Choices - Perpetua And Felicitas

D. 203

Perpetua and Felicitas were commanded to pay homage to the Roman emperor by offering a sacrifice to his “divine” spirit. As devout Christians, they clearly understood this as idolatry.

Both had good reasons to stay alive. Perpetua’s father begged her to reconsider, for his sake and for her infant son. With her upper-class estate, she could possibly provide funds and meeting space for the church for years to come. Felicitas had just given birth to a daughter. Didn’t she have an obligation to stay and nurture that little girl?

Many of us today would take a practical approach: compromise now on this little sacrifice in order to accomplish a greater good later. We do this in many ways in the routines of our lives. We pay homage to the gods of our age—money, celebrity, technology, pleasure—sometimes ignoring the spiritual issues involved. You might take a higher-paying job, even though it would limit your church involvement. You might chat with a friend about tabloid headlines rather than truly listening to her needs. Every day we make choices about what altar we’re going to sacrifice upon.

For Perpetua and Felicitas, the choice was clear, as it was for hundreds of other early church martyrs. They worshiped Jesus—not the emperor, not the empire, not personal comfort, not even their own families—and they felt privileged to suffer for him. The ancient account calls their date in the arena “their victory day.” They strode into the stadium “joyfully as though they were going to heaven.” It describes Perpetua “with a glowing face and a calm step, God’s beloved, the bride of Christ, putting down everyone’s stare by her own intense gaze.” Perpetua and Felicitas were confident they had made the right choice.

Consider this: long before TV or Internet, how could you get a message across to thousands of people at once? By acting it out in a stadium. These faithful women demonstrated their eternal love for Christ in a painful but effective way. And their sacrifice helped to win an empire.

Don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.

1 Peter 4:12-13