Sunday 29 April 2012

Saint Shmooni (Mart Shmooni) and her unmovable faith

As the commemoration of St. Shmooni (Solomonia) and her seven sons approaches this Tuesday 1st May, let us learn from this saint’s example of great faith in God which was exemplified through her actions as a faithful woman, mother and zealous believer amidst persecution and torturous hardships.

The recount of St Shmooni’s martyrdom along with her seven sons can be found in the book of 2 Maccabees and in Church history. This book is not canonized in our Church; however, we look to and recognise St. Shmooni as a saint as she is one of the many unwaveringly faithful Jews who are prototypes of all the Christian martyrs who die for their faith.The martyrdom took place in the year 167 BC in Judea, under the rule of King Antiochus IV Epiphanus, who was fiercely persecuting the Jews. 

Excerpt from the book of 2 Maccabees Chapter 7:1-41 (GNT)
 1 On another occasion a Jewish mother and her seven sons were arrested. The king was having them beaten to force them to eat pork.2 Then one of the young men said, what do you hope to gain by doing this? We would rather die than abandon the traditions of our ancestors.

 3 This made the king so furious that he gave orders for huge pans and kettles to be heated red hot,4 and it was done immediately. Then he told his men to cut off the tongue of the one who had spoken and to scalp him and chop off his hands and feet, while his mother and six brothers looked on.5 After the young man had been reduced to a helpless mass of breathing flesh, the king gave orders for him to be carried over and thrown into one of the pans. As a cloud of smoke streamed up from the pan, the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die bravely, saying,6
         The Lord God is looking on and understands our suffering. Moses made this clear when he wrote a song condemning those who had abandoned the Lord. He said,
         The Lord will have mercy on those who serve him.
 7 After the first brother had died in this way, the soldiers started amusing themselves with the second one by tearing the hair and skin from his head. Then they asked him,
         Now will you eat this pork, or do you want us to chop off your hands and feet one by one?
 8 He replied in his native language,
         I will never eat it! So the soldiers tortured him, just as they had the first one,9 but with his dying breath he cried out to the king,
         You butcher! You may kill us, but the King of the universe will raise us from the dead and give us eternal life, because we have obeyed his laws.
 10 The soldiers began entertaining themselves with the third brother. When he was ordered to stick out his tongue, he quickly did so. Then he bravely held out his hands11 and courageously said,
         God gave these to me. But his laws mean more to me than my hands, and I know God will give them back to me again.12 The king and those with him were amazed at his courage and at his willingness to suffer.
 13 After he had died, the soldiers tortured the fourth one in the same cruel way,14 but his final words were,
         I am glad to die at your hands, because we have the assurance that God will raise us from death. But there will be no resurrection to life for you, Antiochus!
 15 When the soldiers took the fifth boy and began torturing him,16 he looked the king squarely in the eye and said,
         You have the power to do whatever you want with us, even though you also are mortal. But do not think that God has abandoned our people.17 Just wait. God will use his great power to torture you and your descendants
 18 Then the soldiers took the sixth boy, and just before he died he said,
         Make no mistake. We are suffering what we deserve, because we have sinned against our God.
[Jerusalem was suffering persecution at the time]That's why all these terrible things are happening to us.19 But don't think for a minute that you will avoid being punished for fighting against God.

 20 The mother was the most amazing one of them all, and she deserves a special place in our memory. Although she saw her seven sons die in a single day, she endured it with great courage because she trusted in the Lord.21 She combined womanly emotion with manly courage and spoke words of encouragement to each of her sons in their native language.22
         I do not know how your life began in my womb, she would say,
         I was not the one who gave you life and breath and put together each part of your body.23 It was God who did it, God who created the universe, the human race, and all that exists. He is merciful and he will give you back life and breath again, because you love his laws more than you love yourself.

 24 Antiochus was sure that the mother was making fun of him, so he did his best to convince her youngest son to abandon the traditions of his ancestors. He promised not only to make the boy rich and famous, but to place him in a position of authority and to give him the title
         Friend of the King.25 But the boy paid no attention to him, so Antiochus tried to persuade the boy's mother to talk him into saving his life,26 and after much persuasion she agreed to do so.27 Leaning over her son, she fooled the cruel tyrant by saying in her native language,
         My son, have pity on me. Remember that I carried you in my womb for nine months and nursed you for three years. I have taken care of you and looked after all your needs up to the present day.28 So I urge you, my child, to look at the sky and the earth. Consider everything you see there, and realize that God made it all from nothing, just as he made the human race.29 Don't be afraid of this butcher. Give up your life willingly and prove yourself worthy of your brothers, so that by God's mercy I may receive you back with them at the resurrection.

