Introducing Gaius Herodius Clemens
Hello. My name is Gaius Herodius Clemens. I used to be a slave, but now I am free. You can call me Herodius. I lived in Smyrna which was, and is, an important city. Now it is called Izmir and isn’t far from the city you know as Istanbul. I led the church in Smyrna, now you would call me a presbyter or priest or bishop.
Being a Christian in my day was different in some ways to being a Christian now. It was exciting, we felt we had been called out of a sinful world with many different truths and faiths and had found the truth and light of Our Lord Jesus. But it was dangerous to be a Christian too, and we had to endure many episodes of persecution.
Being a Christian Then
Like you we met for worship on the first day of the week, Sunday, but in my world this was a normal working day. So we met early in the morning, well before dawn. This way our worship would not be noticed and we would still be free to get on with our work. We met in people’s homes; my church met in a large house owned by Lydia, a rich widow. She was also a priest, but her story has been brushed out of history.
People arrived for worship in ones or twos, slipping quietly past the gate keeper who had a very good memory. He wouldn’t let anyone in he didn’t recognise, unless they were with someone he did trust and recognise. Once in Lydia’s house worship would start and consist of singing songs and psalms, a reading, often from the book you call the Old Testament, sometimes a letter from one of the travelling apostles, or sometimes someone would get up and tell us a story about Jesus when he was on earth. I used to think they should get round to writing those stories down. After the reading or story, it would be my or Lydia’s task to explain the faith to the congregation, to encourage them to live lives of love and service and sometimes to admonish them. After this we would offer thanks and praise to God and remember the Last Supper Jesus shared with the disciples. We would share in bread and wine together which united us to Jesus. Some of the deacons would take the consecrated bread and wine away before the end of the service to those who were sick or in prison. After a final blessing people would leave in the same small groups they arrived in and went about their daily business.
It was liberating to be a Christian as we knew life had meaning and purpose. We realised he had worth and dignity, even if we were slaves or poor or women. But it was dangerous too.
Legal Religions
What you need to remember is that in my day people were very liberal around religion. You imagine that the Romans were nasty people who threw three Christians to lions before breakfast. But they thought of themselves as being very liberal indeed. Many gods were worshipped and there were Temples to various gods in every major town. If a local god wasn’t known to the Romans he or she was added into the religious pantheon, or was seen as being one of the gods they did know. You could go to whatever Temple you wanted and do many things there that as Christians we would be ashamed of doing. Yet there was just one thing that the Romans were immovable on. They insisted that regardless of what other gods you worshipped, as a sign of your willingness to be a good citizen, or subject, you also worshipped the Emperor. No one really thought the Emperor was divine, but you paid lip service to the idea, offered a prayer to him and offered some incense to a statue of him. This marked you out as a good Roman. It only involved you saying that “the Emperor is Lord”.
Of course the Jewish people couldn’t do this. The Romans, therefore, declared them to be a “legal religion” and they didn’t have to partake in the Roman state cult but they did offer prayers for, instead of to, the Emperor in their Synagogues and at their Temple.
But when Christianity started there was some tension between us and the Jewish people. Many of the first members of the Church were themselves Jewish and the Romans saw us as being just another Jewish sect. But then non-Jewish people started to join and the Jewish people objected that these people were not Jewish. Sadly the Church and the Synagogue grew apart. Some Christians felt they were the real Jews – because they had followed Jesus as their Messiah. Some Jewish people thought that Christians were heretics as they believed that Rabbi Jesus was part of God.
The Romans, of course, weren’t that interested in our theological rows, but they were passionate that there was only one legal religion, and we weren’t it.
Persecution
Persecution was different in different places in my world. In some places the governors didn’t know what to do with us Christians so they left us alone. In other places we were denounced by people who hated us – families or friends who didn’t understand us, people with whom we had fallen out, and others who wanted to do positive harm to the church. If someone was denounced as a Christian they were summoned to appear before the magistrate. There they were asked if they were a Christian. If they admitted it then they were sentenced to death. If they said no they weren’t or if they said they were but they now renounced their belief, then they were given some incense and told to offer it to the statue of the Emperor and to say a prayer. Of course those who renounced their faith were not admired by the rest of the church who stayed true in these times of persecution.
The Letters
Today you have heard two letters written by John to my church and to the church in nearby Philadelphia. These letters were written to encourage people to stay true to their faith in Jesus even though the persecutions were happening. The letter told us that the persecution would be short lived but urged us to be faithful “even to the point of death” and promised us a reward better than life itself if we were faithful.
It was difficult to endure such persecution. We understood the Roman law and ways of doing things. We had to be different from our own culture, our own families and friends, and we had to be ready to suffer for that difference.
Persecution Now
Some of you know what persecution is like. None of you have been persecuted for your faith, but some of you have been persecuted for who you love or who you really are. You know how difficult it is to remain strong and positive when people are out to get you. Imagine how much more difficult it is when they want to kill you, legally.
Whilst you are not persecuted now, you still are called to be different from the surrounding culture. You are called to be in this world and not of this world. Your values are different. You believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. This is as unpopular now as it was in my day. Your world, like mine, has many competing creeds and beliefs. No one minds, everyone thinks this is interesting, until you assert that one truth is more important than another. In your world, like mine, people are clamouring for truth and meaning and are not finding it in all the creeds they look at. You have the same responsibility as we did to make the message of the gospel known.
Last week you looked at churches which no longer exist. There are still churches in my city of Smyrna, now called Izmir, but in many of the cities where those letters were directed at no longer exist. Their lampstand has been removed. You must be strong, and be countercultural so that your lamp will shine brightly leading others to the radiance of Jesus.
Amen.
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church
of Manchester. Click here for further information.