Shining as Lights: The Christian Witness in a Hostile World
November 6, 2024 - Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Phil 2:12-18
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus said to His disciples, “You are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14). Using the same metaphor, Paul compares the Philippian Christians to lights shining in the world (see Phil. 2:15). This presumes that the world is in darkness or, to use the harsh words of Paul, it is crooked and perverse (see Phil. 2:15).
The world that the first Christians encountered was a hostile one. We get a glimpse of what it meant to be a Christian in that world through an ancient document from the second century AD known as the Letter to Diognetus. The author writes: “Christians love all men, but all men persecute them.” Another ancient Christian writer, Tertullian, tells us that every misfortune was blamed on the Christians: “If the Tiber rises too high for the walls, or the Nile too low for the fields, if the heavens do not open, or the earth does, if there is famine, if there is plague, instantly the howl is—The Christians to the lion!” (The Apology, chapter 40). What was the response of our ancestors in faith?
The Letter to Diognetus continues: “A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference their response to insult. For the good they do, they receive the punishment of malefactors, but even then they rejoice, as though receiving the gift of life.” Shining like lights in a hostile world meant living by different standards and embracing the non-violence commanded by Jesus Christ: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:44-45). Shining like lights in a hostile world also meant exposing the darkness of the world: the foolishness of worshiping idols and its immoral way of life. Christian apologists, like Tertullian, took to writing to explain the truth of our faith.
The question we can ask is: in what kind of world are we called to shine like lights? Among the developed countries of the West, the U.S. is the only remaining country with a majority Christian population and the nation also upholds the right to free speech. Yet even there, we find disturbing incidents that are becoming more common. In the summer of 2022, a pastor was arrested at a pro-abortion rally in Seattle for reading the Gospel of John to its participants. As we consider the entire world, we realize that Christians are the most persecuted group globally. If Tertullian lived today, he would probably write that we are blamed for intolerance and bigotry, for having outdated morality and inhibiting scientific progress, and for being a threat to social stability.
Shining like lights in our world requires the same approach as in the ancient Roman Empire. Our response to all these false accusations should be love, blessing, and a pen. We are found in all the cities of the world, but we cannot identify ourselves with the world—our lifestyle must be in accordance with the values of the Gospel. And those among us gifted with writing, like Tertullian, C.S. Lewis, or Tolkien, should pick up the pen to defend us, exposing the fallacy of these false accusations and clearly explaining why Christianity is so different and unique from any other religion or philosophical system.