Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
This reading from Matthew comes in one of Jesus’ jarring descriptions of what will happen to his disciples during their persecution for following him. It seems like a rational person hearing that this is what discipleship costs would run the other way. And yet people throughout the ages have continued to spread the good news of God’s love, despite the cost.
Sometimes reading what we humans do to each other breaks my heart. I knew there was a war in Sudan. I knew people were killed. Until this morning’s prayer time, I didn’t have an idea of the scale. In the civil war since the 1980s, an estimated 2,000,000 Sudanese, mostly Christian, have been killed by Sudanese, mostly not Christian, and another 5,000,000 Sudanese, mostly Christians, have been forced into exile. That’s up to 7 million people affected by this raging civil war, all waged by children of Abraham against children of Abraham. I read that the civilian death toll of that war one of the greatest, second only to World War II.
How is it that we aren’t all outraged by this? That I didn’t even really know the scale? Is it because we’ve grown numb to the pain and suffering in the world? Conservative estimates of death tolls from the largest armed conflicts since 1980 include: 600,000 dead-Soviet Afghan war; 300,0¬00 dead-Iran Iraq; 300,000 dead-Somali civil war; 300,000 dead-Burundian civil war; 2,750,000 dead-Congo wars; 480,000 dead-war on terror; 268,000 dead-Iraq war; 178,000 dead-Darfur; 2,000,000 dead-Sudan civil war; 478,000 dead-Syrian civil war. How could we not be numb to these numbers?
And while the causes of these wars are not all religious conviction, I wonder how many of the deaths were carried out by people of faith against people of faith?
So maybe we’re numb to this. Or maybe the stories aren’t being told. Where our country doesn’t have political or economic assets at stake, we don’t hear as much about the conflicts. Or maybe we hear about the conflicts and deaths, but don’t pay attention. People killed in Sudan for their Christian faith is irrelevant to my daily life.
Today, I’m thinking about the number of children of God killed by other children of God in war. In just these conflicts since 1980 with more than 100,000 killed, that’s 7,654,000 lives extinguished and families shattered.
It’s easy to lose hope, or feel defeated. This morning’s reading from Wisdom 3, offers the antidote: The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and while they may have died and there may be disaster, they are at peace.
Today, I want to mourn for those who have died in wars, marvel at their indomitable faith, and strive to be half as faithful as the martyrs of Sudan.
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