“He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him.”  The Prophet Isaiah

“Blessed are you when people revile you, and persecute you, and say all sorts of evil things against you for my sake.” Jesus

“No one is born hating another person because of his skin, or his background, or his religion.  People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Nelson Mandela in The Long Walk to Freedom

Christ suffered persecution.  But He never persecuted in the name or for the sake of His God.  Unfortunately, too many of His followers seem to have missed that message.

Yes, there has been immense and intense persecution against the followers of Jesus throughout history.  For the first three hundred years following the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ His Body continued to imitate in their own bodies what He experienced, whether being crucified upside down like Peter, or used by Nero as human torches to light his garden or being forced to gather in secret in the catacombs.  On this Reformation weekend one is reminded of the persecution experienced by those like John Hus and John Wycliff who preceded Luther and Calvin.  Even into the present day the persecution of the followers of Christ continues, blatantly in countries like North Korea, Nigeria, and the Middle East where thousands of Christians are killed each year, and more subtly even in the United States where one is shamed or harangued for claiming to follow Christ.

But here’s the irony:  Those who have claimed to be followers of Christ have not only been persecuted, but the ones doing the persecuting.  In the book Constantine’s Sword author James Carroll, himself Roman Catholic, recounts the sordid history of the way in which the Christian Church cultivated persecution against its opponents, especially those who were Jewish.  For example, the first Jewish ghetto was created by the pope and located within a stone’s throw of the Vatican.  History is replete with examples of the persecution not only of people groups and “heretical” religions, but also and especially of women.  The practice of burning of women, be it figurative or literal, has been and still is far too common.  In Papua New Guinea, where I served for a time as a missionary, women have been recently killed after accused of being witches.  This in a country that claims to be 95% Christian.

The examples that could be given are countless, but here is what I find most disturbing:  The central message of Christ’s love has been lost or conveniently ignored, replaced by fear and the all-consuming quest for power and control. It seems all too obvious that attempting to convey a message of a loving God while simultaneously killing and persecuting those who hold different beliefs or practices is not only foolish but faithless.  And here’s the thing:  we have ample proof that violence, in the name of whatever god or religion one claims, only breeds more violence.  But love results in love, peace, and true transformation. 

It is not only Jesus and Nelson Mandela, quoted above, that gives evidence of this, it is others throughout history and in recent years that provide examples that this principal really can work, like MLK, Mother Teresa, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  As we cast our eyes upon the current conflicts in the world, it is clear that violence and hate only breed more of the same.  When will those who are so educated and claim to be religious, living in this supposed enlightened age, not only realize this, but begin to practice it.  And perhaps more importantly, when will we?