Why martyrs ultimately win

The subject of martyrs may be surprising. But martyrs have been around a long time. Martyrs are those that are willing to die for a cause. Often we associate martyrs with religious faith. Stephen is considered the first Christian martyr — a man who died for his faith in Jesus. But he is far from the only one.

Martyrs, while admired for their faithfulness are often ignored though in society. Society doesn’t like to think about the death aspect of being a martyr. Often, not many years after someone becomes a martyr, a society will start to view the martyr far differently than when the martyr was alive. Usually martyrs will be seen in a positive light by society after the fact. This has always been interesting to me.

Take MLK, Jr. When he was alive, society did not have nice things to say about him. He was reviled, jailed, called names, beaten. He was ridiculed by media and those in positions of power.

And yet, those same people and institutions eventually turned around and sang his praise. Maybe it’s a situation where they wanted to look innocent. Maybe they had a change of heart. Maybe.

Martyrs ultimately win though. I think this is the case because they don’t fear death. For a martyr, all death does is make permanent what already exists. A Martyr’s words and expression of action proclaim the reality of the injustice they refuse to comply with. Death just showcases that a martyr will not give in to oppression, injustice, and evil. A Martyr will not be intimidated or live in fear. A martyr…