Hebrews 11:29--12:2
Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, got into trouble again with some off-hand comments about a middle-eastern couple, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention about their son, who had given his life as an American soldier by protecting the lives of his unit. The week went on with Trump and the Khan family throwing statements back and forth at each other. It was yet another sad week in the presidential election race.
The Kahn's son, Captain Humayun Khan, is buried in Arlington Cemetery. Has anyone been there? It is a sad and profound experience to look out over those thousands of uniform rows of white grave markers, and think of all the young men and women whose lives were ended in a war. Viewing Arlington Cemetery had a silencing, and profound effect on me. Thousands of young men and women, lying under the grass and trees, lives ended tragically in a time of war.
It’s a hard reality for me to grasp, totally. Such a sacrifice. Such a loss. Men and women like Captain Khan who died for the value of freedom around the world. 18, 19, and 20 year olds. What direction would human history have taken without the rows and rows of those grave markers? Their deaths have a direct link with the history we are living today.
This is also especially true of the history of the church. Our place as the people of God, followers of Jesus around the world, is a place that stands on the grave sites of Christian martyrs who gave their lives simply because they believed.
I want us to listen to a few of these stories of the martyrdom of the saints, and be sobered into profound silence at what they faced, what they endured, what they sacrificed, so we can sit here today, and worship.
James And Other Disciples
Somehow, perhaps because of his strict observance of the Law, the Pharisees thought they could get James, the brother of Jesus, (called, "James The Lesser") to discourage the people from believing. They asked him to stand at the pinnacle of the temple on Passover and speak. Apparently, James agreed.
They brought him to the top of the temple, and they shouted to him from below: "Oh, righteous one, in whom we are able to place great confidence; the people are led astray after Jesus, the crucified one. So declare to us, what is this way, Jesus?" Obviously, this wasn't a very wise thing for them to do. James was ready to take full advantage of such a wonderful opportunity as this!
His words are memorable: “Why do you ask me about Jesus, the Son of Man? He sits in heaven at the right hand of the great Power, and he will soon come on the clouds of heaven!”
The Pharisees were horrified, but the people were not. The believers began shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" The Pharisees, realizing the awful mistake they'd made, began crying out, "Oh! Oh! The righteous one is also in error!" This had little effect on the crowd.
So the next obvious thing to do was to push James down from the temple, letting the people know exactly what happens to those who dare to believe in Jesus. As the people shouted, the Pharisees threw James from the pinnacle of the temple.
It didn't kill him. He crawled to his knees and began to pray for them. "I beg of you, Lord God our Father, forgive them! They do not know what they are doing." This would not do! The Pharisees began to stone him as he prayed, while those from the roof rushed down to join the execution.
One of the priests shouted, "Stop! What are you doing! The righteous one is praying for you." It was too late. A laundryman took out one of the clubs that he used to beat clothes and smashed James on the head, killing him with one blow.
Other of the apostles and disciples were martyred--most by crucifixion. Mark, the Gospel writer, had a rope tied around his neck and was dragged through the streets until he was dead. Bartholomew was flayed alive and then crucified. John the Evangelist was cooked in boiling oil. All these were killed, simply because they believed in Jesus Christ and sought to spread the Good News.
If you had an angry mob come up to you, an anti-Christ mob, and they said, “We’re going to put a rope around your neck and drag you through the streets of Pratt until you’re dead,” what would you do? Would you start moon-walking backwards, and say something like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa; where did you get the idea I was one of those Jesus freaks?”
If the authorities captured you and tied you to a stake in the middle of town, and started cutting a slit down the middle of your naked chest, while saying, “You’re one of the Jesus believers, aren’t you?” what are you going to do.
Thank God we don’t have to live under that kind of duress and fear and cruelty. But some of our fellow believers in the past, beginning with the time right after Jesus’ death and Resurrection, did face that. They had to make supernatural decisions in moments of immense pain and in the face of cruel death.
We decorate their graves today; and when we place our flowers upon their graves we thank God we didn’t have to live back then and face death like they did, simply because they chose to remain steadfast to the Savior.
Justin Martyr
Rusticus shrugged. "Let's get right to what matters, then. You've been brought here to offer sacrifice, all of you together, to the Emperor and all the gods."
