SLTJ:Ch 18

The Birth of Christ (continued)

© L.D. Underwood 2011

Continuing the study of the birth of Christ, we now look at the period of preparation. This is the first major period in the life of our Lord, extending from his birth all the way to his baptism. It is the longest period of Christ’s life, roughly thirty years in duration, with the fewest number of reported incidents.

Let’s briefly address the birth once again. We examined the virgin birth previously, now we should examine some of the accompanying events surrounding that birth. We can begin by considering the undatable date. Frankly, we just do not know when the birth of Christ took place. That may be a strange statement to make, since we know what year this is and we call it AD or Anno Domini—"the year of our Lord”, but we know for a fact that Christ did not come into this world in exact accordance with the current date. At that time, the Roman calendar was in use in Palestine; and this calendar counted the years from the legendary date of the founding of the city of Rome. That date being 753 BC. They used this approach, (they called it AUC), which give us some Latin words that mean, “from the founding”; or “from the foundation of the city” referring to the city of Rome in 753 BC.

From that starting point, later on in 47 BC, a new calendar was designed by Julius Caesar. The calendar that we use today is derived from this revised edition by Julius Caesar with a few changes. The concept of a week was not introduced much later in the year 325; there were other changes made by a variety of people, including a man named Dionysius in 533, who was a sixth century Roman monk—an astronomer, and mathematician. Other changes were made by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. If anyone is interested in the history of calendar making, these are some of the important individuals to consider.

The most important change, as far as we’re concerned, is the one proposed by Dionysius in the year 533, (or AD 533). When he suggested that the year should no longer be counted AUC, but rather should be derived from the birth of Christ. So he looked at the records that were available in his time, went back and called year 1. What he thought was accurate, and since we have more records available to us than he had at that time, we know that he erred anywhere from four or five years. So this is one of history’s great numerical errors, unwittingly committed by this Roman monk.

Even the season of the year is open for question, because we are told in the Scripture that shepherds were abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. That is our one clue—ordinarily this was during the spring of the year when the lambs were born. Different dates have been suggested, beyond December 25. It was celebrated, for example on Epiphany, on January 6; several different dates have been ascribed for this celebration. Finally, in the city of Rome, it was fixed on December 25, sometime early in the fourth century. This was the same day of the Roman feast in dedication to the sun god. So, it was an appropriate time from that standpoint, but we simply don’t know for sure even the exact season of the year. We can trace back the approximate year in which Christ was born however. We do it through a series of evidences. First of all, we know the year of Herod’s death was in 4 BC. He died that year, shortly before the Passover. We know that Jesus was born while he was still alive according to the second chapter of Matthew. So, it must be prior to 4 BC as the actual date.

A second piece of evidence is the date of governorship of Quirinius (or Cyrenius as he is also named in Luke chapter 2). If we knew when he was governor, that would help us in determining the approximate date. We know from history that he was governor of Syria twice. The first time was between 7 and 6 BC; and the second time wasn’t until AD 6-9. So we know that this was either 7 or 6 BC when he was governor of Syria and his name is even mentioned in the gospel of Luke as being the governor of Syria.

If we knew when the tax collection was made, that would help us come closer to an exact date. Many years ago in Ankara, Turkey, some archeologists uncovered an inscription giving a list of the years when the order went forth for a tax collection. For example, there was one order that went forth in the year 28 BC—obviously too early. One went forth in the year 8 BC; and the next one wasn’t until AD 14. So, most likely it was the 8 BC ruling when they uttered this need for a tax collection. We can understand with slow travel, and poor communications, that the actual collection may have been delayed by months or even a couple of years in a country like Palestine near the edge of the Roman empire.

Then we can also figure back from the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist. Luke tells us for example in the third chapter of his gospel that the beginning of John’s ministry was in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, about the year 26. We know that also Pilot was appointed procurator of Judea in the year 26. We know that Jesus was approximately 30 years of age at the time when he started his public ministry. We know that John was about six months older than Jesus his relative, so when we figure back 30 years from AD 26, again we arrive at approximately 5 BC.

