Do You Think Jesus Is A Lucky Charm? This Is Not Christianity Aleteia – S Chronicles

The temptation that the Christian sometimes faces is to make Jesus into some kind of talisman capable of chasing away misfortune. The martyrdom of Saint Stephen helps us reflect on this contradiction

17 Beware of people, for they will hand you over to their courts and scourge you
in their synagogues; 18 and you will be brought before governors and kings because of me
bear witness to them and to the Gentiles. 19 And if they deliver you into their hands, do not do it
worry about how or what you will have to say because it is suggested to you in it
now what you will have to say: 20 not you speak, but the Spirit of the Father
yours who speaks within you. 21 Brother will deliver brother to death, and father his son, and children will rise up against their parents and have them killed. 22 And ye shall be hated of all because of my name; but whoever endures to the end will be saved.

Matthew 10:17-22

Stefano’s horrible death seems to spoil the whole Christmas spirit. How can you
believe the light when darkness wins like this? How can the
Martyrdom of Stephen with the Good News of the Gospel a God who becomes man and dwells among us?

It is precisely on this scandalous question that today’s Gospel page helps us to shed some light: “Beware of people, for they will hand you over to their courts and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as a witness before them and the Gentiles.”

Jesus does not leave his disciples in the dark. He seems to be trying to tell them, “Don’t think that
Everything will always be fine, indeed, Just when you decide to live a certain way, you will find that everything will turn against you. But don’t lose faith, because I’ll help you through every storm.”

As long as we continue to regard Jesus as a bringer of good luck who keeps life’s unhappiness at bay, we still would not have understood anything about Christianity. Jesus is not a way not to have problems, but a way not to succumb to them. Evil’s purpose is to use problems to discourage us, make us lose hope and faith, and most importantly, undermine the belief that God is our Father.

Instead of this God uses adversity to help us exercise our freedom to the fullestespecially when all seems lost. In fact, only those who trust like Stefano can afford to die, because such people never really die.