He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:7,8
A witness is a martyr, or it might be better to say that our word martyr meant witness. This is just a guess on my part, but I doubt that there is a similar word in the Islamic lexicon. The West has adapted martyr to fit the perversion that is suicide/homicide bombing, but such actions could only in the most inverted sense have anything to do with the word as Jesus used it.
The association between being a martyr and dying came about because of the persecution of the early Church. It was necessary as a part of being a witness for Christ to endure suffering, imprisonment, torture and even death. Frankly I find it offensive, not just to myself, but to God, to call some half-wit who blows himself up in order to kill innocent little children a martyr. He is a murderer. If he is “witnessing” for his god, then his god is a murderous and despicable entity. In fact I would equate such a god with “the god of this world” of whom Jesus warns us.
Let me hasten to add that not all of Islam holds to such a belief any more than all Christians are like Jim Jones. The terrorist thugs of Syria, Palestine, Iran, and Saudi Arabia are likely as much an offense to the decent Muslims – Sufis and others – as they are to me.
Jesus said that the believer will be clothed and infused with a spiritual power, like plugging a light into an electrical outlet. It is this power than enables me to be a martyr – if I might be allowed to reclaim a valuable mot. This goes beyond any kind of formal or traditional “testimony”, beyond preaching or public displays. To be a martyr in the sense Christ intended is to illuminate my own soul and the spiritual environment wherein I live and move and have my being.
To be a martyr is to bring God into contact with the world.
I don’t get extra credit for this. I don’t get special privileges in heaven, or a heavenly maid who looks like Ava Gardner. It does not involve going out and provoking persecutory responses from the heathen. Being a witness does not necessarily mean that I hand out tracts in the promenade or pester passers-by by singing into a bullhorn. I don’t have to annoyingly knock doors on Saturday mornings.
A martyr’s calling is to live. “The one who believes in Me,” Jesus told those at the graveside of Lazarus, “even if he dies, will live.” The zombies and the vampires won’t like him, and may well make his life tough, attempt to kill him, or even think they have killed him. Nevertheless, he lives.
The martyr’s reward is life – real life, the life of God, being eternal or everlasting in quality and nature.
Church is not the place where Christian salesmen gather to learn the latest marketing scripts. It is the place where martyrs gather to celebrate and renew life in communion. To use the image from the Motel Zero link, it is where we mend our broken cords if need be and get plugged back into the power.
This next point seems important to me, but it may be important only to me. I don’t think the martyr needs to concern himself with who might be watching him. Hebrews chapter 11 talks about the many faithful who had gone before: the patriarchs, the judges, and the prophets. The chapter concludes with these words -- “All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.” Then the twelfth chapter begins with this:
Therefore since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and run with endurance the race that lies before us …
Sometimes I feel just like that light in Robin’s picture. I am forgotten, stuck to a lost wall and useless. Why should I bother? How is my light going to benefit anyone here?
The martyr’s calling is never to the derived temporal world, but, always, his witness is to the eternal realm of the spirit. It may be reflected in the world, but the reality is always a heavenly one. This journey is of necessity one of separation and isolation to a degree. I think if we could see behind the veil it would be a great and terrible sight. Where we walk in shadows there is a blazing light. Where we stand alone there is a vast host.
When the servant of the man of God got up early and went out, he discovered an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. So he asked Elisha, “Oh, my master, what are we to do?”
Elisha said, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us outnumber those who are with them.”
Then Elisha prayed, “LORD, please open his eyes and let him see.” So the LORD opened the servant’s eyes. He looked and saw the mountain was covered with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. -- 2 Kings 6:15-17
3 comments:
I remember growing up reading Foxe's Book of Martyrs as a young boy, primarily because of the graphic drawings - a dark Christian comic book of sorts. I read enough of it to get the gist though and so concluded I was very lucky to have been born in the US at this time. I'm no longer so confident; the killing of common Christians in the US is, while still improbable, now in the realm of possibility.
But I like your exploration of martyr as witness much better. It speaks to radiance of the inner life to the outside, a natural expression of Christ, and not something reserved for only a few. It's the job of every one of us.
...so that they would not be made perfect without us.
Isn't that profound? That we aren't disconnected in history, that our role is integral to all those who have lived before, and it's all for the same Story? What a great mystery.
You know, I don't like to test God, to ask for things I shouldn't have, but I must admit I would love to see that cloud of witnesses, just to know they're there, to get a glimpse of what I should do. But that would spoil the fun, wouldn't it?
I agree about that phrase. It always seemed to me like something that people maybe were slightly fearful of exploring. If the writer had said, "They would not be made perfect without Christ", that would be almost more reassuring and orthodox. But, no, we are all tied together, and I've got some sort of purpose that is clearly beyond my comprehension.
Fortunately, I don't have to comprehend it to fulfill it.
"But, no, we are all tied together, and I've got some sort of purpose that is clearly beyond my comprehension."
Aye! Unlike those who impose their twisted will's to seek the end, we concentrate on the means, gnoing the end is God, not our perverted desires, as Bob wrote about yesterday.
The means is our higher purpose, and, of course, we have more specific purposes, based on our various gifts. Ideally. We use our gifts to accomplish our higher purpose.
To borrow from Bob again, and I'm paraphrasing, discipline and liberty used in a supernatural Way.
The Good News is all about Life, Liberty and Joy!
Martyrs live that, and they create Beauty for those who will see, and if no one see's as you mentioned, Mushroom, Heaven knows.
Great post!
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