We can also consider the date of the beginning of Herod’s temple that provides another point in time. We know that temple was begun about twenty years before Christ or ninteen years before Christ; John tells us in the second chapter of his gospel, the people said, well how could Jesus be older than Abraham, or how can he fulfill these things because at that time, the temple was only 46 years old. Again, we can trace back that time and come again to around 5 or 4 BC. Perhaps the preferred dates of the birth of Christ would be somewhere around 5 or 6 BC from all of these calculations that is about as close as we can come to determining an approximate year.

We know that the place of birth was in Bethlehem. Bethlehem actually means “House of Bread”. Whenever we have the word ‘beth’ we have the word for ‘house.’ Bethel is house of God; Bethlehem is house of bread; Bethany, house of dates (the kind we eat). There is a little town, southwest of Jerusalem, and the circumstances surrounding this birth of Christ, took place at the time when Caesar Augustus was the first Roman Emperor. He was the grand nephew and also the adopted the heir of Julius Caesar. He ruled from 30 BC to AD 14. As the Roman Emperor, the first Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus was the master book keeper of the world who sat in his palace by the Tiber river. He issued this order for a census of the Roman world. We should remember there was only one capitol at this time—and that was Rome. There was only one official language of the empire—and that was Latin. There was only one ruler of the empire—and that was Augustus Caesar. He was an absolute ruler, dictator even though it was a very peaceful and mild rule under his administration. To every outpost, to every governor and satrap, the order for the census went out, and each Roman citizen had to be enrolled in his own city.

In accordance with that edict, Mary and Joseph set out from the village of Nazareth for the village of Bethlehem. They did that because they were distant decedents of David, that was the appropriate city they would go to. Women also paid taxes in those days, but it was not necessary for them to go in person if their husband or someone else could go in place of them. But not wanting to leave Mary alone in Nazareth, Joseph brings her with him. It is an eighty or ninety mile journey that they took, at best four or five days, perhaps longer. Here she is jogging on the back of a Donkey, while she is in a state of advanced pregnancy. The journey is very slow and tedious, and by the time they arrive, the little village is already overcrowded.

Doctor Luke tells us that there was no room in the Inn or the motel. Now Luke records that fact for us, not to insight pity, not to play on our emotions of sympathy, but to show us something of the cold heart, the indifferent attitude of humankind toward the birth of a baby. There are some people who are bothered over the fact that there was no room in the Inn. Actually, we should be very thankful that there was a no vacancy sign on the door of that motel. Because inns, in those days, were like public hostels. There were no private rooms, just one large public floor where everybody would bring their own bed, their own pallet and spread it out for the night. So had there been room that night, the birth of Christ would have taken place before the leering eyes jeering cries of the mob and the curious gaze of the vulgar crowd. The real difference between the inn and the stable, was the company rather than the accommodations. Instead of angels and shepherds, we would have had a picture of a cold, calloused mob at that first Christmas. Rather the clean straw than the unclean crowd. Dumb oxen are far better than the dumb gaze of sinners. So actually, this was a blessing in disguise, where Jesus now has a private maternity ward.

God is always where we least expect to find Him. Yet it is sad to contemplate that Mary had to bring forth her first son in such a makeshift place. Here is the “Godman”, who came from the atmosphere of heaven, to the air of a stall, departing from the presence of angels, arriving in the presence of animals. Giving up the halls of eternity, to enter the stable of maternity. Bringing the mystery of heaven down to the misery of earth. For you see Israel was not looking for a king; oh she was looking for an earthly king, but not in the form of a baby. Israel was interested in taxes and deliverance from Roman control and world empire. They had no time to play nursemaid. The citizens of that town went to sleep that auspicious night, little realizing the great injustice, the great inhospitality shown to the Son of God. Exiled from the earth, he was born under the earth in those caves of limestone rock that were used for stabling cattle either on the first floor or under the earth. Because he was born in a cave, everyone who wished to see him had to stoop. Isn’t it interesting how he was disowned upon entering this world, and he is rejected upon leaving this world. He lays in a stranger’s stable in the beginning and he is put in a stranger’s grave at the end. There is an ox and an ass that surround his crib at Bethlehem, and there are two thieves that flank his cross on Calvary.

