Lenten Reflection for Day 9
Date: Friday March 18, 2011
Author: John Harris
Bible Passage:
Matthew 5:4 (NRSV)
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Reflection:
“I want to share that I believe in Jesus Christ, who has given his own life for us. I know what is the meaning of that cross and I follow him on the cross. When I am leading this campaign against the sharia laws for the abolishment of the blasphemy laws, and speaking for oppressed and marginalized persecuted Christians and other minorities, these Taliban threaten me...I’m living for my community and suffering people and I will die to defend their rights. So these threats and these warnings cannot change my opinions and principles.” Shahbaz Bhatti, Christian disciple and Pakistan’s Minister of Minority Affairs. (as quoted in the Religion section of Concord Monitor, March 12, 2011)
The above words, spoken by Bhatti to the Al-Jazeera News Network (and available on YouTube), came several weeks before his assassination by Islamic radicals for his outspokenness against sharia laws that make it a blasphemous offence to become a Christian or state Christian beliefs. Bhatti knew these words were his death warrant the minute he uttered them. Yet he stated them in a very open and public forum. How hauntingly similar are his words to those spoken 66 years earlier to a similarly repressive regime by one Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Words that eventually led to his execution by the Nazis’ as a traitor to the Reich. Blessed are those who “suffer,” for they will be comforted.
Bhatti is only the latest Christian martyr who, as a bearer of suffering, stands in communion with the crucified Christ.. It is interesting to note that Luther translated the Greek word for what is blessed with “to bear suffering.” And I think that is what Jesus is driving at when He blesses those who mourn or suffer for His sake. Bhatti and Bonhoeffer are examples of Christian disciples who love Christ and Jesus’ community so much that are willing to bear suffering and death just as Jesus bore suffering and death to redeem us all. As Christian disciples, we do not go out of our way to accept suffering, but we do accept what is given to us as we go about our lives of loving God and neighbor. Sometimes, as we witness to the lives of Bhatti and Bonhoeffer, the world will give us pain and suffering for our efforts. But we rest comfortably in the knowledge that we will ultimately “stand in communion with the Crucified.”
Prayer: Lord, we give thanks for the blessed lives of saints such as Shahbaz Bhatti and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Help us follow in their path of discipleship as we minster to our neighbor and the marginalized of society. And, when we suffer for our discipleship, comfort us in your abiding love. Amen.
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