Hilton Head Island, SC – January 29, 2012
The Chapel Without Walls
Acts 9:1-22
A Sermon by John M. Miller
The Great Texts Series – Text – “For I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” – Acts 9:16 (RSV)
SUFFERING FOR GOD’S NAME
The viability of the New Testament Church was very much in doubt for the first century of its existence. That is hard for us to imagine, because the Church has been so predominant almost everywhere any of us has lived or visited during our lifetime. In some parts of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa the Church is vastly outnumbered by adherents to other religions, but in virtually all of North America, South America, Europe, and Australia, Christianity is vibrant and strong, and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.
For the first three or four generations after Jesus was crucified, however, there was no guarantee that Christianity would survive. In fact, “Christianity” was not even a widely shared idea among those who were followers of Jesus of Nazareth. The Romans were very skeptical of Christianity, as were the Jews and the pagans. Almost no one was thrilled to hear about Jesus.
One of the Jews who was most opposed to the notion of Jesus as the Messiah was a man identified in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles as Saul of Tarsus. Saul was a Pharisee, and he went out of his way to make life as difficult as possible for the followers of Jesus. It isn’t clear precisely why he was so counter to everything the first Christians stood for, but we are told that he was a Jewish zealot who intended to do everything he could to snuff out Christianity before it even had a chance to catch fire. It is reported in Acts 8 that Saul guarded the coats of those who stoned Stephen to death.
The first two verses of Acts 9 describe in no uncertain terms exactly what Saul meant to do. “But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” From this we learn several things. First of all, Saul, or Paul as he came to be known later, actively threatened the New Testament Christians. Secondly, he must have heard there was a group of them in the Syrian city of Damascus. Thirdly, he was given papers by the high priest in Jerusalem saying that Saul had permission to bring any Christians he found in Damascus back to Jerusalem in chains. Finally, the earliest Christians were referred to as “the Way,” and not as “Christians.” However, the term “the Way” did not catch on, and it is used nowhere else in the New Testament.
During the first twenty to fifty years or so of the Church’s existence, it perceived itself as a branch of Judaism. Therefore the followers of Jesus, virtually all of whom were Jews, spent their time in synagogues all over the Mediterranean world. Jews had been living in Damascus for perhaps five centuries, so it was logical that Saul should go to the synagogues of Damascus to find the followers of Jesus and round them up.
And now for one of the most famous events of the whole Bible, to so-called “Damascus Road Experience” of Saul of Tarsus, shortly to become the apostle Paul. Just outside Damascus a blinding light enveloped Saul, and he heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul, probably frightened more than he had ever been in his life, said, “Who are you, Lord?” “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” the voice said.
Of course there is no way for us to know whether anything written in the Bible is a completely accurate reporting of the events which are described. Was there a blinding light, and was there a voice from heaven? Did Saul become temporarily blind? Later, we hear about a man named Ananias, who was a disciple of Jesus living in Damascus. It is written that “the Lord” told Ananias to lay his hands on Saul so that he might regain his sight. In this instance, who is “the Lord?” Is it God, or is it Jesus? On the Damascus road, “the Lord” is identified as Jesus; “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” the voice said. So who spoke to Ananias?
I prefer to believe it was God who was directing Ananias, not Jesus, but I am quite sure Luke, the writer of Acts, intended it to be Jesus who was communicating to Ananias. “Go, for (Saul) is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:15-16).
There has always been a tension over where the Church of Jesus Christ chooses to place is emphasis. As Christians, should we focus primarily on God, or on Jesus? The historical and contemporary fact is that some of us focus on God, and others on Jesus. It has ever been thus. I know where I stand, but I readily recognize that others see the essence of Christianity in a different light. Therefore was Saul going to suffer for Jesus’ name, or for God’s name? The title of this sermon tells how I perceive this passage.
Either way, it is obvious that the apostle Paul did suffer greatly for his late-found commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He provides a litany of his misfortunes on behalf of his faith in II Corinthians 11:24-28: “Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews forty lashes less one. Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people; danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches.” “For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” To say the least. And Paul being Paul, he is quite pleased to parade the list of his sufferings before us.
We who live in 21st-century America have no way of comprehending how hard it was for the first Christians to maintain their allegiance to God and to Jesus Christ. Imperial Rome did not really care what anyone believed, so long as they were convinced whatever it was represented no threat to the power and authority of the emperor and the Roman state. As time went on, they became more concerned that Christianity indeed was subversive. Some of the emperors, such as Nero and Caligula, were ruthless in attempting to stamp out the early Church. Others, like Marcus Aurelius, were remarkably tolerant. But for much of the first three centuries of its existence, until the time of Constantine in the early fourth century, Rome felt very uneasy about Jesus of Nazareth and whatever it was his followers thought he represented.
We are told in the letters of Paul and Peter and in the Revelation that Christians were being persecuted during the New Testament period. But it was later, from about 120 to 315 CE that the persecution became particularly intense. Thousands of Christians were killed, and tens of thousands experienced physical or economic oppression and/or imprisonment. When governments or national cultures oppose a religion, any religion, it becomes very difficult for the adherents of that religion to avoid potentially severe repression. The worst example in all of history is the Holocaust against the Jews during World War II.
