Martyrdom
The ultimate challengeby Bob Morris
Adapted from message delivered in 2005 at Little Trinity Anglican Church, Toronto
On October 16, 1555 (450 years ago), Dr.Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London,
and Mr.Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, were burned at the stake across from
Balliol College at Oxford University in England for refusing to recognize the
authority of the Pope over the Church of England. Those responsible for the
execution gave them one more chance to recant, but Ridley in a strong voice
said, “As long as the breath is in my body I will never deny my Lord
Christ and his known truth: God’s will be done in me”.
As the fire was started at Ridley’s feet, Latimer said his famous words, “Be of good comfort Mr.Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England, as I trust shall never be put out”. Ridley and Latimer “with wonderful loud voices” cried out, “Lord, receive my spirit.” Latimer died quickly, but the poorly lit fire consumed Ridley’s lower body before even scorching his upper torso. He cried out “Lord have mercy upon me, let the fire come unto me, I cannot burn, I cannot burn”. And so he died in anguish.
These and other stories are told in endless horrific detail by John Foxe in his Book of Martyrs—stories of the many people in England who, during the reign of Queen Mary, were burned at the stake for refusing to compromise their faith; people who went to their deaths singing hymns, and some even clapping their hands with joy as the flames consumed their flesh.
Paul, writing from prison to the church in Philippi said, “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
What special spirituality did Paul and these people have which enabled them to die, and in some cases, die joyfully, for what they believed? Why, when so many more people give in to compromise or fear, are these people able to endure unbearable pain and loss? Do they have something significant to teach those of us who live in the pluralistic and comfortable culture of today?
Other questions come to mind: Who, in fact does face persecution and martyrdom in 2005? How must we respond to the knowledge of the fact that fellow believers are suffering for their faith today? And finally, is Christian martyrdom different from that in any other religious tradition?
Can we at all relate to those days? What do we think of John Rogers, who, when on his way to be burned at Smithfield was met by his wife and ten children plus an eleventh suckling at her breast, and was given one more opportunity to recant, but refused? As Foxe writes, “This sorrowful sight of his own flesh and blood could nothing move him, but that he cheerfully took his death in defense of Christ’s gospel”. I’m sure some of us would question his decision and his sense of priorities.
When we speak of martyrdom, I suspect we are more familiar with martyrs of the past than those of today. Stephen, considered the first martyr of the Christian church, often comes to mind. He has been the inspiration and model for many a persecuted Christian since his day. It was his final words that Latimer and Ridley and countless other martyrs quoted on the way to their terrible deaths. But the writer of Hebrews celebrates many other heroes of the faith who
“were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned, they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them.” (Hebrews 11:35-38)
Did those who lived and died in those early years of the Christian church have a greater zeal, more sincere faith and a greater commitment to Christ than the church of our day? Not necessarily. Certainly not, if you measure it by the number of martyrs. More Christians have lost their lives because of their faith in the last fifty years than the total of martyrs in the first 300 years of the church. This year alone it is estimated that 157,000 Christians will die for their faith—157,000 martyrs, depending on how you define martyr.
Before we go any further, perhaps we should define our terms. The word martyr is a transliteration from the Greek word martus meaning witness. So Jesus in Acts 1:8 said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my marturoi (witnesses).” However, the word martus did not have the connotation of death until the end of the second century, when the church was using the word martyr to denote a believer who voluntarily died for his confession of Christ. The dictionary definition of martyr is “one who submits to death rather than renounce his religion.” It is unlikely that the 157,000 Christians David Barrett estimates as martyrs in 1995 died after being given the opportunity to renounce their faith. Most of them probably died with no choice at all, but merely because they were Christians.
In contrast there are some well-known examples of Christian martyrs in our day who deserve the full meaning of that name. Albania is known as the land of martyrs. Uganda in the 1970’s was 70% Christian when Idi Amin began his reign of terror, in which 100,000 people died in just the first two years. Eventually the leaders of the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches became the specific target of his wrath and godly men like Anglican Archbishop Janani Luwum paid with their lives. During the 1990s the Iranian church became the Church of Martyrs. In 1990 Rev. Hosein Soodmand was tortured and executed. Just prior to that, The Ministry of Islamic Guidance had told some protesting pastors that, “We intend to execute every Muslim convert, and Rev. Soodmand will be the first.” Since then, Mehdi Dibaj and many others have been killed. In January 1994, Bishop Haik Hovsepian-Mehr, President of the Council of Protestant Churches in Iran, died of multiple stab wounds by unknown assailants after protesting the impending execution of Dibaj.
