[Salvation]

April 23, 2005

Martyrs

The word “martyr” in Greek means “witness.” For example, when choosing someone to replace Judas, Peter says that the person “must become with us a witness (Greek “martyr”) to the resurrection.”

The word “martyr” came quickly to be used especially for someone who gave witness by dying for their faith. Paul, describing his role before his conversion, uses this word for Stephen: “While the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I stood by, giving my approval of it. I even guarded the cloaks of those who killed him.”

The classic “age of the martyrs” took place in the first three centuries when Christians were a persecuted minority and were frequently tortured and killed.

From the beginning, there was a concern that the memory of these martyrs not be lost. Because of their commitment to Christ, their death was seen as a special expression of what it meant to be “Christian.”

The remains of martyrs became “relics: (from a Latin word meaning “what you left”) and were venerated. From this developed the custom of placing the relics of a martyr in the altar.

* * *

Martyrdom didn’t end with the first three centuries. In 2000, Pope John Paul II led an ecumenical service at Rome’s Coliseum honoring 20th century Christian martyrs. In preparation for this ceremony, the Vatican collected more than 12,000 names.

[Salvation]

Saturday, Fourth Week of Easter

And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

Luke 24:46-48

Jesus is commissioning these disciples and all of us. In his name, they (and we) are to preach “repentance” (the word means “a change in the way we look at things.”)

Then He tells them that they are to be witnesses “to all the nations.” We still actually see this unfold in Luke’s second volume – the Acts of the Apostles – which begins in Jerusalem and ends in Rome.

Luke wrote in Greek and the Greek of Luke’s Gospel read, “You are martyrs of these things.” The word applies to all forms of witness. We witness day in and day out just by the way we live.

Before Christianity was called Chritisanity, it was called “The Way.” Our witness may not be dramatic, but even in small ways we follow a different way of life.

The way Christians live isn’t what one would call the “normal” way of living. It’s noticeable, a “witness” to something different – forgiving 70 times seven, loving our enemies, having a special concern for the poor and those left out, spending some time in prayer, responding to his invitation to gather at the supper table and “take and eat, take and drink.”, being part of a group of disciples…

As I live my life today, I should think of those words: ”You are witnesses of these things.”

Spend some quiet time with the Risen Lord.