The Bloodlust of the Martyrs
In the Book of Revelation, when the fifth seal is broken, the martyrs are disvered below the altar of heaven. From their, they cry out to God that their blood may be avenged while they are handed white robes. (Rev. 9:9-11)
Why? Why do martyrs cry out for blood? These are the one people in the whole of the Kingdom of God who should not better than all that blood cannot be quenched by more blood. They are the one people in the Kingdom who should know better than all others than blood does not pay for blood.
In fact, the very idea is a anethema to the God revealed in Jesus Christ. The Son of God gave blood so that blood would not have to be spilled. He sacrificed, so that the rest of us would not have to be sacrificed to eternal death for the sin-debt we had incurred against the Father.
Perhaps this is the root of the response from God through the angels of Heaven. The martyrs are given robes and told to sit down and wait and see.
Perhaps this is a nice reminder that the great martyrs of the faith - Stephen, John the Baptist, Perpetua, Felicity, Clement, and more recently Rev. King or Dietrich Bonhoeffer - were far from perfect and are capable of a vengeful moment once in a while even after their entrance into the music of heaven itself.
Either way, there is some comfort for me in the fact that no one ever tells them that they are right to hope for blood, right to claim it, or right to expect it. Apparently, even in a place of perfection, where the Perfect God resides, we will all still be frail, simple, and small.
And that is the deep truth of this. Christians have at times and in many places been given to a touch of blood lust. Sometimes it have been in the Name of God - such as in the crusades. Even good souls like St. Bernard of Clairvaux were not immune to these spirits. At other times, it has been a blood lust in service to a false god mixed with the true God - such as in various form so patriotism or ideology. In the end, these phases pass and we are left with the collective embarasment for what we have done. Perhaps it is good to know that very much in spite of these faults, we can still hope for a while robe in the end.