We know from the Old Testament that Mary washed him, Jesus, with salt water and swaddled him in many yards of white cotton or linen cloth until he looked like a little Egyptian mummy. Of course the reason they did this would be to make sure his bones would grow straight and that he would breath through his nostrils. Scripture also affirms the fact that there was the homage of the shepherds. It is interesting to know that the Jews, for some strange reason, despised shepherds. Whether it was because they had very insignificant beginnings, or whether it was because of their ignorance, we do not know. It may be the fact that they were light fingered thieves that gave them such a bad reputation. In fact the testimony of shepherds was not permitted in a court of law. Often times when there were no wild beasts or any known thieves in the area, the shepherding of sheep would be entrusted to young children. Therefore people who tended sheep were considered unfit for greater tasks. They were despised and looked down upon, and yet to such men, came the announcement of the birth of Christ. That tells me something, that there are two classes of people who find that babe ultimately, there are the shepherds, those simple folks who know that they don’t know very much. Then there are the wise men, who come later, the learned ones who know that they don’t know everything. What is that saying? Only the humble can find God. Since it is the birth of a male child, it was appropriate for these heavenly musicians to sing at his advent.

There are certain accompanying ceremonies that went along with shortly after birth. The first of these would be circumcision. Every Jewish male had to undergo a surgical operation known as circumcision on the eighth day after birth. This is a regulation, partly for health reasons and partly for ceremonial importance of it that can be traced all the way back to Genesis chapter 17. Circumcision was such a sacred ceremony, that it could even be carried out on the Sabbath day when hardly anything else could be done on that day. Normally, at the eighth day, when this ceremony took place, the child would receive his name. We should remember Paul in writing to the Galatians, says in Galatians 4:4 that Jesus was born under the law to redeem those who were under law. And therefore, according to the law back in the book of Exodus, every first born male, both of human beings and of cattle, were thought to be sacred to God. The first-born was always given tremendous emphasis. So, the second ceremony of importance would be called the redemption of the first-born. We read about this in the eighteenth chapter of the book of numbers. For a sum of five shekels, parents could, as it were, buy back their son from God. They would offer their first-born and then they could have the privilege of paying the priest to be able to have the privilege of raising that child in the early years. They would pay the priest about thirty-one days after birth. So, first of all circumcision the eighth day after birth, which by the way is the first token of pain and bloodshed for Jesus as a male child; the first child; the first born. Secondly, this redemption of the firstborn ceremony, thirty-one days after birth.

Then the third ceremony was the purification of the mother from ceremonial uncleanness. When a woman had borne a child, if it were a boy, she was considered ceremonially unclean for forty days. If it were a girl, it would be for eighty days. This meant that she could go about her household business, but she couldn’t enter the temple, she couldn’t share in any kind of religious ceremony during this time. At the end of that time, she had to bring to the temple a lamb, for a burnt offering and a young pigeon for a sin offering. According to Leviticus, chapter 12, if the family were in a state of poverty and couldn’t afford to bring those two different animals, a lamb and a pigeon, they would be able to give two pigeons or two turtle doves. The fact that Mary offers that in place of the lamb and the pigeon, reveals the financial condition of that family. Yet, reverently, Mary had a little lamb, because she had the lamb of God to offer—Jesus Christ.

It is worth mentioning Simeon and Anna, two old people unrelated to each other, but both among the spiritual minority, who were looking for the redeemer in those days. Their ears, their eyes, their hearts were open toward God. They realized that the nation was in great danger. There was need that one would come along side these guilty people and provide consolation, provide comfort, be one who would understand their problems and plead their cause and save them from death and destruction. These older people were among the godly remnant who were alive to what God was doing, even when most of the doctors of the law were spiritually dead. Here were people who were devout in worship and righteous in their dealings. Again, it is interesting that every priest is bypassed in the revelation of God. Instead, God comes to these insignificant elderly people. We have Simeon, for example, who takes this six-week-old baby in his arms. It is a vivid contrast between old age and infancy. Simeon utters a song nunc dimittis. It becomes a prophetic announcement of the effect of the future ministry of messiah. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, he was looking for the messianic age and before he dies, he is able to carry this redeemer in his arms.

