And this is the false argument they use, ‘Our life is short and dreary, there is no remedy when our end comes, no one is known to have come back from Hades. Let us lay traps for the upright man, since he annoys us and opposes our way of life, reproaches us for our sins against the Law, and accuses us of sins against our upbringing.
He claims to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. We see him as a reproof to our way of thinking, the very sight of him weighs our spirits down; for his kind of life is not like other people’s, and his ways are quite different.
In his opinion we are counterfeit; he avoids our ways as he would filth; he proclaims the final end of the upright as blessed and boasts of having God for his father. Let us see if what he says is true, and test him to see what sort of end he will have. For if the upright man is God’s son, God will help him and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies.
Let us test him with cruelty and with torture, and thus explore this gentleness of his and put his patience to the test. Let us condemn him to a shameful death since God will rescue him — or so he claims.’
This is the way they reason, but they are misled, since their malice makes them blind. They do not know the hidden things of God, they do not hope for the reward of holiness, they do not believe in a reward for blameless souls.
Wisdom 2:1, 12-22
It’s kind of amazing that we can look at words written thousands of years ago and feel like they could have been written this afternoon.
Not only does the world seem to be in the grip of the dark forces of Sodomites and the political system – and pseudo-religion – of Islam (to name a couple), but anyone who makes a peep expressing a Christian sentiment is vilified.
On Friday, March 28, in Ain Shams, a suburb of Cairo, Muslim Brotherhood supporters attacked the Virgin Mary and Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church, including by opening fire on it and setting parked cars aflame. Four people died. One of the slain, a young Coptic woman, was savagely mauled and molested before being murdered—simply because her cross identified her as a Christian to the Brotherhood rioters (taxonomically known as minus infesta vermis canis). The murdered woman, Mary Sameh George, was parking by the church to deliver medicine to a sickly, elderly woman.
On the enlightened side of the pond, the Brendan Eich, CEO of Mozilla (Slogan: Your web, the way you like it.) was forced from his position because something as prestigious as a dating site (OKCupid; Slogan: Never leave you buddy’s behind.) called for a boycott of Mozilla. Mr. Eich’s “crime” was that he gave a thousand bucks of his own money to support California’s Proposition 8, which won in the statewide popular vote, by the way.
As today’s Old Testament reading shows, there’s nothing new under the sun. The workers of darkness are not content to engage in their sin and tolerate those with whom they disagree. It is the mere existence of Christianity – and I suggest, especially the Catholic Church – that annoys and enrages the enemies of God:
Let us lay traps for the upright man, since he annoys us and opposes our way of life, reproaches us for our sins against the Law, and accuses us of sins against our upbringing.
Feeding the beast only makes it hungrier. Fear is not an option. Fear is a snare. “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.” Proverbs 29:25. Is Mary Sameh George safe? Safer than anyone reading this.
While I don’t pretend to know the details (I’m in sales, not management), I do know that the Lord hears and rescues the upright. I know that to the wicked evil brings death and those that hate the upright will pay the penalty (Psalm 34).
I also know we’re in good company. In today’s Gospel (John 7) we Jesus restricted in his ability to travel “because the Jews were seeking to kill him.” Yet the people marveled as he spoke openly (“Can it be true the authorities have recognized that he is the Christ?”). Jesus knew – what we all should embrace – that the safest place on the planet is doing the will of God. “They wanted to arrest him then, but because his hour had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.”
We are called to courage and obedience. We all know “our hour” will come. Until it does, no one can touch us. When it does, no one can save us.
What do you want to be doing when your hour comes?