John Stephen Akwari…Never stood on the winner’s podium at
the Olympic Games, he never had a medal placed round his neck or a wreath
placed on his head, he lived his whole life in poverty in the dirt floored hut
of his home village… But he has inspired millions worldwide and his name is
synonymous with the modern marathon.
Mexico City 1968. The
sun is setting and they are about to turn the lights off in the Olympic stadium
most of the crowd has already left for the day. News comes through that there
is still one more runner; one more competitor out on the marathon course. He is
injured, hurt and staggering along but he is determined despite all he is suffering
to finish the race. Little know Tanzanian runner John Stephen Akwari steps onto
the world stage. A story told best in the great Olympic sports movie ’16 days
of glory’
We are working our way through the seven letters to the
seven churches in the province of Asia Minor, in modern day turkey, looking at
what the spirit is saying to the churches, then and there and to us here and
now. ‘If the first mark of the true church is love” says John Stott, “the
second Mark is surely suffering. You cannot love without suffering”. Maybe in
our comfortable western society we have forgotten that cost of following Jesus.
But from its start and even for many of our brothers and sisters in the world
today to follow Jesus is to suffer. There have been moments when we touch that kind of issue first hand I remember when I was younger our Church held
a Passover dinner and the man who lead us through it talked of his orthodox Jewish
family holding a funeral for him when he became a Christian. . And Jesus call to the church in
Smyrna and to us is to be faithful not fearful, and we need to listen to what
the Spirit saying to the churches.
Smyrna may sound like Russian vodka but is a city that sits
to the north of Ephesus. It was Ephesus’ rival for prominence in the province.
It was a major sea port and the main Imperial trade road through the province went
inland from it. Therefore it was a rich and prosperous city. It was known for two things; its beauty and
its loyalty or faithfulness to Rome. It was the first city to be rewarded with
the right to build a temple to the worship of the emperor Tiberius. Smyrna
today is still standing and is the second largest city in Asiatic Turkey and
known by the name Izmir.
We do not know much of the origins of the church in this
city. Apart from the letter here in revelations we do have letters written by
Ignatius in the middle of the second century in Smyrna and a written account of
the martyrdom of the bishop of Symrna in 156 AD. The bishop’s name was Polycarp
and tradition tells us that John the elder had ordained him personally as
bishop.
Polycarp was a saintly man, his church had convinced him to
flee but he was betrayed to the Roman authorities. In deference to his old age
they invited him to recant his faith and to offer a sacrifice to the emperor,
which he refused to do… he said “eighty and six years have I served him, and he
has done me no wrong; how then can I blaspheme my King who saved me.” He was
burned at the stake. In the end as an act of mercy a soldier ran him through
with a sword because the wind kept blowing the flames away from him. It gives
us a picture of the extreme that the church in Smyrna is warned of and of their
faithfulness.
Like all the letters this one starts with the speaker being
introduced, Jesus is the one speaking to the church. In all the letters Jesus
introduces himself through aspects of the vision that John has on Patmos. The
way Jesus introduces himself here is a source of encouragement for the Church.
Here Jesus says he is the ‘first and the last’ that he is the eternal God. In
the face of difficulties suffering and persecution it is important for us to
remember that the situations and suffering we face now can be seen as having a
place in the eternal plans and purposes of God. It is not simply theological sentimentality
to acknowledge that God has our times and situations in his hands, but a source
of hope of the ultimate victory of Justice of the ultimate victory of Christ.
More than that is the hope and encouragement in the
resurrection, that Jesus overcame, that he is alive again. The hope and comfort
for God’s people is that the crown of thorns is a victor’s crown. The promise
for those who overcome is that they will receive eternal life that Jesus has won.
The letter outlines the present and past suffering of the Church;
which seem to be a result of the reaction of the Jews in Smyrna. One of the
things that Roman Society valued was civilizations more ancient than
themselves. This meant that for the Jews that they were exempt from making
sacrifices to the emperor as a sign of their loyalty. The early church was seen
as a sect of Judaism and was originally afforded the same protection. But as
Christianity continued to grow the Jews wanted to differentiate themselves from
Christians. Jesus predicted in the verses that followed on from our reading in
John 15 this morning that a time would come when they would put Christians out
of the synagogue and would consider they were doing God’s work in killing them.
