Today Christians, who suffer at the hands of an unfair trial system, gain inspiration from the example of Jesus, which is presented to us. I think that the message is that truth eventually wins through Lies (false evidence) are shown for what they are. This was the case with to trials in particular – The Birmingham six and the Guildford four. Both had been charged with bombing pubs in cities. They both claimed that their trials were unfair and discriminatory. They were sent to prison in 1974 to be released years later in 1989 and 1990.
The cross is probably the most important symbol for Christians, representing the suffering and death of Jesus. ‘To the Jews it meant being completely cut of from God’ (Deuteronomy 21). Yet to Christians it was to be a symbol of hope, persecution and ultimately death. When Jesus was on the cross he asked God to forgive the people who were killing him.
Jill Saward is a Christian gained strength from this act of love (agape) and forgiveness when she was attacked and raped in her own home. During the Lords prayer, she realised that if she wanted forgiveness for the wrongs that she had done, then she to would have to find it in her heart to forgive her attackers.
Christianity teaches that all wrongdoers can be forgiven for what they have done, whether are leaders of war, murderers or rapists.
Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on 15 January 1929. From an early age he realised that black people were not treated as equals in America. Even though Abraham Lincoln had abolished slavery in 1869, most blacks still lives in poverty in the richest nation on earth. They earned half the wages of white people; many could not vote; they lived in ghettos and they were separated (segregated) in public. Some whites wanted slavery reintroduced and caused violence against black people (Klu Klux Klan). Martin Luther King fought against this.
In 1960 Martin became the leader of the civil right movement. He companied endlessly. In 19578 he spoke to a crowd of 40,000 in Washington at a ‘Freedom March’. He organised various forms of peaceful protest. Often the police reacted with violence. In 1960 he led a march of a quarter of a million of people in Washington demanding that black people be given the vote.
Throughout his life Martin Luther King was confronted by violence. His home was bombed. He was stabbed, his family received death threats but he kept to his Christian belief that violence and hatred could only be conquered by love and forgiveness. In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and in 1965 equal voting rights were given to black people. His Nobel Peace Price winning speech was:
‘’I have a dream that my four little children will one day will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of there skin, but by the sort of person they are. I have a dream that one day…all God’s children, black and white, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the black people’s old song, free at last, free at last. Thank god almighty, we are free at last!’’
In 1968 a white man called James Eary Ray shot Martin Dead in Memphis. He was only 39. He died for what he believed in.
When Oscar Romero became Archbishop of El Salvador in 1977 he came to realise that the extent of the people’s misery and recognised the corruption and evil of the political regime. He was determined to preach for the rights of the poor, saying: ‘’the world that the church must serve is the world of the poor.’’ He was silenced by an assassin’s bullet as he celebrated mass in March 1980.
Like Saint Francis, mother Teresa cane to her way of life gradually. She was born in Yugoslavia and spent a long time as a nun and schoolteacher in India. In 1946, however, she felt that God was asking more of her. She devoted her life to help children and adults in the slums of Calcutta. In 1976 she won the Nobel Peace Prize ‘our love of the poor’ she says ‘comes from our love of Jesus. We try to serve him in the poorest of the poor’.
These are all examples of people following Jesus’ example of suffering and death for other people.
In conclusion, it is time to say that the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus is important for Christians. It encourages them to remember that there is a purpose to suffering and God is with them on their journey. The death and resurrection of Jesus encourages Christians to see an example of vagarious love and come to the realisation that death is not the end, merely the beginning of an eternal relationship with god.
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