April 29, 2024

Persecution Yesterday and Today

Treasures

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Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.—2 Timothy 3:12

One outstanding feature of Jesus’ life that can tend to be overlooked is that He suffered persecution during His time on earth. Jesus was perfect, He never made a mistake, and He was God manifested in the flesh (John 1:14). Yet He was persecuted and accused of committing crimes, sins, and wrongdoings, and was finally arrested and crucified.

The Bible teaches that “in fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). If we are striving to live our lives in a godly way for Jesus, we can also expect to face some opposition or experience trouble, or suffer persecution at some point because of our faith. Jesus said, “The servant is not greater than his Lord, and if they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). So we should not be surprised when we or other dedicated Christians receive a negative response to our Christian faith and practice, just as Jesus Himself and His apostles did.

Jesus told His followers, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18–19). This explains why Christians have been slandered and vilified, and have endured opposition and outright persecution throughout history in “this present evil age” (Galatians 1:4).

“But come now,” some will say, “This is the 21st century, a modern, enlightened, and civilized age. Surely the world has grown more tolerant?” However, despite the advances of the modern age, the heart of man is the same today, and the Bible says that “evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse” before Jesus’ return to the earth (2 Timothy 3:13). Evil is just as real as ever.

The good news is that Jesus promised that everyone who suffers persecution for righteousness’ sake is blessed and will inherit the kingdom of God: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:10–12).

When Jesus began His ministry in Galilee, the Bible tells us that “news about Him spread through the whole countryside as He was teaching in the synagogues in the power of the Spirit, and everyone praised Him” (Luke 4:14–15). The first time that Jesus returned to His hometown, the Gospel of Luke tells us, “He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read” (Luke 4:16). When He arose and read a prophecy about the Messiah from the book of the prophet Isaiah, a prophecy that was fulfilled in Himself, He told the congregation, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing!” (Luke 4:17–22).

Jesus had told people the truth, the good news that God was fulfilling His promises and prophecies and had at last sent the Messiah to His people. At first they spoke well of Him and were amazed at His words. But then they rejected this revelation of truth and even tried to kill the messenger who was delivering it, saying, “‘Where did He get such words and authority? Is not this the son of Joseph the carpenter?’ And they took offense at Him.”

Jesus responded by saying, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household” (Matthew 13:55–57). And Luke goes on to recount that “all the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove Him out of the town, and took Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him off the cliff. But He walked right through the crowd and went on His way” (Luke 4:28–30).

As Jesus’ ministry continued to grow, the false accusations against Him mounted and multiplied as His religious opponents attempted to discredit Him. One of their prime accusations was that He had fallen in with bad company. During Jesus’ time, Israel was occupied by Rome, and the most despised persons among the Jews were the tax collectors who worked for Rome and collected taxes from their Jewish brethren. Jesus, ignoring all customs and prejudice, reached out to tax collectors, and even chose one of them, Matthew, to be one of His apostles (Matthew 9:9).

When the Jewish religious leaders observed Him entering into the home of a tax collector to dine with them, in horror they asked His disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such tax collectors and sinners?” (Matthew 9:11). Jesus acknowledged their accusations, saying, “John the Baptist came neither eating or drinking wine, yet you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘He is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is proven right by all her children” (by their life, character, and deeds) (Luke 7:33–35).

Even Jesus’ relatives did not understand who Jesus was and His words and actions, and on one occasion, the Bible tells us that when His family heard what He was doing, “they went out to seize Him, for they were saying, ‘He is out of His mind’” (Mark 3:21).

Although Jesus made it clear that He came to bring peace to the lives and hearts of all who would receive and believe on Him (John 14:27), He also knew that many would reject Him. While He promised peace, even in tribulation, to those who believed in Him (John 16:33), He also said, “Do you think I am come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (Luke 12:51). And this certainly proved to be the case. Wherever He spoke, there was often a division between those who received and those who rejected His message:

“When they heard these words, some of the people said, ‘This really is the Prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Christ!’ But some said, ‘Is the Christ to come from Galilee?’… So there was a division among the people because of Him” (John 7:40–43). Another passage tells us, “There was again a division among the Jews because of His words. Many of them said, ‘He has a demon and is insane; why listen to Him?’ But others said, ‘These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?’” (John 10:19–21).

