Persecution Rev 2 8-11

7/29/2019 Persecution Rev 2 8-11

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© 2012 – REVDDR LUTZACKERMANN – FRIEDENSKIRCHE, HILLBROW

2nd Last Sunday of the Church Year – 18 Nov

2012

Dr Lutz Ackermann (Friedenskirche, Hillbrow)

Persecution

(Rev 2:8-11)

Grace be with you and peace of the one who was and is

and is to come. Amen.

"To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

"This is the message from the one who is the

first and the last, who died and lived again. I

know your troubles; I know that you are poor---

but really you are rich! I know the evil things

said against you by those who claim to be Jews

but are not; they are a group that belongs to

Satan! Don't be afraid of anything you are aboutto suffer. Listen! The Devil will put you to the

test by having some of you thrown into prison,

and your troubles will last ten days. Be faithful

to me, even if it means death, and I will give you

life as your prize of victory. "If you have ears,

then, listen to what the Spirit says to the

churches!" Those who win the victory will not be hurt by the second death.

(Rev 2:8-11)

On Friday, when I got back home from the church office,

I found the house in a big mess. Someone had broken




into the house and randomly searched most of the

wardrobes and cupboards and boxes in most of the

rooms. It seems that they had taken only a few items like

some cash and some jewellery, but it was not a nicefeeling to see, how they had treated my stuff and

intruded my space. Insurance can replace material

values, but not sentimental values. So, for example, one

ring is missing. My grandfather gave it to me in 1982,

when I finished school. So that cannot be replaced.

But with other things it is not about loss. For example

these stoles: they are the ones, my wife and I wore on theday of our ordination. And now I found them carelessly

thrown to the ground. And that shows: here was

someone who does not care at all about what is

important, what is meaningful, what is sacred to another

person.

I am not telling this, because it is such an unusual story:

if you live in Johannesburg, you can probably have

stories like this every day. But I am mentioning it,

because it reminds me of very different situations. Here

people break into houses for material reasons, to steal

stuff. But then people can also trespass and violate

someone else’s dignity and privacy for another reason: to

humiliate their victims.

So, for example, in parts of Nigeria, where Christians

and Muslims live in neighbouring communities, I

personally know some Christians, who have experienced

attacks on their lives and their property, not because of

material reasons, but because others wanted to punish

them for something they said or did publicly.




So even in our day and age there are places in this world

where people experience what can only be described as

persecution. And normally it is because of what they

believe or stand for. Sometimes is a circle of perpetrationand retaliation, like many things that happen between

Gaza and Israel these days or the situation in the north

of Nigeria. But there are other situations, where

sometimes a minority is literally fighting for survival

under the constant threat of persecution, often suffering

silently. And sometimes they want silence, because they

know: the louder they complain, the worse is it going toget with the persecution.

Now that is not something new. The words we heard

earlier from the book of revelation earlier speak clearly

of such a situation of persecution. Let me remind you,

that in the first and second century, the Christian faith

began as a movement within Judaism. Now, even in a

situation of occupation by the Roman Empire, the Jewsenjoyed a certain freedom. When the Romans subdued a

foreign nation and people, part of their imperialist

strategy was to bring with them their gods and their

imperial cult and make the conquered nation participate.

But the Jews were allowed a certain exception, so they

could continue worshiping Yahweh in their synagogues.

Now when some of the Jews started following Jesus,

there was a problem: they were much more radical in

their beliefs and would not easily compromise with the

Cesar-cult of the Romans. So they quickly became the

victims of Roman persecution. At the same time, those

Jews who did not believe in Jesus were annoyed because

automatically blame fell on them, too. And so they




distanced themselves from that newly forming group of

Christians.

So now this guy by the name of John was writing letters

to those congregations which found themselves in themiddle of this ongoing persecution. And he was so sure

that what he was writing came directly from God that he

even put these words of exhortation, consolation and

encouragement in the first person, as coming directly

from the Lord Jesus.

Now, before we look a little bit more at what he has tosay, we need to ask ourselves: is this relevant for us?