Anna, on the other hand, was a widow. Apparently, instead of seeing family life in a second marriage, this lonely woman drew close to God and went to live in the house of God, and worked there, helping to keep the place clean. Finally, when she got to be quite elderly, and age began to interfere with her service, she retired to her little room there in the temple quarters and interceded day and night for the cause of God. A tremendous benediction. So, here is an old man at the sunset of his own life, that speaks of a savior. Here is a woman, a prophetess. How old was she? We are told she had been a widow for eighty-four years wasn’t it? Then she had been married for seven years previously; and she had to be at least 13 or so when she was married, so we can estimate she is a woman who was over 100 years of age at this time.

In proceeding to the very early years of the infancy of Christ, we have the visit of the magi, or the wisemen. Simeon, in his song, had foretold of that the Babe would be a light to the gentiles. We know that at his birth, there were these wisemen, these scientists from the east who came to see him. And at his death, there would also be Greeks, or philosophers from the West, who would seek him out.

It is worth noting that this account of the wisemen is only recorded in the gospel of Matthew 2. We are all familiar with the Christmas carol, “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” That carol is riddled with errors. First of all, these men were not Kings, they were wisemen, astrologers; students of religion and science and magic. If we go back to the opening chapters of the book of Daniel in the Old Testament, we read about some of these similar wise persons, people who were skilled in philosophy and medicine and natural science. These men would not doubt be familiar with the Jewish scriptures because they were well-educated in the sacred literature of that time. Suetonius, the Roman historian tells us that there were among the gentiles of that time, a great expectation of a coming golden age that would arise from among the Jews. So, these were sort of priest sages, or wisemen who also were dabbling in various religions.

Secondly, they did not come from the Far East. But they came either from Babylon, or even more likely from Persia. If we were to look at some of the primitive Christian art in the catacombs of Rome, we would find that they dressed these magi in Persian garments. The majority of the church fathers interpreted them to be Persians. We know later on that the Persians even spared the church of the nativity in the year 614 when they came to conquer, because they saw a golden mosaic over the doorway depicting the wisemen with their Persian headdress.

It is interesting that there is no count of how many of these wisemen came given in the Scriptures. It is shear conjecture to insist upon three. Let’s be very careful to get our Bible truth from the scriptures and not from Christmas cards. The number three came about because three gifts were offered. Perhaps there were many of these wisemen. One tradition has as many as twelve. Three would hardly insight the jealous interest of King Herod. So we can picture these learned professors, traveling many miles on dusty roads, all the way to Bethlehem. Their camels laden down with microscopes and telescopes and gyroscopes and slide-rules or whatever else they might have had; this whole entourage, perhaps as many as one hundred plus people, if they brought others with them to carry some of these things, traveling under very dangerous conditions in that period of time.

Something else of interest is that it seems quite certain that the magi did not visit Jesus until after the shepherds had come and gone. We are told in Luke that the Shepherds came to the manger, while Matthew tells us that the magi, or these wisemen, came to a house. It is estimated that they may have come as late as a year or year and a half or even up to two years after the actual birth of Jesus; so that they may have never met the shepherds in the process of their journey.

There are all kinds of legends that are very interesting about these wisemen. One ancient legend, gives us even the names of what they think three wisemen were called. One was Gaspar, who supposedly came from India; one was Melchior, from Persia, and one was Balthazar from Arabia. But legends weren’t satisfied just even with naming names, but they said that they represented the three ages of men. Youth, middle age, and old age. So, they gave ages to them: one was 20, one was 40, one was 60. Some say they were descendants of the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Other names were given to them in different legends of the past. Supposedly, Thomas, who was believed to be an apostle to India, baptized the magi into the Christian faith. And their relics were buried in Constantinople, Istanbul, and then transferred later to the cathedral in Cologne, west Germany in the twelfth century, where supposedly, the bones of the wisemen rest today.

The interesting thing about the wisemen was that their purpose was to worship the Christ child. They did not stop with the star as an end in itself. There are a lot of people who get sidetracked with the supernatural, “Oh the beautiful star.” But Christ is the only object of our affection. We can learn a lot about worship from these wisemen. For example, we learn the fact that worship is an act of those who are truly wise. Here are scientists, here are scholars, wise in the employment of their intellect and knowledge. It might peeve some people to hear preachers with little or no education stand behind the pulpit railing against education, and the evils of education. Some who have gone through the processes might know that there are dangers. It is possible for learning and intelligence to become a snare and even a curse if it is profaned. It seems true scholarship must lead to Christ as it did in the case of these wisemen. It is not an end in itself.

