The Mirror of Endurance

Focus Statement

Christ doesn’t promise escape—

only the need for endurance.

True faith isn’t proven by how we avoid suffering,

but by how love survives through it.

Point of Relation

In Les Misérables, Bishop Myriel takes in a stranger named Valjean—

feeds him,

shelters him,

treats him like family.

By morning, Valjean’s gone, and so is the silver.

When the police drag him back, the bishop does the unthinkable.

He gives Valjean the candlesticks too, saying,

“You forgot these.”

That, my dear friends, is a great example of endurance…

not the power to withstand pain,

but the courage to keep loving in a world that punishes mercy.

Smyrna knew that kind of love.

They didn’t fight back with force;

they held fast with faith.

Things to Consider

We often think of endurance as physical—

pushing through pain or exhaustion.

But faith has its own kind of endurance.

Over time, good intentions can erode;

belief and behavior drift apart.

Smyrna calls us back to integrity—

to love that outlasts the strain.

What Scripture Says

“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

These are the words of the First and the Last,

who was dead and came to life.”

Christ begins not with triumph but with resurrection—

the power to live again after being broken.

The people of Smyrna knew what it meant to be pressed down,

slandered,

and poor.

They were persecuted by Rome

and ostracized by their own kin.

When Revelation speaks of the “synagogue of Satan,”

it’s not a slur against the Jewish people;

it’s a family quarrel within Judaism itself.

John and his community were Jews who followed Christ,

speaking in the heat of religious conflict and Roman pressure.

It’s the pain of siblings arguing over who holds the truth—

not hatred, but heartbreak.

Yet even in that tension,

Jesus says,

I know your affliction and your poverty—

yet you are rich.

Rich not in comfort or power,

but in faith that breathes when hope runs thin.

They could have bowed to Rome

or softened their witness for safety.

Instead, they endured—

not as victims, but as witnesses.

And then the promise:

“Do not fear what you are about to suffer…

Be faithful unto death,

and I will give you the crown of life.”

That crown isn’t a reward for pain;

it’s the assurance that love outlasts death itself.

Smyrna’s endurance mirrors Christ’s own—

wounded yet alive, faithful even through the fire.

What This Means for You

Endurance isn’t gritting your teeth—

it’s keeping your heart open when you’d rather close it.

You may not face persecution,

but you know what it is to hurt

and keep loving anyway.

Christ doesn’t promise escape,

only presence.

Sometimes faith is just staying

when everything in you wants to run.

What This Means For Us

As a church, we’re called to endure together—

not with defiance,

but with love that refuses to die.

The world needs communities that stay faithful

when it’s easier to walk away.

If Smyrna teaches us anything,

it’s that Christ’s strength is found in shared suffering

and steadfast grace. Amen? Amen.

Written by Rev. Todd R. Lattig with the assistance of ChatGPT (OpenAI).