On March 7, in the year of our Lord 203, two young women along with three others were executed for breaking Roman law.  The Roman Emperor Septimus Severus forbade conversions to Christianity, though tolerated those who were born to Christian families. Among those disobeying that edict were Perpetua, a 22-year old married noblewoman and mother of an infant, and her pregnant maidservant Felicity. Both converted to Christianity, knowing that it could lead to persecution.  Shortly afterward, Perpetua’s father was frantic with worry and tried to talk her out of it. We can easily understand his concern. At 22 years old, this well-educated, high-spirited woman had every reason to want to live -- including a baby son who was still nursing. Perpetua's answer to her father was simple and clear. Pointing to a water jug, she asked her father, "See that pot lying there? Can you call it by any other name than what it is?" Her father answered, "Of course not." Perpetua responded, "Neither can I call myself by any other name than what I am – a Christian."

Now, this answer so upset her father that he attacked her. Perpetua reports that after that incident she was glad to be separated from him for a few days, even though that separation resulted in her arrest. Because of their defiance against breaking the law and amidst the claims of atheism for refusing to worship the Roman gods, these young women were jailed in their hometown of Carthage in North Africa.

There they awaited their death sentence. Because of Perpetua’s kind disposition and by the work of two deacons who ministered to the prisoners, her mother and brother and child were brought in to visit, easing some of her pain. 

Meanwhile, Felicity was also in torment. When she was arrested, she was 8 months pregnant and worried about the life of her unborn child.  Now, it was against the law for pregnant women to be executed. The Romans knew what our culture has forgotten. Life begins at conception, and to kill a child in the womb was the murder of an innocent.  She records that her concern was that she would not give birth before the day set for the death and her companions would go to martyrdom without her.  As it happened, two days before the execution, Felicity went into a painful labor. The guards made fun of her, insulting her by saying, "If you think you suffer now, how will you stand it when you face the wild beasts?" Felicity answered them calmly, "Now I'm the one who is suffering, but in the arena Another will be in me suffering for me because I will be suffering for him."  Shortly afterward, she gave birth to a girl who was adopted and raised by one of the Christian women of Carthage.

Then the day arrived, March 7, 203.  Five Christians were led into the arena to be met by wild beasts in front of a crowded stadium eager for bloody entertainment.  The men were attacked by bears, leopards, and wild boars.  The women were stripped of their clothes to face a rabid heifer. But when the crowds saw that Felicity had recently given birth, their were horrified, but only to point that the women were to be clothed first before thrown back into the arena.  Tradition holds that one of the guards was so impressed by the faith of these women as they faced death that he drew his sword to kill them quickly rather than to leave them to fate of the wild animals. Yet even in this, he could not bring himself to end the life of this noble woman.  Perpetua, staring into the face of an immanent death, showed mercy to her captors by falling on a sword after speaking her last words, “Stand fast in the faith and love one another.”  Then the other Christians had their throats cut before the blood thirsty crowd.  Apparently because of their faithfulness and their witness to Christ while imprisoned, their jailer likewise broke the law and converted to Christianity.  The story of their martyrdom has been told ever since as an encouragement to persecuted Christians, being so popular in the early centuries of Christianity that it was sometimes read during the liturgy.

We, thank God, are not likely to face such persecution and death for the Christian faith.  But that does not mean that our enemies do not attack, or that the way we face the great wild beast of death doesn’t matter. For it does. It matters not just for our sake, but it matters for the sake of others who are watching, who are hearing, who are witnesses to the hope that is within us, the hope of Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of our sins.

Jesus faced the sentence, the imprisonment, the ridicule of death and a blood thirsty jeering crowd upon the cross. He looked the enemy of death in the face, kicked it in the teeth, and swallowed it up forever.  Death is overcome by life, and life flows from the love and mercy of God in Christ–all given to us as a free gift, all spoken to us to bear witness, all handed over to us as a treasure to hand over to the world, to friend and foe alike – for the sake of the salvation of many.

Every time a person comes to faith by the calling of the Holy Spirit through the Word, Satan is beaten down. Each time a sinner repents, each time the words of absolution are spoken, each time temptation is foiled by God’s Word, and each time a Christian rejects revenge and instead acts in love – even love for one’s enemies, God is to be praised.  As Jesus says in Luke 6, “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you… But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” Luke 6:27-28, 35-36.  So we pray tonight, “Lord, have mercy.”  And He does have mercy on sinners.

This victory over the cross and the arena, over sin and the grave, over Satan and the sinful flesh is the very essence of the Christian life. It is why we are here tonight.  That victory is ours through faith in Jesus, and Perpetua’s final words in this life as words of encouragement: “Stand fast in the faith and love one another.”  By faith, may we stand with the One who suffered for us upon the cross, in the sure and certain hope that will one day stand with the same One who rose from dead in the eternal marriage feast.