What Price Love? By Al Sikes

Life at all cost? At least in wealthy countries this seems, for most, to be the goal.

Eternal life at all cost? What, most would say, does that even mean? Forever.

During each Lenten season I take a deep dive into the questions that come up in our lives by looking back as chronicled by the Bible. This year my deep dive was in the Book of Acts. It is a sobering story of stories. The theme is relatively simple.  Those who knew Jesus Christ during his time on earth and were moved to be leaders in the early days of Christianity were likely to become outcasts and some would endure horrendous torture followed by death.

Acts is a story of the Apostles traveling in parts of what we call the Middle East and the occupied lands of the Greco-Roman empire to spread the words of Jesus Christ. They performed miracles in his name, and laid the foundation for the early Church. They, predictably, ran into the embedded interests—religious figures who didn’t want their scriptural interpretations challenged. Plus, secular totems who didn’t want their authority questioned. The emerging Christian leadership saw themselves as updating the underlying story of God. They believed Jesus was the Son of God and had been raised from the dead.

We don’t have to read the Bible to know that leadership holds close their prerogatives. They like their titles and the earthly rewards of their work. So when this band of brothers showed up with variations on their stories they fought back.

So, are the stories of Acts just another fight for leadership and its rewards or were the motivations of the Apostles more important, even profound?

I have been around a lot of secular leaders in both the private and public sectors. And some religious ones. If I were handed a scorecard listing each and asked which ones would readily sacrifice their lives for their beliefs, zero would show up on the sacrifice line. Well, maybe one or two.

But, looking back, Peter was crucified upside down on an X-shaped cross. According to church tradition, it was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus had died. Or, James the son of Zebedee, a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him into a life of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, he was beheaded in Jerusalem.

The most dramatic story was about Saul or later Paul. He was a fervent enemy of the early Christian movement. You will recall that he was blinded by a bright light as he was traveling to Damascus and then led into the City. Several days passed and then at the direction of Jesus, Ananias went to the home where Saul was staying and he was healed. He became one of Jesus’ most influential followers and narrators. Paul was tortured and then beheaded by the Emperor Nero in Rome in A.D. 67.

Ancient you say, I agree. But also thematically quite contemporary. Where do we draw lines when encountering life’s challenges? We love win-win choices but know that success in life often follows sacrifice.

Eternal questions shouldn’t be trivialized, and I am approaching that line. The eternal question—life at what cost—should go beyond theory and contemporary circumstances. A good place to start or at least include, as eternal questions are asked, is in the Book of Acts. One conclusion might be the answer to this question: Could anything but certainty—certainty that Jesus Christ was and is God incarnate, cause such horrendous personal sacrifice?

As I close, let me return to Paul. In his letter to the Corinthians he inquired about earthly strength and stature. He notes that a person can be quite accomplished by earthly standards but if “he does not have love” he is nothing. And I quote: “What if I could speak all languages of humans and angels? If I did not love others I would be nothing more than a noisy gong……..”

Later in Paul’s epistle to the Corinthians he says of love, “love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud or rude. Love isn’t selfish or quick-tempered.” Paul closes this soliloquy with “Love never fails.”

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.