our faith. How easily we can be stopped from talking about God even in simple conversation.
We have the right, the privilege, the freedom to worship God anytime, any way that we choose. It is easy to forget that many are being killed around the world this day, this very minute just for being Christians. The sad thing, it seems to me, is how often we choose NOT to worship the gracious, loving God who seeks us out.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
