Martyrdom - Is It Safe?

First reading	Acts 6:8-15 ©

They could not get the better of Stephen because the Spirit prompted what he said

Stephen was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people. But then certain people came forward to debate with Stephen, some from Cyrene and Alexandria who were members of the synagogue called the Synagogue of Freedmen, and others from Cilicia and Asia. They found they could not get the better of him because of his wisdom, and because it was the Spirit that prompted what he said. So they procured some men to say, ‘We heard him using blasphemous language against Moses and against God.’ Having in this way turned the people against him as well as the elders and scribes, they took Stephen by surprise, and arrested him and brought him before the Sanhedrin. There they put up false witnesses to say, ‘This man is always making speeches against this Holy Place and the Law. We have heard him say that Jesus the Nazarene is going to destroy this Place and alter the traditions that Moses handed down to us.’ The members of the Sanhedrin all looked intently at Stephen, and his face appeared to them like the face of an angel.

Our reading today stops a bit short and does not describe the fate of Stephan who was one of the first deacons of the Church and the first martyr.  Once again we have the august personages of the Great Sanhedrin meeting in conclave faced with this issue that they thought that they had taken care of when Jesus was disgraced and hung on a Roman cross for the scripture says, "Cursed is he who hangs on a tree."  In the language of the time, the crosses used to dispatch criminals was referred to as a tree. So, the holy men of the Sanhedrin did all that they could to nip this Jesus thing in the bud.  

The blood of martyrs became the seed of the Church.  People of the time had no belief system that made death something that anyone would find appealing.  But the Christians believed that death was not the end of things and that they would be with the Lord if they remained faithful.  

This begs a question; What is the difference between Christian martyrdom and Islamic martyrdom?  Is there a difference?  

I believe that there is a definite difference in the mindset of Christian martyrs versus Islamic martyrs.  A Christian person does not seek out opportunities to die for their faith.  A living Christian is certainly what Our Lord has in mind because a living Christian can preach The Good News to others and show them the benefits of being Christian.  A Christian martyr is typically not a volunteer, although he or she can be, such as in the case of Maximillian Kolbe who sacrificed his life so that another might live.  But normally Christian martyrs are rounded up or arrested by the authorities and in Rome, they were sometimes given a chance to redeem themselves by offering a pinch of incense to the emperor who was considered (at least by himself) to be a living god.  In the Roman world one just did this out of habit and did not really believe that the oaf sitting on the throne was any kind of god.  It was viewed as something that would unite Romans and thus keep the empire strong.  Christians lived in the world and most likely prior to their conversion, they partook in this civic duty without thinking much about it.  Once they came to believe that Jesus was Lord, the ritual took on a new meaning and they could not in good conscience sacrifice even a pinch of incense to the false-god that the emperor was.  This was seen as treason by the man on the throne and was a crime worthy of death.  As the Christian martyrs were marched off to be killed in the arena, their fellow Christians would ask for their prayers for they knew that they would be heard as they were about to shed their blood for their beliefs.  So we see, that Christian martyrdom was in a sense voluntary since a pinch of incense would be the tonic that could save their lives. 

We look next at Islamic martyrs. In the modern era, we have what radical Muslims call "The Nineteen Martyrs."  These were the men who participated in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  Osama bin Laden is seen to be the number one martyr. We also have many, too many, examples of men, women, and children putting on a suicide vest and going to a crowded place, killing themselves and scores of innocent people.  The person wearing the vest is considered a martyr for the cause. These people are volunteers who agree to commit savage acts of murder so that they can receive a reward from their diety.  This cult of death is a perversion of main-stream Islam to be sure but it is the public face of this leaderless religion where the word of one teacher is just as good as another so the radical Islamic is free to choose from among the most blood-thirsty teachers available and thus legitimize their murder of innocent people. For this type of people, blood will run in the streets until the whole world is not only Muslim but the form of Islam that is the strictest and which saps the joy out of life as one person watches another, ready to denounce him or her for crimes against Allah. 

For the Christian, life is better than death but death is not a thing to be feared. Until the day we are called home, and that day may include our being martyred for the Faith, we live the Christian life day by day.  We learn how to love one another as Christ loved us - remember he spared nothing.  We also try to live in harmony with the world at large being of the world but not part of it.