When Jesus was arrested he made no fuss but accepted it as if I was an every day occurrence. There was no fuss or force used but he just continued as if nothing had happened. It is a good example for people today because some people are blowing small matters out of proportion and going to court over the smallest of things and I am sure that if they just accepted it like Jesus did it would be resolved. As the solider was mocking Jesus, he made no action to retaliate. He accepted what was done to him this is a good example for Christians today because if they were being mocked about their faith they should not retaliate. This teaches us not to argue or make fun of some one for whatever reason but just accept it. Jesus accepted it as he believed it was what he was called to do.
Jesus is a good example for Christians today in Egypt, Pakistan, china and parts of Indonesia. The way in which he coped with threats, rejection, mockery unfair treatment and death.
A i
Persecution of Christians in Rome by Nero
Rome was burnt down in the great fire of July 64, this destroyed the majority of the city. Nero was the emperor of Rome at this time, he was unpopular, and some considered Nero ‘mad’. He found the accusation made matters worse for him. He deflect the attention of the people away from what a bad emperor he was and he could be good by showing he was dealing in the situation in hand. He blamed the fire and some other things on the Christians who were a small, relatively unknown and a misunderstood group, those that did know of them disliked them. They were considered disloyal to Rome. The. Historians at the time Pliny, Snetonions and Dio Cassius were saying that Nero had started the fire but they were in the minority and Tacitus was non-committal.
The Christians were bullied through torture to confess that they had started the fire; Nero could show the people he had evidence and it was not a plan. A huge number of Christians were blamed and killed in the process of Nero forcing them to confess as many refused. The charge was ‘hatred of humanity’ and starting the fire. The historians were not believed now Nero had got the Christians to confess. The Christians were persecuted in many forms for example; They were put into a ring with lions set upon them, some would place bets on who would be caught first, if this was not enough many were nailed to a cross and doomed with flames, to act as a torch at night light, they were mocked by the other people who all believed it was them who had destroyed their city. After it was discovered that the Christians were not involved in the fire the number of Christians grew dramatically across Asia. Nero inflicted racism upon the Christians at the time because they were weak and different.
A ii
Marks Gospel and Persecution
Mark wrote his gospel for many reasons, he wants to give the people, the Greeks, and other members of the Roman Empire an accurate account of Jesus’ life, and he could also show Jesus he cared for him. Mark also added to this how he had lived his life as a disciple. Mark was different to the other four gospel writers because he aimed his gospel at the non- Jewish suffers. The new disciples were going through times of Lordship Mark encouraged them by giving examples of Peter. One example is when the disciples failed to do their duty to Jesus, was the denial of Peter on the night before Jesus died after the last super. There are many references to persecution and Trail most of the times it was because of their faith in Christ. The main Persecution of Christians is by Nero but there were many other small persecutions that we no nothing about. Christians and Jews were treated similarly as scapegoats when things were not going to plan.
