“Eighty and six years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my king who saved me?” -Polycarp of Smyrna
Sometime during the middle part of the 2nd century A.D. (possibly the year 156 according to some historical accounts), an old man stood before a Roman governor and was asked to recant his atheism (his refusal to worship the gods of Rome) and to declare Caesar a god, on the pain of death. The old man, Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, responded with the quote above.
Polycarp was led to his faith in Christ at an early age, but the Romans didn’t get around to killing him until he was advanced in age. As a young bishop he confronted one of the church’s most troublesome heretics, the Gnostic teacher Marcion. Upon meeting him in Rome, Polycarp greeted him thus: “Greetings master Marcion, firstborn of Satan.” He was not known for pulling punches when it came to doctrinal matters. He was, however, known for being unpretentious, humble and godly. Unlike most of the Apostolic Fathers, Polycarp was not well educated, but he sat under the discipleship of the apostle Peter, and he knew his faith well. When told that the local Roman leader was sending soldiers in order to have him arrested, Polycarp went home and waited for their arrival, refusing to escape into hiding. Panic-stricken friends begged him to flee. In deference to them, he agreed to go to a safe house outside the city, but soon after asked to be taken back home, for he had received a vision from God in prayer that he was to be burned at the stake. When the soldiers arrived at his home, he told his friends, “God’s will be done,” and personally invited the soldiers into the home.
Polycarp was interrogated in front of a large crowd, and carried on a fairly long, friendly discourse with the governor. Eventually, however, justice had to be served, and the governor demanded Polycarp’s recantation of Christianity. The governor threatened to throw him to the wild beasts if he refused to repent, to which Polycarp responded, “Call them! It is unthinkable for me to repent from what is good to turn to what is evil.” “If you despise the animals,” the governor retorted, “I will burn you with fire.” “You threaten me with fire,” Polycarp replied, “which burns for an hour and is then extinguished, but you know nothing of the fire of the coming judgment, reserved for the ungodly. Why do you wait then, bring on whatever you choose.” When the soldiers had prepared the pyre, they retrieved Polycarp from his cell and prepared to bind him to the stake. “Leave me as I am,” he is reported to have said, “for he that gives me strength to endure the fire will enable me not to struggle, without the help of your nails.”
And so another of the early Father’s met his end in the Roman arena. I do not write these articles to speak of gory things, but to encourage all of us to understand the preciousness of the faith that has “once for all been handed down to all the saints.” (Jude 3) Not all the heroes of the faith I will write about were martyrs, and I obviously will not be able to tell all the stories. Countless millions of believers have lived and died in obscurity. I suspect I will be one of them. But Christ is worth not only living for, but dying for, whether by natural or unnatural means. We currently live in a culture that demands to receive Jesus on their own terms, as a God created in their own image. Such a savior is never worth living or dying for. Such is a savior without a cross, without a commission, without a hint of hope that he can save us from death. Such a savior allows us to do as we demand here and now, but can offer us nothing beyond the grave. But the Jesus Polycarp died for was the first to conquer death, and although he calls us to carry a cross here with his help, he has the power to resurrect our lowly bodies and make them like his glorious body when all has been said and done. This is the encouragement we need for days like these.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jym