A Call to Christian Martyrdom or Life Saving Sunday
Isaiah 53:10-11, Hebrews 4:14-16, Mk 10:35-45
What is “life” for you? Close your eyes and imagine two potential murderers arguing whether you are alive to decide whether to kill you or not! No police, no army, only their decision will decide what happens to you; and, you have no say in their decision!
Today, “life” has become intentionally ambiguous in its meaning, whether it is human or non-human life. While some people protect human life from conception to natural death, others protect it when it is convenient to do so. For sure, whatever we consider as “life”, we generally try to protect it. These days, our society takes seriously ecological life, in its diverse forms, because the survival of human beings on earth needs it. Invariably, “life” seems to be whatever keeps oneself alive; otherwise, snuffing it out is OK — termination of pregnancies, drowning of immigrants, exploitation of poor people, enslaving and debasing of people of color, because these are not lives but diseases to snuff out of view and existence!
Obviously, the situation is different for whatever individuals call and accept as “life” because, in that case, there is the appreciation of life and the conscious steps many take to protect and save it from destruction, even if that requires sacrifices in forms of nature and nurture. For example, some work hard to make money to provide for the sustenance of human lives in families and societies; many expend energy, time, and money to campaign for the care of the earth. All these amount to “life saving” strategies to prevent humanity from extinction upon earth. But why can’t we protect every life, instead of debating what “human life” is for others because they are defenseless?
This Sunday is “life saving Sunday” because God teaches us about the importance of human life – body and soul. Our first reading provides an example of a “life saving” project—martyrdom—to save human lives from extinction: “If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the Lord shall be accomplished through him”. Instead of killing others or so-called bad people, someone decides to die to save others; this is martyrdom!
A little background history to our first reading is important to help with the understanding of it. Successive wars of extermination and exiles have always characterized human existence. Unfortunately, many such wars are ongoing today. Israel experienced many of such wars and exiles. It is precisely to save Israel and humankind from extinction that the readiness to sacrifice one’s life is talked about in our first reading. The implication is that everyone must play a positive role to impact others positively; that is the only way to sustain and save life! In the context of our first reading, to guarantee the survival of Israel from the dire situation of slavery demanded voluntary capital sacrifice or martyrdom to guarantee a future for Israel and to provide hope to a despondent people and nation!
The suggestion of our first reading is not far fetched from the reality of many underdeveloped countries of the world, where life in its different forms is threatened; yet, there is no sufficient willingness to save lives from the excruciating poverty asphyxiating the citizens of the world suffering internal servitude. “Life Saving Sunday” is a call to shatter the barricades of oppression that keep life on the fringes and to breathe a new lease of life into suffocating masses.
The greatest sin of all times is the refusal to safe human lives because we are debating at what moment and under what circumstances human lives qualify as “life”! The indictement of our generation for being a killing machine comes from the statement, “he gives his life as an offering for sin”, because “life saving” through “martyrdom”, that is, accepting to die without killing anyone, to save both body and soul from death, is the core of the Christian morality. The mention of “sin” implicates our generational moral bankruptcy and disciplinary laxity in the crass neglect to care for the sustenance of life as body and soul. Every refusal to protect and save life is a sin.
In a culture where killing is more important than saving life, only martyrs can bring about a transformation in our mindset. The requisite virtue is dying to save life, if need be. Those who sacrifice their lives, personal comfort, and dreams for the sake of the common-good are the martyrs that save life, the champions that “life saving Sunday” seeks after to encourage them.
Our gospel reading makes the death of Jesus a life-saving venture, a martyrdom for human salvation, and it offers us an example of dying to save life. Jesus frustrates the attempt to politicize the role of martyrdom in saving lives by two of his disciples, who were looking for earthly power and influence. According to our gospel, the major hindrance to embarking on “life saving” ventures is greed and selfishness/egoism. For instance, the two disciples’ search for places of honor, instead of martyrdom to save lives, typifies the apogee of selfishness. To correct their attitude, Jesus offers them free martyrdom: “The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized”.
“Life saving Sunday” disqualifies power mongers and hypocrites from assuming political and leadership positions because they refuse to accept martyrdom as a life-saving venture for others. If the identity of the willing martyr in our first reading is unknown, in our gospel, the marytr is indisputably identified as Jesus Christ. Therefore, Christianity is a religion of martyrs.
The reward of martyrdom is twofold: 1) the lives of many people are saved through martyrdom, and 2) the martyr earns eternal life. Here is how our second reading puts it: “Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.” This is the reward for dying for others—going to Heaven. Peace on earth also results from sacrifice: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin”. The strength of Christians is the imitation of Jesus in his suffering, and a guarantee of heaven awaits them.
The complaints that things are not the way they should be points to a collective failure to imitate the sacrifice of Jesus’ life—to die for a better today and tomorrow. Yes, we can do it—sacrifice to make the world a better place. Stop complaining, get to work, the work of martyrdom! Indeed, “life” is unambiguous; it is a gift of God not to be toyed with in our selfish political debates. “Life” is body and soul—save both!
Assignment for the Week :
Come up with a strategy to save lives or do something this week to defend life!