Something else we learn here about worship is that it calls for God’s guidance. Here were these men, led by the star. We are led by the authoritative guide of scripture. Not the traditions of the ancient fathers; not even guided by the dictates of our own conscience, but rather guided by, “Thus sayeth the Lord.” Worship also calls for concentration of mind and determination of will. Those religious leaders of that time could quote prophecy. They knew about the place of messiah’s birth from Micah’s prophecy, but not one of those religious leaders accompanied the wisemen to Bethlehem, or joined with them to worship him. There was no welcoming committee to greet the magi; they had to press through obstacles. Yet neither the apathy of Israel, nor the antipathy of Herod affected them. If we are going to worship, we are going to also have to push through barriers of either hatred, or indifference. Barriers of the world and the flesh and the devil in order to touch God. Worship also involves the presentation of our gifts to God. Notice these wisemen didn’t ask for anything. They gave. They weren’t interested in merely petitions; they came with presents. Notice the nature of their gifts. First of all, they offered gold, which speaks of royalty or kingship, showing his official glory as the Son of God. They also came with frankincense, which is a fragrant gum resin that is burned and becomes perfumed incense or odor. That frankincense speaks of his moral glory, as the perfect Son of Man. And the third gift is myrrh, coming from the word ‘Smyrna’ actually; it is an aromatic, orange-colored resin; very expensive and used as a perfume. It is used also as an anointing oil, or for embalming purposes. Myrrh speaks of his redemptive glory as the suffering servant. He was born as king, he lives as high priest and he died as savior. The crib and the cross once again related.

As an aside, in Isaiah chapter 60, at the second coming of Christ, they are going to present him with gifts again. With gold and with frankincense, but there will be no myrrh at that time, because he is coming as our king and priest, but not one who suffers; not as a lamb, but as a lion. Not as a babe of Bethlehem, but as the sovereign king of the universe. That we would become wisemen of the west and present our gifts of worship to Christ, who seeks worshippers to worship him in spirit and in truth.

There is a very elaborate embroidery of tradition concerning these gifts. Where did the gold come from? According to legend, these coins were originally minted by Abraham’s father, were paid by Abraham for the Cave of Machpelah (or Cave of the Patriarchs). Later Potiphar was paid these coins by Jacob for grain in Egypt. Subsequently, they were given by Joseph to a queen of Sheba for an ointment to anoint the body of his father Jacob. A later queen of Sheba passed these coins on to Solomon, from whom they ultimately came into the hands of Melchior—one of whose ancestors had pillaged the temple in Jerusalem, and now they are being offered to the Christ child in Bethlehem. But the story doesn’t stop there. When the holy family fled to Egypt, they took with them these coins. The virgin Mary tied up the money with the frankincense and myrrh in a cloth, accidently, she dropped it on the way to Egypt and the shepherd tending his flock found that cloth, kept it safe until the time when Jesus was performing miracles in Judea. Being afflicted with a disease, the shepherd came to Jerusalem and Jesus cured him. The shepherd offered him the cloth, but Jesus knowing what it was, desired him to offer it on the alter. There the Levite, ministering, burnt the frankincense, and a part of the myrrh was made into a bitter drink which was given to Jesus on the cross. The remainder of the myrrh was used by Nicodemus and presented for the burial of Jesus. But the thirty coins were given over to Judas for betraying Christ. He threw them down in remorse at the feet of the high priest whereupon fifteen went to pay the soldiers who watched the tomb and the other fifteen bought a field to bury poor pilgrims. This is an interesting collage of mistaken identities.

What we can say for sure, is that they were gifts worthy of a king and were exceedingly precious. In all probability, the holy family used them to finance their exile to Egypt. That star has also captivated the interest of people. We find it in silver or gold, plastic or cardboard, or aluminum foil crowning the top of Christmas trees, twinkling among the festive trappings on Main street of our home towns. Some people dismiss this phenomenon as a myth. Other people regard the star as totally supernatural. There are some middle courses between those two extreme views that might be helpful. There is one far out theory by a Russian, who thought the star was a spaceship from a higher civilization carrying cosmonaut Jesus into the world. But there is a theory that some scientists have projected that every eight hundred and five years, the planets Jupiter and Saturn come into and extraordinary conjunction with Mars joining the configuration a year later. There are some who feel that this joining of planets together with the various constellations around it, might be a partial explanation that God used that as a means of drawing these wisemen to the place of the birth of Christ. Actually, the Greek word for star is the word ‘astar’ and could refer to any kind of luminous heavenly body. So, there are some who thought it was a comet or a meteor or a nova or perhaps a combination of several of these possibilities that God used.

