Despised and Rejected by Men...

Many in the Sudan are calling for the execution of teacher Gillian Gibbons. Her crime? allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

When I read this I was reminded of a past article by John Piper entitled Being Mocked: The Essence of Christ's Work, Not Muhammad's. Following is an excerpt that speaks volumes of the difference between Christ and Muhammad:

"When Muhammad was portrayed in twelve cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, the uproar across the Muslim world was intense and sometimes violent. Flags were burned, embassies were torched, and at least one Christian church was stoned. The cartoonists went into hiding in fear for their lives, like Salman Rushdie before them. What does this mean?

It means that a religion with no insulted Savior will not endure insults to win the scoffers. It means that this religion is destined to bear the impossible load of upholding the honor of one who did not die and rise again to make that possible. It means that Jesus Christ is still the only hope of peace with God and peace with man. And it means that his followers must be willing to “share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10)."

We are constantly being bombarded with images and sounds of Christ being mocked, and many of us are even ridiculed openly for our faith. May we be comforted in the face of ridicule by the words of Jesus, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Matthew 5:11).