Justin wasn't interested. "No one in their right mind leaves godliness to take up ungodliness."
"You're aware that unless you obey, you will be mercilessly punished?" Rusticus sneered.
Justin answered, "Through prayer we can be saved because of our Lord Jesus Christ, even after we have been punished. This will become salvation and confidence to us at the much more fearful and universal judgment of our Lord and Savior."
The other martyrs echoed his sentiment. "Do whatever you want. We are Christians, and we don't sacrifice to idols."
Rusticus was uncaring. He had done his duty. Rusticus stood to make his pronouncement. "Let those who have refused to sacrifice to the gods and to yield to the command of the emperor be scourged, then let them be led away to be beheaded, according to the laws."
Justin and the others, having glorified God, were taken to the customary place, and their heads were chopped off.
All they had to do was burn a little incense to the Emperor at his shrine and say, “Caesar is lord.” That’s it. And that, only once a year. Doesn’t seem like that big of deal. Just burn the incense, say a few words, and do what you want, worship Christ the rest of the year. And, by the way, save your life. Doesn’t your life seem that much more valuable than making this little annual compromise to what you really believe? Just think how many more people you can serve, in the name of Christ, if you are alive. Certainly God would understand.
But that’s not how Justin and many others saw it. They weren’t willing to compromise their beliefs, even in this little way. They were willing to die, rather than give lip service to the emperor, and by so doing accept standards of belief that are undesirable to God.
How do these men and women hold on to their beliefs so strongly that they aren’t willing to give an inch, and are willing to put their lives on the line rather than move that inch? And why do we so easily compromise our faith every day without a second thought?
We decorate their graves this day; and when we place a wreath for them we wonder by which standards we have lived: With the Justin's, or those of the Rusticus’ of the world?
Jim Elliot And Four Other Men
Five men with Wycliff Bible Translators went to Ecuador in 1952 as missionaries. They wanted to make contact with the Auca tribe, a fierce people who lived deep in the jungles of Ecuador. After about two months of flying over the Auca village with gifts, the missionaries decided it was time to land on a little beach beside the river, close to where the Aucas lived. They would build themselves a tree house to live in, and try to talk to the Aucas.
There were five men altogether: Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Pete Fleming, Roger Youderian, and Ed McCully. They prayed and talked with their wives for a long time before they made the decision to move into the Auca’s country. All of them knew very well that it was dangerous. But they loved God and knew that they belonged to Him.
So they landed their plane beside the river and built a house in a tall tree. Some of the men flew over the Auca village again, calling: “Come down to the river! We want to visit you there!” Then they camped and waited.
On the third day, the men were sitting in their camp, when suddenly they heard a shout from across the river! Their hearts jumped as they turned to look. Three Aucas were stepping out of the woods: a man and two women. Calling out, “Welcome! Welcome!” in the Auca language; Jim waded across to meet them. He took their hands and helped them back across to the missionaries’ camp. The five missionaries tried hard to show the Aucas that they wanted to be friends. They gave them food and gifts, and smiled and talked.
They soon nicknamed the Auca man “George”, and when “George” asked for a ride in the plane, they were happy to give him one! They flew the plane low over the Auca village once more, and George laughed with delight as he recognized his home. He leaned out to wave and yell at the other Aucas. When the plane landed back at camp, the five missionaries gave thanks to God out loud, looking up toward the sky so that the three Aucas could see what they were doing.
That night the three Aucas returned to their village. They did not invite the missionaries to come with them, so Jim and his friends stayed at their camp. That was on Friday. On Sunday, Nate called his wife on the radio to say that a big group of Auca men were coming. “Just in time for a church service!” he told her excitedly. “This is the big day! I’ll call you back this afternoon and let you know what happens!”
So the missionaries’ wives waited eagerly that afternoon. They were hoping to find out if the men had been able to visit the Auca’s village. But the afternoon passed, and the men did not call as they had promised. Night came on and the women began to worry. What could have happened? Were the missionaries safe?
The next day more men took another plane and flew over the camp. They brought back sad news: Jim and Nate and their friends were all dead. The Auca Indians had killed them with their spears!
