One of the most precious artifacts I have in my office isn’t an ancient coin or oil lamp. It is a business card. From northern Iraq.
Monther Al-Saka handed it to me just after I preached a sermon in his church, Mosul’s Evangelical Presbyterian Church. They served fried chicken after worship (”Don’t all Americans love fried chicken?” he asked), we exchanged hugs, and I went on my way. But on Dec. 1, 2006, Monther was martyred — for being a Christian leader in the chaos we now call Iraq. He was standing on the front porch of the church — he had been warned by Sunni extremists to flee or die, but he stood his ground. And a bullet from a car met him on a Sunday morning.
Monther is the only martyr I have ever personally known. In 2008, I saw his wife at a conference and realized that though she was alive, she too had suffered martyrdom. Something had died within her, and it was palpable. Read on…
Gary M. Burge, Ph.D., is professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. He is the author of numerous books both on the Middle East (Jesus and the Land, Whose Land? Whose Promise) and the New Testament (Jesus the Middle Eastern Story Teller, The New Testament in Antiquity, and Encounters with Jesus).
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