By Nancy Overgaard

When ISIS fighters beheaded 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians recently, it may have seemed a victory for ISIS and a defeat for the Egyptian Christians. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

It was the Copts who won a glorious victory that day, by remaining faithful to God rather than renounce their faith, following a long line of faithful Christians. If the Pope is to be believed, the beheaded died with prayer on their lips, calling on the name of Jesus. By one online report, all prayed in unison in Egyptian, “My Lord, Jesus.” By another, all sang hymns on the beach awaiting their gruesome execution.

The victory is not an easy one, by any means. A Christian husband and father, jailed for his faith in Nepal, told me the temptation was great for him to deny his faith. He worried constantly about his family. Who would protect and provide for them if he remained in jail or disappeared as happened to many Christians in Nepal?  Sadly, many Christians accepted defeat, denying their faith to save their lives.

A museum in Sarajevo, Bosnia documents similar stories of defeat. Centuries ago, Christians in Bosnia were given the same options offered Christians in the Middle East, today. Deny their faith in Jesus Christ, pay a tax and live. Or, remain faithful to Christ, be tortured and killed. Sadly, many renounced their faith to save their lives, the ultimate defeat. Tragically, some are suffering the same defeat, today.

Yet, history is also replete with exemplars of the faith, as a First Century Coliseum in Croatia chronicles. I visited there to have a visual reminder of the faithfulness of early Christians, that I might be as faithful. A guided tour confirmed what I surmised. Christians were devoured by lions in that arena, rather than renounce their faith in Christ. They refused to give up their faith, though it meant giving up their lives.

Underground, holding cells chronicled another aspect of the torture, the waiting and wondering, a grim foreshadow of the same malicious practice by modern ISIS captors. Above ground, seating was plentiful for spectators to stack the stadium and raucously cheer the demise of the Christians. Patrons and perpetrators pompously presumed death meant defeat for the Christians. But, did it, and does it?

An unlikely pair of speakers shared the platform at a conference I attended in Amsterdam. Standing together were Nate Saint and the Auca Indian who killed his father, a missionary. The Auca testified that, as he and other natives bombarded the missionaries with deadly arrows, angels appeared in the sky above the missionaries, singing. Love radiated from the faces of the victims who refused to retaliate.

The astonished Auca knew in that instant they were not the victors that day. The missionaries were. Before long, the Auca became Christians and fast friends with the families of the murdered.

As Good Friday and Easter approach, we reflect on the radical reversal that took place then. On Friday, a ruthless mob brutalized an innocent man, condemned him to an agonizing death, and gloated over what they presumed was their victory and his defeat. By Sunday, his resurrection proved them wrong.

Some knew as soon as darkness covered the land and earth began to shake; others, as reports of Jesus’ resurrection spread; others, on hearing the Gospel preached. One day, all will know, as the Apostle Paul, a persecutor of Christians turned preacher, wrote in Philippians 2:8-11. Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Now that is victory!

 

The Rev. Nancy Overgaard is part of the Freeborn County Ministerial Association.