What does all this have to say to us? Hopefully a number of things.
First of all, it is significant to note that most if not all martyrdoms of the world today will take place outside of North America. Perhaps this is obvious, but it must inform our response. Most martyrdoms will take place in situations where Biblical Christianity is in the minority, and people lose their lives merely by being faithful. Faithfully living as a Christian in Iran or Bhutan or Nepal, is to be marginalized, disenfranchised, despised. Living out the Christian life is worthy of death. Particularly vulnerable are those who come to Christ from a background in another religion. In the early days of missions in the lawless North West Frontier provinces of Pakistan, missionaries had an unusual custom. Every time they planned a public baptismal service for Pathans, they also planned for their funerals. Their experience was that within 24 hours of a Pathan publicly declaring his faith in Christ, he was shot. In case you think that day has entirely gone, you should read a recently published book called “The Law of the Apostate in Islam,” an English translation of a very influential Pakistani philosopher/theologian Mawdudi who died in 1979. One chapter is entitled “Proof from the Qu’ran for the Commandment to Execute the Apostate.” Execution of the “apostates” is the unpublicized, unwritten rule of Islam everywhere.
So how should we respond to the knowledge that our brothers and sisters elsewhere are being disenfranchised, tortured and killed for the sake of the gospel?
1. Certainly our first response must be to pray for them, to enter into their struggles and ask God to have mercy on them and pray for those who take them the gospel.
It is a very sobering thought for those of us seeking to present Christ to people living in countries antagonistic to the gospel, that the discipleship to which we are calling them will demand far more from them than we ourselves will ever be forced to give. Preaching the gospel is the height of presumption, unless God himself asks us to do it. So pray for the persecuted and those who minister to them. If you would like to inform yourself of the facts, I will be glad to put you in touch with people like Middle East Concern who carefully document the facts of those believers in the Middle East who are persecuted and killed for their faith.
2. Secondly, as members of the body of Christ. we must exert what influence we can to ameliorate their suffering and expose the tyranny that allows it.
There are a number of examples where people have been released from jail or acquitted of false charges as a result of Christians around the world writing to the authorities responsible. Once again, if you wish for names and addresses, we can help you get them. Something as simple as your writing a letter may be the difference of life or death for a brother or sister in the Middle East or elsewhere.
3. Thirdly, we must learn from their deep faith in God.
When the writer of Hebrews talked of the many that were tortured and killed, it was in the context of describing men and women of faith. As people who live North America, self-absorbed and preoccupied with ensuring ourselves of a stable country, meeting the next mortgage payment or finding a cheap can of tuna, we need to rediscover the heroic faith that refuses to compromise on spiritual essentials.
What we must learn from our fellow Christians overseas is that you don’t have to be a spiritual giant to become a martyr—you just have to be a faithful Christian. Increasingly as Christians become marginalized in Canada and the United States, spiritual faithfulness alone will invite persecution and abuse. Let’s arm ourselves with their faith and be prepared to stand firm.
But what of martyrdom in other faiths? As I am sure you are aware, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism themselves have strong traditions of martyrdom in their history and present experience. One of the most vivid images of the Iran/Iraq war was waves of teenage boys being sent into the teeth of Iraqi guns armed with nothing but plastic dog-tags on which were written words from the Qu’ran promising them Paradise if they died in the jihad against Iraq. Do you remember the suicide bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut? One of the few Marines who survived the massive blast was the Marine at the security gate who watched the suicide bomber crash through. He recounted later his incredulity at seeing the bomber grinning broadly at him and giving the “thumbs up” sign just before triggering the explosion which took him and more than 250 Marines into eternity. And finally, the pictures from the Viet Nam War where Buddhist monks doused themselves with gasoline in downtown Saigon and burned themselves to death.
What is the difference between Christian martyrdom and others? Is martyrdom in any religion just a mark of the fanatic, or is Christian martyrdom distinctive and a positive spiritual virtue? If so, how is it different from others? The key is in Paul’s words in Phil.1:21, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." What distinguishes Christian martyrdom from others is that it is never an escape from the troubles of this life. The Christian affirms life in all its fullness, and seeks always to serve the people of this life no matter what it may cost. Life on earth is to be celebrated and lived to the full, because God loves the world and sent his Son to die for it. His glory is seen in creation, including in human beings with all their strife and perversity. To live and continue living is for the Christian to live for Christ, to be transformed into his likeness and to share him with those who walk in darkness. For the Christian, death should never be just an escape from the responsibilities of this life. For us, to live is Christ, and serve others in his name.
