I’ve been meaning to write something about the crucifixion since last Friday. Sometimes I’m just not sure how to think about the crucifixion. I’m thankful for it, but I also hate it.
I often wonder if I’ve got what it takes to follow Christ. Not like I do in Western America, but if I got what it takes to have followed Christ in early Christianity, especially before Constantine changed the church state relationship. I think one of the most intense early Christian documents is the “the martyrdom of Perpetua.” Not only does she die for Christ, but she does while her father is begging her not to leave behind her new born son because of the possibility of his starvation.
I was recently watching the Gospel of Judas on National Geo. About an hour into the show, astute theologian Elaine Pagels narrates the story of Glendina. During the 177 massacre she was said to have been tortured all day long, never renouncing her faith in Christ. The show depicted a gruesome scene. One of the diabolic devices the Romans used was an iron chair, which was heated by coals that burned underneath. Two guards pulled her arms apart with ropes while a third guard backed her into the chair with a broom looking device to ensure that the maximum amount of skin would be in contact with the chair.
Irenaeus made the point that it was crucial that the followers of Jesus knew what the gospel really was and what specifically they were dying for. Hence the exclusivity of the texts that finally made it into the cannon.
I wonder how I would respond?
1 comment:
Dog,
That is a good question. I have often wondered the same not just of myself but of every Christian around me. If the stuff every hit the fan as far as persecution goes, I wonder at times who I would trust in the foxhole with me.
People like to explain away the tough sayings of Jesus about following him and man it bothers me. I preach every Sunday hoping I am not watering the gospel down. But it does say -- "deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me" and it doesn't say when you more spiritually mature either -- it says if your going to follow him at all. That my friend is hard. Just straight hard.
You don't have to look to hard to find the persecuted church even today -- China, pick and Arab country, etc. etc. I wonder how we stack up. I know people that won't go to a chruch unless it has all the bells and whistles, I wonder what they would think of having church in a house with dirt floors and a lookout standing watch so you don't get arrested for singing hymns and hearing the Bible preached. Makes you feel wimpy about your faith -- I know it does for me and I am a pastor.
Blessings.
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