There is another discussion surrounding the birth of Christ we might call, The trouble with Christmas—or The massacre of the innocents as recorded in Matthew 2:13. By way of introduction to this discussion, Albert Camus, an existentialist, wrote in his novel, The Fall, about a character named John Baptiste Clements, who was an atheist, but one who was fascinated with the person of Jesus Christ. At one point in that novel, The Fall, he (John Baptiste Clements) is musing over the crucifixion of Christ. He concludes that Jesus was innocent of the charges brought against him by the leaders of the Jews. But he concludes that Jesus was not altogether innocent. He suggests that Jesus must have had some memory of what had happened at Bethlehem shortly after his birth—that occasion on which King Herod murdered all the boy babies under two years of age. Certainly a spirit as sensitive as Jesus, Clement reasoned, must have been aware of the fact that he was alive, while all those other little baby boys were dead. And that must have weighed heavily upon his conscience and increased the agony of his dying. If this is shocking, it is advised not to be too hard on Camus, because others have shared the same thoughts. We cannot forget those little babies in Bethlehem. The angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to men of good will”, the kids were killed. That is the trouble with Christmas. We are so quick to talk about the manger; we don’t so often talk about the massacre of the innocents. We talk about the Shepherds and the special star and not the soldiers and the awful slaughter of the first Christian martyrs. We meditate upon the magi; but we don’t talk about the murders. We sing Carols like, “Joy to the World” and “Lord is Come” and then we turn around and see Jonestown. We sing, “Hark the Harold Angels Sing, glory to the new born king”; and the rate of accidents on our highways goes up and refugees’ boats sink with those aboard into the treacherous oriental sea. Twelve thousand people die on this planet every day because of hunger. We croon, “Away in a Manger” and at same time there is conflict between Arabs and Jews; conflict in Rhodesia and Iran other places where there are serious civil and international conflicts. Wars and rumors of wars all about us. That is part of the trouble with Christmas. Even though our local environment is beautiful, especially at that season of the year we call Christmas, yet the Bible still says that, “Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men” (Mt 2:16).

When Matthew wrote these words, it is roughly 60, 70 AD. At this particular time, a very interesting thing is happening in the church. Great numbers of gentiles, non-Jews are coming into the church in responses to the ministry of the apostle Paul. Back home in Israel, the Jewish opposition to the church is growing and becoming more vigorous every day. That is the reason, we might assume, Matthew includes in his gospel two stories that are not found in the other gospels. The first is the story of the visit of the wisemen, and the second the story that follows it, the story of what happened at Bethlehem. He puts them side by side together, because to Matthew, the coming of the wisemen, gentiles, symbolizes perhaps the coming of all those gentiles into the church in response to Paul’s ministry at that time. The massacre at Bethlehem led by Herod, the king of the Jews, represents the organize opposition of Judaism which the church is experiencing at this time.

Matthew is presenting this story to the Jewish Christians of his day, and basically he is saying, expect to be persecuted. For as they came after Christ, so they’re going to come after you. That is a call to reality. This Christ who came to heal sorrows, also brings sorrows. The one who has healed many broken hearts has also broken many healed hearts. He says, I have not come to bring peace, I have come to bring a sword. All those who walk in his train, know what it is to have fury of evil vented upon them. No martyrs would have died in the fire, had Jesus not come. Lions of the coliseums would remain unfed had Jesus not come. From the moment of his coming, from the moment of his birth, when he was lying still in the manger throughout all of his life, he brought upon himself and those who gathered around him persecution and hardship. That is the reason that he says, all of my disciples will have to take up their cross every day and follow me. The cross is the supreme expression of the antagonism of evil. If our discipleship has never experienced any suffering, we ought to ask a very serious question of ourselves about just how closely we are following the one we call Master. Because the fact of the matter is, cats don’t attack dead mice. If we are alive in Christ, there will be persecution.