Regrettably, certain kinds of Christians have been persecuted in certain mainly-Christian nations for the past several centuries. French Calvinist Huguenots (or Hugh-geh-no’s, as they would say) were imprisoned and killed by the French government and citizenry in the early 17th century, as were Baptists and others persecuted by Puritan Calvinists in Massachusetts at the same time. Black American Christians have suffered under white American Christians for much of our nation’s history. In the mid-19th century, Mormons were persecuted in the Midwest, and their founder, Joseph Smith was murdered by a mob of enraged citizens in Nauvoo, Illinois.
Under Soviet and Chinese communism, all religions, including Christianity, suffered greatly up until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 and the limited moderation of Chinese communism during the past twenty years. In the late 20th and in the 21st centuries, there has been almost no discernible persecution of certain kinds of Christians by other kinds of Christians in our nation. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening elsewhere.
As long as Saddam Hussein was the heavy-handed dictator of Iraq, the Christian population there, representing 5+% of the total population, was safe. Ironically, once we overthrew Saddam, Christians in Iraq have faced increasing danger. Many have been killed, many churches have been destroyed by mobs, and most of the Christians who survived the violence have fled the country. The same is true in Syria. When Hafez and Bashar Assad ruled with negligible opposition, the Christian population, a smaller percentage than in Iraq, was safe. Now that there are frequent street demonstrations against the Assad government, there are also street demonstrations against Christian homes and churches. In unsettled times, religious persecutors become more emboldened, assuming, probably correctly, that no one will stop them.
Prior to the Six-Day War in Israel and Palestine in 1967, perhaps 20 to 30% of the Palestinians were Christians. In the continuous violence which has characterized Palestinian land ever since, most of those Christians have emigrated, many of them to the Detroit area of Michigan. Political and military unrest is dangerous for people of faith, whatever their religion might be. Intellectually benighted partisans take advantage of hard times to attack people whom they consider to be religiously objectionable. That sad reality has likely existed as long as human societies have existed.
In the mid-20th century, half of Lebanon was Christian. In the political turmoil undergone in that country since Black September of 1969, at least half of the half is gone, either killed or driven out.
Sunni Muslims, any kind of Christians, and Bahais are subject to persecution and violence in Iran. Christians may not worship openly in Saudi Arabia. Christians have been persecuted in Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea. But this is also true for Muslims of the “wrong” kind. For generations, 10% of the Egyptian population has been Coptic Christians. Americans and other Westerners tend to be unaware of that, because Copts are not in the orbit of Western Christianity, meaning Roman Catholic and Protestant. In the past year, when the future of Egypt has hung precariously in the balance, and no one can be sure of what kind of government shall emerge, the Christians of Egypt have suffered greatly, both personally and institutionally.
At present, however, the carnage against Christians seems to be greatest in Nigeria. The northern half of Nigeria is largely Muslim, and the southern half largely Christian. An extremist group has killed several thousand Christians, and burned many churches.
It would be misleading for you to infer that all this violence is one-way, that it is only Muslims who are killing Christians. The reverse is also going on. Religious violence perpetuates religious violence, and victims of persecution from any direction tend to have very long memories about whoever they think started the persecuting.
Fortunately, American foreign policy under both of our political parties and regardless of the party affiliation of all our recent Presidents has spoken out forcefully against religious persecution in all countries, whoever it is who initiates the persecution. There is not much you or I can do to diminish the suffering of Christians or others in politically volatile nations. But we can urge our government to do everything in its power to obliterate religious repression wherever it occurs. Strong states must take strong measures against weak or unsettled states which allow or even encourage violence against anyone because of their particular kind of religious belief.
The Early Church father Tertullian lived at the end of the 2nd and the beginning of the 3rd centuries. He is remembered for having famously declared, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” That stark statement means that persecution deepens the commitment of those who are persecuted, and invariably they strive harder to give birth to a broadened and strengthened religion. Certainly that was the historical pattern in the first few centuries of Christendom. By the early 4th century, the Roman Emperor Constantine realized Christianity was going to win out overt paganism, and he cannily hitched his political wagon to the Christian religious star.
We began with Paul on the road to Damascus, and we shall end with Paul in the years following that extraordinary experience. Paul and many of the New Testament Christians did suffer greatly for their faith. It was a tragic chapter in the dark side of human nature that they were thus forced to suffer.
In truth, you and I have suffered virtually nothing at all during our lifetimes because of our faith in God or Jesus Christ. Probably we are therefore less committed than we might otherwise be were we to have been subjected to what the first Christians were forced to face.
Is it better to be persecuted and deeply committed, or to be left alone by the government and the wider society and thus probably to be less committed? As in so many other things, it is what it is. We live in a liberal democracy which does not attack or undermine religion. Other Christians live in nations or regions where their faith is constantly under physical or other forms of attack. In any case, it behooves those of us who experience religious tolerance to remember and pray for those who do not. Few would ever choose to be martyrs, but all of us are capable of deepening our commitment. It is a sad truth that it may be harder for people such as ourselves to strive harder, when it is so easy for us to coast. Let us do the best we can to stand up for what we believe in the easy circumstances in which we find ourselves. And let us show our support in every way possible for those who suffer for God’s name.