«You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus»(2 Timothy 2: 1)
IN 2 TIMOTHY 2, Paul illustrates the duties of the disciple-making pastor as a teacher, soldier, athlete, and farmer. He challenges Timothy to defend truths, be a worker approved by God, avoid evil, and do good. Paul may be imprisoned, but the Word is free and must be defended with life itself,
The reformers also paid a high price. Jan Huss, a young Czech theologian and predecessor of the Reformation, emphasized the authority of the Bible. He considered it a small thing to suffer for Christ and a privilege to die for Him. He was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and crowned with a paper miter with the inscription «Arch Heretic.» He marched toward his suffering escorted by eight hundred armed men and a crowd.
When he arrived, he knelt, recited psalms, and as he prayed for forgiveness for his enemies, they tied him with a chain to a stake, while they surrounded him with a pile of wood up to his neck. «My Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this for my sake: why, then should I be ashamed of this old rusty one?» he exclaimed.
Then he said to his executioner: «You are now going to burn a goose (the meaning of «Huss» in Czech), but in a hundred years you will have a swan which you can neither roast nor boil.» Huss’s words were fulfilled with prophetic accuracy, for almost exactly a century later, Luther would appear. On his coat of arm was the symbol of a swan.
As the bonfire was lit, Huss exclaimed, «Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me,» and sang a hymn with a loud and joyful voice, which could be heard through the crackling of firewood and the heat of the multitude.
In the experience of Huss was a witness, a monument erected, calling the at tention of the world to the promise: «Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.» Registered in the history of nations, John Huss lives. His godly works and steadfast faith, his pure life and conscientious following of the truth that was unfolded to him, these he would not yield even to be saved a cruel death. That triumphant death was witnessed by all heaven, by the whole universe (Christ Triumphant, p. 325).
Let us live today with the passion and faithfulness of men such as Paul, Timothy, and Huss.
