Today’s Scripture Reading (June 16,
2016): Psalm 116 & 117
Babylas of
Antioch was the Bishop or Patriarch of Antioch from 237 until his death in 253 C.E. He died
in prison during the Decian persecution. At that time, Emperor Decius, who had
just ascended to the throne, made an attempt to restore traditional Roman
religion. The requirement of Decius’ edict (the edict was issued on January 3,
250) was that everyone in the empire, except for the Jews, were required to
burn incense to the gods and to the well-being of the Emperor in front of a
Roman magistrate who would, in turn,
present a written certificate that proved that the act had been completed. The
Jews had been excluded from the requirements of such acts since the days of
Julius Caesar – but the Jews were the only ones who were exempt. The Edict of
Decius was essentially a loyalty oath of the people in favor of the Emperor and
the Empire.
Christians,
on the other hand, even though they may have been seen originally as a sect of
Judaism, were not exempt from the edict. The issues around Christianity seemed
to be that it was new and that it was a problem. As far as the Jews were
concerned, they were content to stay within their cultural groups. The
Christians, on the other hand, had rebelled against the faiths of their fathers
and were actively causing a disruption of the Empire by trying to encourage
others to rebel in the same way and convert to the Christian faith.
We are not
sure of the death toll because of the Edict of Decius. Many Christians simply
burned the incense to the gods and the Emperor and obtained their certificates.
Others went into hiding and refused to come out until after the Edict had
expired. But some refused to burn the incense and refused to hide, and a number
of these people died – Babylas of Antioch was counted among that number.
How exactly Babylas
died is another unknown. According to many early records, Babylas simply died
of his wounds from his various beatings in prison, actually a couple years
after the height of the edict. But there are other reports that indicate that
Babylas went to his death singing, which would seem to indicate a more active
mode of death for the Saint. It is possible that, over his time in prison and
during the beatings, Babylas simply kept repeating the same refrain. According
to the reports that Babylas died singing, the song that was on his lips
included this verse from Psalm 116 - Precious in the sight of the Lord
is
the death of his faithful servants.
The term “precious” in its original context really means costly. It is a
reminder of how much God values our lives and mourns our deaths. We are special
in his eyes, and much loved. Sometimes we think of death as a promotion, after
all, when we die we get to go and be with him. But Psalm 116 reminds us that
God values our lives as well.
A few years ago I attended a funeral and the officiant read a poem about
God “picking a flower from us (the one who had died) to place in his garden.”
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Death is a reality of life, but God
mourns our deaths - even though he knows we will wake “on the other side.” Our
deaths cost God something because we are a precious resource of his on the earth.
Maybe this explains the reason why Jesus wept on his way to visit the tomb of
Lazarus. Even though Jesus knew that this moment was not the end of the story
of Lazarus, after all, God was about to raise him, he also knew that even this
death cost his father something – and that cost was deserving of his, and our,
tears.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm
118
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