We do need to unpack some of the strong language used about
the Jews in this letter. Jews who are not really Jews refers to the fact that
the early Christians saw that in Jesus they had found the messiah and they were
the true continuation of the Jewish faith. In Roman law for someone to be
punished, imprisoned and bought before the justice system their needed to be
accusers. In Jesus trial the gospels tell us people were found who were willing
to bring false accusations, and Paul in the book of acts seems to have had to deal
with similar issues. The Jews in Smyrna were willing to accuse the Christians …The
word Satan means accuser and in this letter John is highlighting that they in
their slander are acting in that role, and also pointing out that behind this
is a darker evil force. But we need to note it is specific to this context and
sadly this terminology has been picked up and used as anti-Semitic propaganda.
In the face of increasing suffering and persecution even to
the point of death, the Church is encouraged to be faithful and not
fearful.
We as humans naturally react to fear in one of three ways…
It’s the freeze, flight or fight reflexes. When we are faced by opposition to
our faith be it from unkind words and unfair critiques of our faith by friends
or work mates through to the kind of situations mentioned in this letter, it
can cause us to freeze, to simply stop talking or living out our faith, or we
can run away retreat, our faith becomes private or confined to Sunday mornings
and the walls of a building, or we walk away or its to fight, to aggressively
argue, maybe even to respond in un-Christ like ways.
But we are called not to be fearful but to be faithful…
During the week I have been made aware of the stories of faithful people and to
talk of what it means to be faithful in the face of suffering is best explained
in their stories.
Maybe not really persecution but the Ebola Crisis is something that has makes people fearful,
right, that causes great suffering. There has been some criticism in the west of the number of Christian medical workers in the area. Stephen Rowden volunteers for Doctors
without borders in Monrovia Liberia, his role is to manage the teams who
collect the bodies of Ebola victims, they deal with about ten to twenty five
bodies a day and risk becoming victims themselves. In a Radio interview with
typical English understatement he spoke of "the sad case" of going into a house
to collect the body of a four year child from its parents. Asked if he was a
religious man he replied yes he was a committed Christian. The interviewer then
asked if this was testing his faith to which he replied No “I Get great
strength from my faith and the support of my family.” There is some criticism
of the fact that there are so many missionary medical people involved in west
Africa but no one is really lining up to replace them.
ISIS the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is also something
that people are afraid of today… right… I’ve even had conversations with people
who worry about it sparking a world war. We’ve heard stories of beheadings and
the ultimatums to Christian populations as well as moderate Muslim populations
of converting leaving without anything or facing death. What we don’t hear is
the stories of Middle Eastern Christians
quietly at work in the refugee camps caring for the needs of the refugees. Not too far away from the deadly frontlines
they are there to care for the homeless and displaced. One Christian aid agency
sends money to those on the ground to be able to buy locally sourced tents and
food and gas stoves to give out. They share their stories…
An officer in the Kurdish militia fighting ISIS came to the Christian aid workers to see what was going on. He was suspicious of where the aid was coming from. But as the conversation continued he was impressed by the fact that the people doing the work were Christians, helping displaced Muslims…“You see the Arabs around you in the Gulf states, which claim to be religious Muslims, have not sent us anything but terrorists,” he told the ministry team members. “But you who follow Christ send love and peace and goodness to people every day.” After a long conversation he too became a follower of Jesus and said it was the happiest day in his life.
In refugee camps tent churches are springing up. Centres of both aid and worship at one a muslim
women was attracted to one by the singing and came to see what was going on.
She asked if she was allowed in. She stayed and became a follower of Jesus. The
next day she was back with her family and within a short period over sixty of
her extended family had become Christians.
When the aid agency how the Christian workers
were coping the reply was that their faith is maturing and they are learning to
be more and more dependent on Christ in new ways each day.
We to are called to be faithful and to show Christ's love and proclaim Christ's saving love.
The letter to Smyrna expresses the Christian hope in the
face of suffering in a series of paradoxes. They are poor but in Christ they
are rich. They face death but in Christ they will find life. Satan is accusing
them and causing suffering and death, but the sovereign God is using that to
test and to refine their faith. About 20% of the logos for the city of Smyrna
that archaeologists have found show the laurels of the roman victory crown a
sign that the city is being rewarded for its faithfulness to Rome but to those
who remain faithful to king Jesus they will receive a greater crown, they will
receive eternal life in Christ. The call to us as a church facing struggle and
trials is to be faithful not fearful listen to what the spirit is saying to the
church.
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