Sabbath, May 11, 2013
Texts:
Blessed are the persecuted. Matthew
5:10
Students are to be like their teacher,
and slaves are to be like their master. And since I, the master of
the household, have been called the prince of demons, the members of
my household will be called by even worse names! Matthew 10:25
As teenager I was inspired by the
stories of the Protestant Reformers as recounted in Ellen White's
book, The Great Controversy. I especially thrilled at the scene of
the grand showdown between Martin Luther and the representatives of
the Pope at the council convened by Emperor Charles V.
Religious controversy had been swirling
through the German territories. Luther was the most prominent of a
growing chorus of voices protesting abuses of power and spiritual
corruption in the Roman Church. The pope had already condemned Luther
for his outspoken challenges. Everyone figured it was only a matter
of time before he was seized and burned at the stake. But in a
surprise move, the Emperor summoned him to appear before the grand
council in the city of Worms. Luther's friends urged him not to go.
They figured he would never get back out of town alive. But the
emperor had given Luther a safe-conduct pass along with the summons
to appear. Besides, Luther refused to be intimidated.
On the appointed day, he was conducted
to the assembly hall. There he stood directly in front of the
emperor. Luther knew he had sympathizers in that vast assembly. But
they were mostly minor princes, younger nobility, people with dreams
but little power. When push came to shove, Luther was going to be on
his own. The prosecutor pointed to a stack of books placed front and
center and asked Luther two questions: Was he the author of these
books? Would he retract what he had said in them?
Luther readily answered the first
question. Yes, he was their author. Regarding the second question
about retracting or recanting, he asked for a day to consider.
The next day, he was back before the
vast assembly of bishops, priests, nobles, theologians, lawyers,
dignitaries and, of course, the emperor. It was a dazzling company of
watchers. The brightest minds in the region. The most powerful
personages. Many of the powerful people there had already been
emphatic in their calls for Luther's arrest and elimination. He was
dangerous.
The prosecutor demanded that Luther
give a final statement as to whether or not he would recant what he
had written. He gave a carefully worded answer. The papal prosecutor
was not satisfied. He wanted a simple, direct, up or down answer. So
Luther gave it to him:
"Since
your most serene majesty and your high mightinesses require from me a
clear, simple, and precise answer, I will give you one, and it is
this: I cannot submit my faith either to the pope or to the councils,
because it is clear as the day that they have frequently erred and
contradicted each other. Unless therefore I am convinced by the
testimony of Scripture or by the clearest reasoning, unless I am
persuaded by means of the passages I have quoted, and unless they
thus render my conscience bound by the word of God, I cannot and I
will not retract, for it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against
his conscience. Here I stand, I can do no other; may God help me.
Amen." GC 160.
As a teenager reading this, I cheered.
I dreamed of standing boldly for truth and righteousness like Luther
did. I dreamed of possessing the courage and intellectual ability
Luther exhibited.
Now, I dream of this kind of holy
boldness for a younger generation.
I think Jesus was encouraging that kind
of thinking when he declared,
Blessed are those
who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
Blessed are those who are so committed
to righteousness, that even persecution cannot seduce them into
capitulating.
We don't talk much of persecution these
days because deadly persecution is not part of our every day world.
Here in the United States you do not put your life at risk for
voicing the wrong ideas. You might get fired. You won't get killed.
Of course, if we lived elsewhere, it
might be a different story. In February of this year, the mutaween,
the Saudi Arabian religious police, raided a private worship service
and arrested 53 Ethiopians. Three of the leaders were charged with
trying to convert Muslims, a charge that can carry the death penalty.
Being a Christian is dangerous in Saudi
Arabia. In 1997 the kingdom executed two Filipinos who had become
Christians while in prison. They had gone to jail for some ordinary
crime. There, they were converted and would not keep quiet about it.
So the kingdom executed them. Persecution is real in Saudi Arabia.
It's against the law to have a Bible, to pray together in your home.
The kingdom is so sick, they have a special police force dedicated to
forcefully eradicating every hint of creative religious thinking,
every expression of spirituality that is not already approved in the
policy books of Wahhabism. Still guest workers from other countries
secretly practice their faith.
Jesus sees this secret worship and
blesses it. God disagrees with the mutaween. The religious police
persecute. God blesses. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia imagines it can
preserve truth through force of police and prisons and executions.
The kingdom is wrong. Eventually, it will crumble.
What is the righteousness Jesus
blesses?
The book of Matthew comes back to this
theme over and over again. Righteousness means doing right. Telling
the truth. Practicing faithfulness at home. Avoiding scorn, ridicule
and hostility. Loving even our enemies. All this is epitomized in
Matthew 25 in the story of the sheep and goats. The final destiny of
people hinges on how they have responded to the down-to-earth needs
of the people around them. Taking care of people is the essence, the
very heart of righteousness.
