Via Dolorosa, Part II

Standing Together or Falling Apart

To suffer at the hands of Unbelievers is the ordinary, expected lot of the Church.  This does not mean that all Christians suffer at all times.  Rather we mean that suffering is never absent from the Church and that because we are all members of just one body, when one member suffers, we all share in the pain of persecution.  No Christian can be at rest while fellow Christians are dying in North Korean concentration camps.  When a thumb is crushed, the whole body is in pain.

The response of Christians to sufferings has varied--as expected amongst a people still undergoing a  process of sanctification and purification.  One response is fear.  Thus, our Lord commands us not to fear when we suffer: the antidote is to consider how valuable our lives are to our heavenly Father, and to contemplate our sufferings in the light of eternity.
  

So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven [Matthew 10: 26-33]

Another wrong response to persecution has been desertion.  There is always a purifying aspect to suffering. In the face of it some false believers depart.  They can end up joining the persecutors.  In the days of the early church it was often apostates who became star witnesses against Christians.

Others named by the informer declared that they were Christians, but then denied it, asserting that they had been but had ceased to be, some three years before, others many years, some as much as twenty-five years. They all worshipped your image and the statues of the gods, and cursed Christ.  [Pliny, writing to Emperor Trajan.]

On the other side of the ledger, Christians have  responded to persecution with joy and thankfulness.  This has not been due to an overdeveloped streak of masochism but to a conviction that being called to suffer was a badge of special honour [Acts 5:41].  Others displayed great steadfastness and patience, not ceasing to praise and worship Christ amidst their sufferings [Acts 16:22-25].

At this season of Easter we are reminded, once again, that the way of Christ is the way of the cross.  To follow Him, we must pick up and carry our own.  Part of  dying to self and living for Christ is to accept the general opprobrium of the world for Christ.  We are to accept it with patience and good grace, not returning evil for evil.  As Paul wrote to Titus, regarding how the Christians on Crete were to live:

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarrelling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.  [Titus 3: 1-2]

Singing hymns of praise and thankfulness to God at midnight, whilst in the stocks and still bleeding from the cuts of the whip.  That's the ticket.  May God grant it to be so amongst His people.