After all, we live in a country, where everyone is at least

officially free to believe, whatever they want – as long as

that does not lead to them violating the freedom of

others. No-one must be discriminated against because of

their race, nationality, gender, their faith or their sexual

orientation. And by and large, I think we can say, that is

the case. While there may be occasional exceptions, as a

rule we can say that there is no systematic persecution,

neither of Christians nor of other groups in South Africa

today.

So why bother thinking about it? Well, for one thing we

must remember that the behaviour and character traits

(courage or cowardice, faithfulness and perserverance orgiving up) that come out in a situation of crisis often do

not originate in that situation. In other words, what is

not planted as a seed in times of relative freedom and

tolerance cannot come to bear fruit in the time of a

possible future persecution. And who knows, what the

future brings. So it’s the sunny days when we prepare




ourselves for the stormy times. It is before the fight that

we need to train. {if time: persecution never far away,

modern African examples: Manche, Steve Biko}

Here, of course, a temptation is that not having firsthand experience of persecution we might end up as

wishful martyrs. “ What ever happens”, someone might

say, “I will never deny my faith” – well, really? How do

we know? The proof, they say, of the pudding lies in the

eating. Now I do certainly not wish to experience

persecution (nor wish I to anyone) and as we meditate

these sombre thoughts we should also turn to God inthankfulness for all the freedom we experience. But at

the same time we should remain realistic and not

speculate too much about how heroic we would be.

So when we listen to the words of this short message to

the believers in Smyrna (that was where Izmir is today,

on the west coast of Turky), there are a couple of things

that catch my attention:

1) Firstly, as the Lord speaks to them through the

writer, identifying him by the words “ I am” . I am

the first and the last; that means the ultimate that

you can think of. Here speaks the one who died and

lived again. He is the Lord over life and death, and

if he calls to “ be faithful, even if it means death”, heknows what he is talking about.

2) Secondly, here like in the six messages to the other

churches, he begins by asserting: “ I know” . I

know you, I know your problems, circumstances,

your issues. I know, what’s going on with you, how

you perceive yourself and how you are perceived by




others. Sometimes we may feel it like a threat when

we become too transparent. In an age where others

can google some nonsense we have posted on

facebook or somewhere online long ago (and which we maybe we have come to regret!), too much

transparency seems scary. But make no mistake,

the Lord of Lords, the one who is the Alpha and the

Omega, he knows us better even than we do

ourselves. And the wonderful thing is: he looks at

us and through us with the gaze of his love {if time:

aside“ Aslan

”}

3) And then, thirdly, he jumps right into it. No pussy-

footing around: here is what’s going on. Trouble,

persecution, suffering and even imprisonment. He

doesn’t say: “ Ag, it’s not that bad.” or “compared to

others you are still quite ok ”. No such patronizing

nonsense, no cheap consolation, no quick fix.

Sometimes we need to be forced to face reality as itis; but face it with courage.

4) But fourthly then, he speaks of hope: this is not

going to last forever. Don’t give up! Win the prize!

Be faithful! Be victorious! And the paradox is: while

he still talks about a threatening situation, that can

even lead to death, death as a martyr, a blood

witness of the faith, he also speaks about a final

victory. The second death cannot harm you, if you

persevere. Because Jesus is the Lord who has

conquered death for us.




So, once again, is that a text for us, who are not

threatened by persecution? I believe it is, because if we

can start hearing these words as spoken even to us, even

in a time of freedom and tolerance, we can begin to liveaccordingly – even today.

We can live as those, who belong to Jesus, the first and

the last and the living one!

We can live as those who do not need to hide, because

God can see right through our deepest confusions and

lies and idiosyncrasies. He says:“I know you

” –

but hesays it with a voice of love, with an intent to make our

lives worthwhile!

We can live as people who are not scared to face reality.

We can call a spade a spade. Sometimes the reality we

are awakening to may be harsh. But we can face it with

God.

And we can continue in faithfulness to God. Sometimes

our lives may be threatened, but even in less dramatic

circumstances we know: we can carry on, we can be

victorious, because the victorious one is with us. He is

with us in suffering and in weakness; and he is with us

even in defeat. But he is also with us in victory.

Amen.

And the peace of God, which is far beyond human

understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in

union with Christ Jesus now and forever. Amen.

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Persecution Rev 2 8-11