The Rest of the Story
Holy week, from Palm Sunday to Resurrection Day, I am always a mess of emotion and disconnected thoughts where I struggle to find words. The older I become, the worse this gets for me.
This week I read a book I had read years ago, but now that I am older and see more spiritually than fleshly, I understood it better in new context and I am left with too much to say, my wordsmithing skills all bottlenecked.
The book, The Drama of the Lost Disciples, first published in 1961, written by George F. Jowett, is sort of the rest of the story, details of the history of the beginnings of the Christian faith after the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. While the New Testament is a collection of the epistles written by the Disciples that covers the story of Jesus as they experienced Him as it is with all recollections, like a journalist covering breaking news, what is deemed most important is shared even as there were many details omitted. But there is always more to tell, whether deemed important in the moment or not.
Like all ancient history as recorded by those compelled to write about events and happenings of the day, the best way to determine the validity of the records is by collecting and comparing. The author most certainly did his due diligence through searching the ancient archives of the reporters of history of the first century. Some were Roman, some were Jewish, some were atheists - each and all had no agenda and simply wrote what they witnessed.
So, the book tells of what happened to devoted Followers of the Way whose names were barely mentioned in the Epistles and, more significantly, how the death of Christ indeed was the beginning not the end. This is the hidden bits of history I love and seek. I am always compelled to find the back story. Like knowing who Joseph of Arimathea was and where he and Mary ended up, along with eleven others who were devoted followers.
One thing the book does, that left me profoundly humbled was noting how utterly devoted the original Christians were. They lived and died bravely, many in horrific ways at the hands of the Romans who were determined to wipe out Christianity. Even the Roman soldiers who waged ruthless wars against the Christians in Britain were amazed by how the Christians lived and fought to the death as though death was irrelevant.
The book goes into some serious and graphic details about the last days of the Christian martyrs of the first centuries AD, including how Peter and Paul ended. And, since I am a history buff I can add that my research and recognition of historic patterns concludes that the war with dark principalities is ongoing and the minions of satan know how to infect and pretend to be what they are not in their determination to dilute and dismantle true Christianity. These are known as wolves in sheep clothing. Some paragraphs in the book written in 1961 could be extracted and inserted into modern day reports.
HUMAN nature can be very perverse on occasion, being completely oblivious to experience and sound judgment. It is surprising to hear of people with intelligence so easily victimized by suave tongues and extravagant claims deliberately conceived to misinform and misguide. This human weakness might possibly indicate that people are more prone to accept fiction than truth. Perhaps this is what has given rise to the old slogan that 'truth is stranger than fiction'. To such an extent does this condition exist that truth becomes a matter of serious education in constant conflict to disprove the untruthful who are ever seeking to prove their spurious claims.
Jowett, George F.. The Drama of the Lost Disciples . The Covenant Publishing Co Ltd. Kindle Edition.
I guess, if I could muster all my fractured thoughts together about the impact of the history of Christianity, I'd have to roll them all up into a single concern:
Given our good lives as modern Christians, our conveniences, our creature comforts, would we be as brave as those, all around the world, from ancient history to the present time, who willingly choose to die for the sake of Christ? Would we stand in the arena and pray as the crowd cheered on the lions to devour us? Could we serenely look up and forgive those who demand we denounce Christ and prepare to exit this world because we will not?
Only too plainly it teaches us how easily those raised in the indulgent security of a prosperous age forget their national heritage to such an extent as to rate it almost meaningless. It would seem only when the glory has departed from them do people remember, when it is too late. To remember is to appreciate and stoke the fires of loyalty.
Jowett, George F.. The Drama of the Lost Disciples . The Covenant Publishing Co Ltd. Kindle Edition.