 30 Before she could finish speaking, the boy said,
 King Antiochus, what are you waiting for? I refuse to obey your orders. I only obey the commands in the Law which Moses gave to our ancestors.31 You have thought up all kinds of cruel things to do to our people, but you won't escape the punishment that God has in store for you.32-33It is true that our living Lord is angry with us and is making us suffer because of our sins, in order to correct and discipline us. But this will last only a short while, for we are still his servants, and he will forgive us.34 But you are the cruelest and most disgusting thing that ever lived. So don't fool yourself with illusions of greatness while you punish God's people.35 There is no way for you to escape punishment at the hands of the almighty and all-seeing God.36 My brothers suffered briefly because of our faithfulness to God's covenant, but now they have entered eternal life.[
a] But you will fall under God's judgment and be punished as you deserve for your arrogance.37 I now give up my body and my life for the laws of our ancestors, just as my brothers did. But I also beg God to show mercy to his people quickly and to torture you until you are forced to acknowledge that he alone is God.38 May my brothers and I be the last to suffer the anger of Almighty God, which he has justly brought upon our entire nation.
 39 These words of ridicule made Antiochus so furious that he had the boy tortured even more cruelly than his brothers.40And so the boy died, with absolute trust in the Lord, never unfaithful for a minute.

 41 Last of all, the mother was put to death.

We can learn many things from the life and death of St. Shmooni as we look to her as a great role model and example of a faithful woman even in the 21st Century. When we consider our problems that we complain about in our lives today and compare them to the pain, persecution and suffering that Shmooni endured to uphold her faith in God, our problems seem miniscule and non-existent in the light of her experiences.

St. Shmooni’s faith in the spotlight:

She was willing to endure tremendous loss for the sake of her faith: As a mother, shmooni was willing to lose not one, but all seven of her sons to martyrdom in order to uphold her faith and encourage her sons in their faith. She witnessed the torture and death of each of her sons before her very eyes!
How many times do we woman of the 21st Century, you and I, complain about our losses and trials and point the finger at God when we lose something or someone we love? But how much faith does it take to accept these great losses by faith, knowing that God is immeasurably greater than all we know and see, as St. Shmooni stated “my child, look at the sky and the earth. Consider everything you see there, and realize that God made it all from nothing, just as he made the human race.” He created us and He only desires what is good for us (Romans 8:28).

She encouraged her sons to undergo martyrdom for the sake of their faith: The mother was especially admirable and worthy of good memory. Though she saw her seven sons perish in the span of a single day, she bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord. She encouraged each of them in the language of their fathers. Filled with noble spirit, she stirred her womanly reasoning with manly courage… (2 Maccabees 7:20-21).

In times of trial and suffering, do we trust that God will deliver us? Do we rely on His strength to persevere? St. James teaches us to count it joy when we fall into various trials (James 1:2-4). Let these trials serve to promote and encourage our faith and that of others through our words and faithful, loving deeds during their times of trial.

She did not accept her youngest son to be spared and live a “good life” for the sake of their faith:  How easy is it for us today to give up on God when the going gets tough, or when a “better” worldly opportunity presents itself? Just as Shmooni encouraged her youngest son to stand up for his faith in God no matter what worldly temptations were presented before him, we too should not focus on the temporal gains of this world and move God to second or third priority in our life, but rather focus on gaining the eternal that is awaiting those who persevere in faith.

Finally, after enduring all she could, St. Shmooni also died for the sake of her faith: Shmooni witnessed the torturous death of each one of her sons before her very eyes, and trusted in the LORD’S deliverance. Ultimately, she gave up her own life with the full assurance and hope in God’s promises through the forefathers that she would see her sons again at the resurrection.

Let us look to St Shmooni as a great example of a God fearing woman and mother and be encouraged by her unswerving faith which was shown in her continual perseverance and faithfulness in times of religious persecution and physical and emotional suffering. Let us try to imitate her faith just as she upheld a stern encouragement to her sons and was willing to give up her life and that of her sons to cling to their belief in God despite their unworthiness and the opposition they faced, knowing that they will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.


This week's song: Mikechair - Let the waters rise






1 comment: