Thursday, February 29, 2024

DEATH IN THE COLISEUM

 4232

Pt. 1

Atticus and Valentina lived in a large flat just outside of Rome; a few decades after the Christ was crucified and his disciples claimed He had risen from the dead. They had two children. Antonio was thirteen and Cecilia was nine.

Atticus was a stone mason and had recently been employed to help construct a vast amphitheater known as the Coliseum. He took jobs as they came along, and had prospered as the result of little or no advertising; except word of mouth. People told people about the quality of his work. Valentina was a stay at home mother.

Both Atticus and Valentina had been brought up in a culture which believed in many gods and goddesses, and in the manner which they impacted the daily lives of mortals. Every Roman household had a shrine, and prayer was the order of the day.

Whomever occupied the Roman throne was referred to as Caesar, and he was venerated as a God-like man. One’s allegiance to Caesar was analogous to one’s allegiance to the nation. Lately, the veneration of what Caesar claimed was a dead Christ had been problematic, and was thought of as sacrilege and treason.

The Apostles Paul and Peter had only just been executed in the previous five years, though Luke was still sharing the Gospel message in Greece, and had also had a profound effect on the people of Italy and the surrounding countries. Atticus had once been invited to hear Dr. Luke preach in one of the local churches that met in the catacombs. And though he realized his participation there was tantamount to treason, he felt compelled to investigate this so-called “gospel.”

As a pastor and theologian named John Wesley recounted in the past two centuries, when Atticus heard the Word of God, he “found his heart strangely warmed,” and, as a result, he prostrated himself before Dr. Luke, and acknowledged Christ as Lord, Savior and Messiah of his life.

Pt. 2

From that day forward, Atticus attended the church in the catacombs, and urged his wife to join him. And while Valentina was reticent to do so, and often reminded Atticus that the worship of what Christians claimed was the “one and only true God” bore a heavy penalty, she eventually relented, and on such and such a day, the entire family attended church together.

And as you might expect, after attending several worship services, and hearing the Word of God taught by Dr. Luke, and several other learned Gentile converts, Valentina followed Atticus’ example, and submitted herself to the Lordship of the God-man, Jesus Christ. Their children, Antonio and Cecilia, eventually followed their lead, and when they had an “open door,” the family members shared the Gospel message with their friends, and relatives. Of course, by now, Atticus had long since dragged his personal stone shrine to the polytheistic deities, which he had so often worshipped, into a nearby field, and had pounded it to dust with a sledge hammer. (Strange, he thought, how free he felt once he had disposed of this spiritual relic of the past).

However, as you might imagine and know to be true, Caesar was having none of these treasonous shenanigans, and he issued orders to his commissioned cohorts that believers in the Christ, and for that matter, believers in any other god, except those to whom Roman allegiance was due, should be arrested.

And sadly, it was not long before one of Atticus’ so-called friends, and who happened to be his chief apprentice in the stone cutting trade, reported him to the authorities.

Two days later, Atticus, Valentina, Antonio and Cecilia were arrested. By this time Antonio was 18 and Cecilia was 14.

Pt. 3

Father, mother, son and daughter were marched to the office, and ultimately the courtroom of the local magistrate, and tried in the space of an hour. The hapless family were denied an attorney, and sat together in a small barred enclosure, as the magistrate questioned Marcus, Atticus’ former apprentice and friend, concerning what he knew about the latter’s conversion experience and spiritual testimony. Ultimately, the judge cast his gaze towards Atticus and his family, and beginning with Valentina, asked each one of them two questions.

Are the facts your accuser has testified to true?

(and)

Are you, in fact, a believer in this Jewish imposter who claimed to be the Christ of God?

In turn, Valentina, Antonio and Cecelia, and finally Atticus acknowledged that Marcus had told the truth, and that they had invested their faith in the Christ. And Atticus took advantage of this open door to add,

“And your honor, some may refer to my Lord as an imposter, but we will all stand before Him one day, and give an account of the deeds we have done in our body, and whether we acknowledged Him as our Lord.”

As Atticus concluded his statement, the magistrate shouted,

“Enough! I find each and every one of you guilty of sedition and treason. I sentence you to death!”

Husband, wife, son and daughter were immediately led out of the courtroom, placed in a horse cart, and driven to a very familiar structure; the very amphitheater which Atticus had helped build several years before; that notorious edifice called the Coliseum.

Pt. 4

Now, father and son and mother and daughter were separated, and placed in holding cells with others of their gender and Christian persuasion. They had no allusions about what lay ahead of them. And since Roman so-called “justice” was swift, it would not be long before their fates would be sealed.

Several hours passed during which time Atticus had an opportunity to talk with several other prisoners. One, in particular, a man named Aurelius, was a non-believer who had been condemned to death for the murder of his neighbor. The two had argued about the repayment of a loan, and the argument had gotten out of hand. Aurelius had plunged his dagger into the man.

Not one to miss every opportunity, even at this late hour, Atticus shared the Gospel with Aurelius, and the murderer acknowledged Christ as Lord; with the full assurance that he would be with Jesus in the space of hours.

Now, the afternoon approached, and thousands of Roman citizens began to stream through the arched doorways of the Coliseum. Finally, Caesar made his appearance and took his place high above the crowds. As their illustrious leader found his appointed seat, the crowd stood and applauded and shouted his praises. Now, with the wave of his hand, the audience members sat down and prepared for the brutal contests and sacrilege which would play out before them.

The first act, as it were, included gladiators engaged in hand to hand combat with one another, and with beasts such as lions and tigers. Some members of the crowd, both men and women, swooned at the carnage, and had to be taken out of the amphitheater. Others cast their eyes downward. Still others turned their heads, and gagged.

Pt. 5

It was a custom to offer a commutation to Roman believers who would deny their faith, and it was in recognition of this custom that Atticus’ and Antonio’s and Valentina’s and Cecilia’s jailers provided them a final opportunity to relent, and to renounce their faith; prior to being transported to the arena.

Naturally, Antonio and Cecilia considered the unlived decades that stretched out before them, and the years they would be denied. And naturally, Atticus and Valentina trembled with the recognition that they were not only minutes away from the most hideous death a human being could experience, but the realization that their children were on the very threshold of the same grisly, painful fate.

The respective jailers spoke.

“Will you deny the man you call the Christ?”

(and)

“Will you acknowledge Caesar as your Lord?”

The family members, each in turn, shook their heads, and, along with the other condemned prisoners, were ushered to elevators which transported them to the ground floor of the Coliseum.

As Atticus and Antonio stepped off the elevator, they saw Valentina and Cecilia step out of another one. With this, the family members rushed towards one another, and huddled together in the center of the Coliseum.

Atticus could not help but take it all in. What still remained of the carnage of the earlier brutal contests, the colorful clothing among the thousands of spectators who filled the grandstands, Caesar and his entourage. “Odd,” he thought. “I helped build this massive amphitheater, and now my family and I are about to die here.”

Afterward

Now, two larger elevators opened on the north and south ends of the arena. And now, two men who stood on top of each elevator pulled up a heavy gate, and allowed several hungry lions to exit their enclosure; lions which had been purposely starved for just such a momentous day as this.

Now, the ravenous beasts rushed towards the dozens of innocent,  and not so innocent human beings, before them, thieves, and murderers, as well as Roman citizens who had invested their faith in the risen Lord.

With this, Atticus, Valentina, Antonio and Cecilia joined hands, and knelt together in the dust of the Coliseum. And now, Atticus spoke the last words he would ever speak on this side of glory. 

 

“Remember, my dear family. God will give us grace to endure our last few moments on this side of glory. This is not our home. Heaven is our true Home. We will soon see Jesus.”

And as the ravenous beasts approached their prey, first one, and then another, and then another believer began to sing a well known song about the beauty of heaven, and the outstretched arms of their blessed Savior.

by Bill McDonald, PhD

 


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