He withstood violence and cruelty, for the most part in silence. He did not denounce the priests that spit on him and mocked him, did not curse Pilate or Herod for turning Him over to satisfy a bloodthirsty crowd. As He hung on the cross, He did not call down heavenly fire to annihilate those around Him, but asked for their forgiveness.
This model was followed by thousands of Christians after him, calmly facing down the powers of darkness as their earthly bodies were destroyed.
What are we to make of this, sitting here in the United States in our safety and our comfort?
Now, I am not advocating for you to go and have yourself killed by some foreign regime, but think for a moment. How does this idea of persecution, of becoming the scum of the earth, translate into our lives today?
I think that we as American Christians face a similar set of challenges as many did 2,000 years ago. Roman authors that were contemporaries of the early Church considered Christians to be a bunch of worthless idiots. They threw their lives away to follow after a dead man from Nowhere, Judea.
Jesus, while on earth, spoke of His followers' having to bear their crosses to follow Him. What did He mean? That we should learn to cope with the little griefs and disappointments that invariably flare up on the Christian walk? No.
He was talking about loss of life. The cross was a tool of capital punishment, the single most gruesome method that humanity has so far come up with. It was an excruciating death, a humiliating death. It was reserved for the most radical and dangerous criminals.
The cross did not and does not symbolize paltry obstructions on the path of life. It symbolizes a complete departure from that path. I am becoming increasingly convinced that what Jesus was talking about was a total relinquishing of my own ambitions and desires to pursue whatever task He sets me to. Period.
What kind of reaction does living a radical Christ life engender from the world? Persecution. Whether its disdainful looks for sitting with the lonely weird kid in the dining hall or getting fined for illegally feeding the homeless. There is no rule that states that a true Christian life brings persecution, but I think that if you never come up against it in your walk with the Lord, you may want to take a closer look at yourself and see how much you actually look like Jesus.
Paul, when confronted with the irresistible reality of God as revealed in Christ, abandoned everything he knew: his status as a learned Pharisee, his religion, the respect and admiration of his peers. He cast it all aside in his pursuit of Christ.
What are you willing to cast aside? Jesus does not ask the same sacrifices from everyone. For Paul, it was everything. Examine your life. What prevents you from taking up your cross and the radical, sacrificial life that it represents? Cast those things aside, my friends.
" Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Matthew 10:37-39
"If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ..." Philippians 3:4-8
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