Jesus was often criticized because He consorted with people who were outcasts or deemed sinners. His love and mercy for sinners, the common people, the sick and the poor, and those who were considered outcasts and marginalized by society, put the religious leaders to shame because it exposed their lacks in reflecting God’s love and mercy. Jesus added insult to injury by telling the chief priests and elders, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of heaven before you” (Matthew 21:31).

On one occasion, the religious leaders brought a woman to Him who “was caught in the very act of adultery.” And they told Him, ‘“Now Moses in the law commanded that such should be stoned, but what do You say?’ This they said tempting Him, that they might have something to accuse Him with. But Jesus acted as though He heard them not.

“But when they kept asking Him, He said to them, ‘He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her!’ And when they heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, they went out one by one, beginning at the eldest. And Jesus was left alone with the woman, and He said to her, ‘Woman, where are your accusers? Has no man condemned you?’ She said, ‘No man, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more’” (John 8:4–11).

One reason that the religious leaders were so infuriated with Jesus was because He broke their traditions and interpretations of religious laws. Once, He entered a synagogue on the Sabbath (the Jewish holy day in which no one is supposed to work) and found a man whose hand was deformed and withered. The Bible says, “The scribes and Pharisees watched Him, to see whether He would heal on the Sabbath day, so they might find a reason to accuse Him.” But Jesus ignored them and healed the man anyway, and it says, “They were filled with fury and conspired against Him, how they might destroy Him!” (Luke 6:6–11; Matthew 12:14).

On another occasion, in the Gospel of John where Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath who had been blind from birth, we read that the fact that this formerly blind man could suddenly see caused such an uproar that his neighbors brought him to the religious rulers. Some of the Pharisees, after interrogating him said, “This man who healed you is not of God because He doesn’t keep the Sabbath.’ But others wondered, ‘How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?’ And there was a division among them” (John 9:13–16).

Concerned about Jesus’ mushrooming popularity, the Pharisees debated among themselves, “‘We have not been able to stop Him. Look how the whole world is going after Him! What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation!’ So from that day on,” the Bible says, “they made plans to put Jesus to death” (John 11:47–53; 12:19).

Knowing that their accusations would bear no weight with Pilate, the Roman governor, they decided the only way to get rid of Jesus was to make political allegations against Him. Thus they told the governor, “We have found this man subverting our nation. And He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar, and claims to be a king Himself, the Christ!”

But after personally questioning Jesus, Pilate replied to Jesus’ accusers, “‘I find no fault in this man.’ For he knew that for envy the chief priests had brought Jesus to him” (Luke 23:2–4; Matthew 27:18). Upon hearing this, “They said, ‘But He stirs up people all over Judea with His false teachings!’ Then the chief priests and the religious elders swayed the multitude to destroy Jesus” (Luke 23:5; Matthew 27:20). But Pilate, still convinced of Jesus’ innocence of any real crimes, sought to release Him.

The elders then cried out before the crowd, “‘If you release this man, then you are no friend of Caesar. Because whosoever makes himself a king is speaking against Caesar!’” (John 19:12). Pilate, like a typical politician, then yielded to this political pressure, and turned Jesus over to His enemies, symbolically washing his hands before the multitude, saying, ‘I am innocent of the blood of this good person; see to it yourselves!’” In other words, it is your responsibility! “And the people answered, ‘Let His blood be on us and on our children!’” (Matthew 27:24–25). Pilate lacked the moral courage and conviction to resist the crowd, and therefore an innocent man, a perfect man, was cruelly crucified.

But thank God, only three days later, Jesus rose from the dead and led His tiny band of followers to ultimate victory. Once His followers were filled with the Holy Spirit, they spoke the truth with boldness, and the good news of the gospel and God’s love for all humankind went out into the whole world. And the truth of God’s love and message of salvation continues to flow into every corner of the planet as His followers carry on the work of the early church to reach the world.

From an article in Treasures, published by the Family International in 1987. Adapted and republished April 2024. Read by Reuben Ruchevsky.

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