The five missionaries had guns with them in their camp, but they did not use them to fight the Indians. When the Auca men came toward them with their spears, they did not shoot back with their guns. They knew that if they would shoot the Indians, they could probably save their own lives. But then they would never be able to teach the Aucas about Jesus! So they chose to let themselves be killed, and let the Aucas have another chance to become Christians.
The Aucas always remembered those five strange white men who had been so kind to them and had not tried to kill them. And so a year later when more missionaries tried again to speak to the Aucas about Jesus, they were ready to listen.
Several of the Auca men who had killed Jim and his friends eventually became Christians.
After their deaths, Elisabeth Elliot went to Ecuador with her children, to live with the Auca tribe, and continue the work of her martyred husband and the four other men.
A movie has been made of these 5 men’s bold venture to talk to and communicate the love of God to this Auca tribe. The book and movie has moved countless numbers of people to explore further the Good News of Jesus; and the book and movie has moved countless Christians to raise the level of their Christian witness.
Here were five men, five Christian men, who were armed and could have fought back, and saved their lives. It was self-defense. Even the Bible allows for killing another human being if it is in self-defense or in the defense of a loved one.
But the five men made a choice about using ultimate force. To do so would have compromised both what they believed in, and what they were trying to demonstrate to the Auca tribe about Jesus Christ. Self-defense morality was on a lower level of importance compared to portraying the selflessness and self-sacrifice of their Savior and Lord.
Elisabeth Elliot’s decision to put herself and her children in harms way may have sounded equally immoral and tremendously unwise, if not foolish. But she and her husband believed in a Lord who showed another way that doesn’t make sense to morality and simple prudence.
We decorate their graves today; and when we place the wreath of peace for them, we think about the difficult people we face in life that come at us with spears of hatred, and we wonder if we could put our guns down, catching a vision for that other way.
Ri Hyon Ok
In June 2009, Ri Hyon Ok, a 33 year old woman, was executed in North Korea for giving out Bibles. Ri's husband, three children, and parents were sent to a political prison on June 17, 2009, a day after she was executed in Ryongchon. They have not been heard from since.
Just for giving out Bibles! It boggles my mind about how, for so little a Christian work, people are executed. I have two shelves of Bibles. I had more, but I gave a bunch away before I moved. I can go to just about any bookstore and buy ten more if I wanted. I have the freedom to do that. Evidently not in North Korea. Evidently, people die in North Korea, and in other places on our globe, simply for having a Bible, let alone, giving them away. Amazing.
We decorate her grave today; and when we place a Bible for her there, we think of the many freedoms we take for granted and treat so nonchalantly.
I agree with the writer of the book of Hebrews. In talking about these followers of Jesus who didn’t give up or didn’t give in, the writer of Hebrews states, “...the world doesn’t deserve them.” He describes these followers as those “...making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world.”
Those statements both sadden and encourage me. Maybe they do you too. Maybe we in the world don’t deserve them. But we urgently need them. We need people like them, making such an ultimate sacrifice, simply because they are followers of Jesus. We need to see, by their example, how we have tried to make our Christian journey so easy when in truth it is not.
But there’s another line from this eleventh chapter of Hebrews that catches my attention even more. It is the last line of the chapter.
God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.
Do you understand what he’s saying? He’s saying that we are the reason those believers made the ultimate choices they did. I remember a line from the movie, "Amistad": The main character said, “I am the reason my ancestors existed at all.” That statement is true genetically, and biologically. We are the generational product of our ancestors.
But we are also the faith ancestors of those who came before us. We are not isolated from our past, the history of Christian believers, and the sacrifices they made so we could be sitting here in worship today. Most of you got up this morning and had the decision of sleeping in or coming to worship. Many of our ancestors of the faith woke up one day and had to decide between life and death, simply because they had the audacity to be a follower of Jesus.
And we are the reason our people of the faith in the future exist. When I was living out in Leoti, I worked part time in the church there while also working as a special education para. I was sitting in the grade school cafeteria. In came the kindergartners to eat. Then the first graders. Then the second graders. And I sat there watching all their little excited faces, snarfing down corn dogs many of them waving to me, “Hey Mr. Wing!” I saw these children’s faces, and I knew that my faith, and these children’s one-day-faith must also come together, and I must do my part now, whatever that part is, no matter how ultimate it might become, so that they too can become part of God’s future wholeness.
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