On the other hand, the Christian does not value life in this world at the expense of the world to come. We do not hold life so dear that we are not ready to lay down our lives for what really counts for eternity. “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2Cor.4: 17) and for this reason, “to die is gain.. To be with Christ is better by far (Philippians 1: 23). So, Christians with Paul are torn between the two. The option we choose is determined by what best glorifies God and serves our neighbours.
The last point to consider is, “What really does martyrdom have to do with me personally in 2005?” The odds of my facing the terrible choice of living or dying for my beliefs are very slim indeed. So, is this whole exercise just a theoretical consideration of remote possibilities? I think not. I would like to suggest that there are issues we have to deal with today which will prepare us for martyrdom, but have even greater implications for here and now.
The founder of our faith was a martyr. Week by week in the Eucharist we remember his death, because he faced martyrdom, the ultimate challenge, on our behalf, and secured our salvation, which means death is only the beginning of life forever. The thought I would like to leave you with is that Jesus did not face martyrdom on the cross, but in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before. By the time he faced his physical death on the cross, all the issues had been settled. It is in the Garden that we must join Jesus. It is there that we must learn to face death, to understand martyrdom and its challenge. It is in the Garden of Gethsemane that we can enter into the struggles of brothers and sisters around the world who face persecution and death.
Jesus’ call to every one of us is “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it”. (Mt.16:24-25). Martyrdom is not the logical conclusion of a life lived for God; it is its prerequisite. Spiritual martyrdom is the entrance requirement. Have you died yet today? Paul told the Corinthians “I die every day” (I Cor.15:31). Have we consciously said to God “I will not cling to any material thing that will prevent my living for you. I will make no demands for happiness or comfort or health or freedom from pain except what you grant. I will not insist on doing things my way”? That’s what Jesus had to struggle with in the Garden, “Not my will but yours be done.” God’s will was that Jesus die for the sins of the world, for the sinners of the world, so that he could bring us into the Kingdom of the Son he loves (Col.1: 13). And he was prepared to have his much-beloved Son die for it. And so was his Son willing to die for the world.
A few years back at a large-scale evangelistic campaign in Toronto about half the people going forward to make commitments were already churched people. Where were the people who never darkened the door of the church? They weren’t at the stadium. I suspect they were where they have been for a long time—out of the reach of Christians; not that they have to be, but where they are because so few of us are willing to leave our comfort zones, our subcultures, our zone of personal security to enter their world and love them for Jesus. On their turf. On their conditions. Speaking a language they understand. That’s at least part of what it means to die for Jesus.
We’re not speaking of Christians with martyr’s complexes who whine and complain about their lot in life. We’re not talking about that pathetic modern substitute for martyrdom, victimhood, which is content to be acted upon and never takes responsibility for its own actions. We say with Leighton Ford in his book The Power of Story, “We may be martyrs...but we are never victims”. We are talking about Christians who celebrate all of life and are willing to put their own lives on the line in order to invite others to the kingdom party. We are talking about Christians willing to die to self in order that others can live in Christ.
Is this sort of “spiritualizing” of martyrdom trivializing it? I don’t think so. Just as Christ, when he wanted to teach his disciples about murder he talked to them of hatred, and when he wanted to teach them about adultery, he spoke to them of lust, so when he asks us to lose our lives for his sake and the gospel’s, when he asks us to take up our cross and follow him, I believe he wants us to begin with the heart, where all the great issues of life are settled.
Joseph Conrad’s character in The Nigger of the Narcissus spoke words echoed by Moraes da Gama in Salmon Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh: “I must live until I die”. The Christian affirms that but adds “I must die until I live.” Or, as Paul said it, “For me, to live is Christ, to die gain.”
The martyrdom Christ calls us to, is to be crucified with Christ so we as self-centred human beings no longer live for ourselves, but Christ lives in us. And the life we live in the body we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. For those who have died with Christ, died to self in the Garden of Gethsemane, physical martyrdom is almost trivial. You cannot kill men and women who have already died; nor need we fear what men and women can do to us in this life. For this reason, we have hope for those in other places who face martyrdom daily and we pray for them. We celebrate their faith by exercising our own.
I Cor.13:3 “If I ... surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing”.
Luke 12:4 “I tell you my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill
the body and after that can do no more...Do not be afraid; you are worth more
than many sparrows”.
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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