Precedents and Probabilities

Listening to the sermon on Sunday, part of which dealt with Stephen, the apostolic martyr, I was struck with the absurdity of holding him out as some sort of model for the rest of us.  Hear me out:  Stephen had zeal and courage, no doubt, and being stoned is a horrible way to die.  The blood of the martyrs feeds the very roots of the church, and we are right to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.  However, I expect that most Christians, when faced with the stark choice between recanting and standing firm, would choose the latter no matter what. 

I would submit, however, that there's a far more dangerous, heroic path that gets very little attention, and that it applies far more readily to the rest of us:  instead of standing firm when the lines are clearly drawn between light and darkness, we have to finish an ultramarathon.

"In headaches and in worry / Vaguely life leaks away," mutters Auden, and he's right:  and it is in the world where the "Crack in the teacup / Opens a lane to the land of the dead," the world where King David gets to see his children raped and murdered before him, the world where Isaac is swindled by his own son, the world where light switches need to be replaced, the world where gardens have to be watered, the world where kitty barf has to be gotten up, that we have to prove our mettle.  Much harder to live and persevere for a lifetime than turn and face a giant at twenty-five.

So don't inspire me with a heroic martyrdom.  Most of us don't get that option.