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If the gospel message is good news, why then do so many oppose it with hostility and even violence? Jesus, of course, predicted this. He warned us that we'll be confronted with persecution, evil, false teaching, and temptation.
But the Gospel's real enemy is Satan - the one Jesus calls a "murderer" and "father of lies" [Jn 8:44].
Earlier this week, as hospital chaplain, I was visiting the room of a man suffering from a heart ailment. He told me he was no longer a practicing Catholic, having decided to leave the Church the same day he left the Marist Brothers novitiate 50 years ago.
He said he believed in God, loved Jesus, but didn't accept the existence of evil, and he particularly didn't believe in Satan. All the bad things people did were simply the result of selfishness, mental illness, and other psychological disorders.
We had an interesting conversation, and while I don't think I changed his mind, he said he might stop by our church some Sunday and give it a try.
Of course, he's wrong about Satan. Satan's not some psychological construct; no, Satan is very real, and he uses fear and hatred to encourage the persecution of those who follow Jesus Christ.
How did Jesus respond to all this? With love and truth, with forgiveness and mercy.
Only God's love can defeat bigotry, hatred and envy...for only God's love purifies our hearts and minds of all that would tear us apart.
Because Satan deceives and sin blinds the heart and mind, God's truth is also essential. Only God's truth can overcome the evil and tribulation in the world. Only God's truth can free us from error and spiritual blindness. The Truth. That's what the Gospel is, brothers and sisters, God's word of truth and salvation.
That's why Jesus tells his disciples to proclaim the gospel throughout the whole world [Mt 28:19], even in the midst of opposition and persecution [Lk 21:12,16-17]. And He promises his disciples that if they endure to the end they will gain their lives [Lk 21:19]. They will see God's salvation and inherit eternal life and happiness with God.
But such endurance, such perseverance - the ability to remain faithful in the midst of trails, temptations, and persecution - doesn't come from human effort. No, it is a gift, a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit, a gift strengthened by hope: the assurance that we'll see God face to face and inherit His promises. As in all things, we turn to Jesus as our model: Jesus who endured the cross for our sake and salvation; Jesus who in turn calls us to love and to die to ourselves.
Do you know the word martyr in Greek means witness? That's right, true martyrs live and die as witnesses to the Gospel. John in The Book of Revelation calls Jesus "the faithful witness...who freed us from our sins by his blood" [Rev 1:5].
Tertullian, a second century lawyer converted when he saw Christians singing as they went out to die at the hands of their persecutors. He compared the blood of the martyrs to seed, the seed of new Christians, the seed of the church.
St. Augustine spoke of this too: "The martyrs were bound, jailed, scourged, racked, burned, rent, butchered - and they multiplied!" They multiplied because Christian martyrs witnessed to the truth; they witnessed to the joy and freedom of the Gospel; and they did so through the testimony of their lives and their deaths.
A few years ago, while on a cruise ship, Diane and I met a couple at dinner. The man, born and raised just down the road in Bushnell, is now a professor at the University of Florida.
He told us that being a Catholic in Bushnell was a real challenge back then. In fact as a boy he was regularly beaten up after school, just because he was Catholic.
Years later a man approached him and said that he remembered seeing him accept those beatings peacefully, without fighting back. He'd been very moved by this. Even though he'd gone on to become a Baptist minister, his memory of our friend's witness caused him to look into the Catholic Church. He'd since converted and wanted our new friend to know it.
What attracts others to the truth and power of the gospel? Seeing Christians loving their enemies; seeing Christians joyful in suffering, patient in adversity, forgiving of injuries, and showing comfort and compassion to the hopeless and the helpless.
True witnesses pray for their persecutors and love their enemies. In their suffering they witness the truth of the gospel.
Jesus died for us all, gave His life on the cross for Jews and Christians and Muslims, for Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, agnostics and atheists. Yes, indeed, "For God so loved the world..." [Jn 3:16] God doesn't love just part of the world. He loves it all. After all, He created the world and it was good. And He loves each of us. It can't be otherwise because He created each human being in an individual act of love.
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| For God so Loved the World... |
The martyrs witness to the truth - the truth of Jesus Christ and his power to overcome sin and fear, hatred and bigotry, and even death itself.
Most of us are called simply to bear witness to the joy and power of the gospel whatever the challenges, temptations, and adversities we encounter as we follow the Lord Jesus.
But by persevering we are all witnesses; we are all martyrs for Christ.
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