The Book of Micah puts it this way:
He has shown you,
O Man, what is good. What does the Lord require of you? Just this: to
do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
Jesus blesses people who are so
radically committed to this practice of righteousness, they will
persist even in the face of persecution.
Part of walking humbly with God means
learning, moving forward in our knowledge of truth.
By definition, church doctrine is
conservative. It is a record of what the great majority of church
leaders believed at a particular point in the past. Doctrine becomes
the foundation of persecution when someone in the church learns
something new. By definition you cannot have a “new understanding”
without departing from what is already believed.
The history of the Christian church
includes many episodes of persecution because of this conflict
between learning and doctrine.
Not every new idea is a good one.
Doctrine plays a useful role as a sea anchor to keep the church from
being yanked this way and that every time someone new writes a book.
But doctrine is also the fundamental tool used by those who
persecute. So we need to be careful.
One of the primary reasons Jesus was
persecuted was because he defended people the religious authorities
condemned. The religious leaders scornfully condemned “tax
collectors and sinners.” Jesus went to dinner with them. Jesus even
partied with them.
The religious leaders delighted in
condemning people caught in sexual sin. Jesus refused to condemn and
instead pointed to a better life. (John 8)
At the time of World War I, people who
opposed the war were arrested and jailed. You weren't allowed to
speak out against the war.
During the Vietnam War, in the
Adventist Church there was the same generational divide that
characterized the rest of the country. Older members thought that
Christians ought to support the government. Young people thought they
ought to oppose the war. Young people who spoke out against the war
were scolded and even punished by church leaders and teachers. But
the young people were right.
In the run up to the Iraq war, those of
us who publicly opposed the war were scolded as unpatriotic, as
appeasers. Time has proven us right. It was right to speak out
against an unjust, unjustifiable war.
I appeal to you young people to brace
yourselves to speak out for compassion and mercy, to speak against
violence, greed, tyranny. Keep speaking even when you are told to be
quiet. Keep speaking even if it costs you.
The heart of righteousness is not
sinlessness. It is compassion and truth, justice and mercy. Avoiding
sin is a way-too-meager objective. Those who talk and dream of
sinlessness will unavoidably be distracted from the real work of
righteousness. Jesus did not bless those who avoid sin. In that case,
his blessing would have applied primarily to dead people. They are
perfectly sinless. But, of course, they are utterly incapable of
righteousness, i.e. doing right. Jesus blessed those who do right.
Only we the living can even attempt that.
A special word about the persecuted.
Not all people who are prosecuted (yes, I'm deliberately changing the
word) are guilty. Some of them are blessed of God, because they have
not done wrong.
I have friends who are physicians who
have been sued for malpractice. The truth is, they are guilty of only
two things: 1. They aren't God. 2. They have given excellent care.
I would tell them, “Don't worry about
it. You know you didn't do anything wrong. You know you gave good
service.” But the lawsuit is there. It eats at them. It is an
assault on their sense of dignity and competence.
If you are a medical person: Hear the
words of Jesus: Blessed are those who are persecuted for
righteousness sake. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessings on you
for continuing to serve humanity in a role where the threat of suit
is never far away.
I know of scientists who have been
persecuted for doing right, for speaking the truth as they see it. In
secular universities, sometimes scientists are mistreated because of
their devout Christian beliefs. In Adventist universities, scientists
are sometimes mistreated because of their commitment to science.
Especially in the area of earth science, if you speak the truth as
most Adventist scientists see it, your job will be in jeopardy.
If you are a scientist, I want to join
Jesus in blessing you in your commitment to righteousness, your
commitment to the pursuit of truth.
Some of you have experienced difficulty
because of your commitment to Sabbath-keeping. My father tells the
story of being admitted to medical school at the University of
Tennessee, decades ago. A week after classes began, the dean called
him in. “McLarty, I see you're an Adventist. Yes, my dad said.
Well, I'm sure you won't have any problems. We've had other Adventist
students here. But I want to let you know that we have one class that
has labs on Saturdays. It's the only class that you'll be required to
attend on Sabbath here. The other Adventists have accommodated to our
schedule and I'm sure you will, too. But I thought I should let you
know.”
Dad argued. He checked with other
people. There were no options. The dean's word was final. Either Dad
participated in these Sabbath labs or he would not graduate. Dad had
to drop out of medical school. It was a crushing disappointment. For
the next few years he worked at jobs that paid ten cents an hour.
He was finally accepted into med school
at Loma Linda. But for several years he paid a high cost for doing
what he believed was right.
Blessed are those who are persecuted
for righteousness' sake, theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Righteousness, doing right, practicing
mercy and justice, telling the truth can sometimes carry a high cost.
Do it any way. And carry in your heart the assurance voiced by Jesus:
You are blessed. You have a special place in God's kingdom.
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1 comment:
Thank you. Well stated.
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