14th Sunday after Pentecost (Year B)
In the film, “ A Man for all Seasons” there is that famous trial scene in Westminster Hall where Sir Thomas More, defending himself against charges of treason cross examines Rich, his former Secretary. Rich, in the scene, is weighed down by the chain of office of the Secretary for Wales the equivalent of the old Secretary of State Office one would think. It is a remarkable scene with More, the man of integrity, honour faith & decency up against this man who is undoubtedly weasely, deceitful & weak. In the film Rich does have the good grace to squirm before the man of honour & as a consequence one could almost feel sorry for him. It is an extremely compelling piece of acting with the great moral issue of faithfulness being played out before us. Here is a man who has prostituted himself for power, for high office, for status pitted against the man who has turned his back on all these things that he might remain faithful to his conscience & his God even at the expense of upsetting his king. More comes across as was intended - a man of the highest principles fighting against a society corrupted by politicians desperate to curry favour with the man at the top, Henry of England. The Roman Catholic Church, given all the bad publicity it receives these days about one thing or another must rejoice when this kind of work is shown. More taunts Rich that for the Principality of Wales he has lost his soul. What should it profit a man if he should gain the whole world, says Jesus, but lose his soul. And Rich did it for Wales. A terrible deal which makes Faust’s compact with the devil look like a bargain.
Jesus & his followers are out of their home territory at Caesarea Philippi. There is obviously some muttering about who this character is. Given the gullibility of people in general this lot are not that different from today’s lot who look for the return of Elvis Presley around every corner. They couldn’t understand him, his ministry his teaching so there had to be something of the Elijah or one of the other great prophets of the faith. So he is Elijah returned. It was an easy enough explanation. But it was the wrong explanation & Jesus could not let it stand. He had to let them know that this was not some reincarnation job. This, despite Elijah’s greatness was not Elijah & it is left to the man Peter to state the truth. You are the messiah. There it is in all its simplicity, there it is in all its grandeur. This man was the holy one anointed by God & it was awesome. They looked for a Messiah who would rid them of the Romans, a warrior king, one who would lead them like David into battle & overcome giants, the one who would herald in the kingdom of righteousness & justice but the problem was their understanding was defective. The messiah was not to be a warrior king altho’ that is what all looked for. Jesus rejected any understanding of kingship they might have had at the temptation when he is offered the kingdoms of the world. His was a holy task & Peter, altho’ he might not have understood all the implications got that bit right.
The drama then moved on to this discussion of the passion & the call to take up the cross. Over the years people have taken up their cross & got on with it. The problem is Jesus is not referring to some personal tragedy we all at some time have to face. In my first parish I had a lady who often referred to her paraplegic son as her cross to bear. He was a lot of things; he was her son for a start but he was not her cross to bear. She, like many, had misunderstood this little piece of teaching by Jesus & had personalised the cross bearing thing into something he would not have recognised. Living might have been hard for her having a handicapped son, it may have been frustrating, tiring, worrying & at times downright painful but it was not a cross she had to bear. It is too convenient to label hardships or burdens as our cross we must take up daily & as a consequence take on the mantle of martyr.
When Jesus told his immediate followers to take up their cross he meant their role in his mission. It was not impossible they understood that those who opposed the rule of Rome & wanted the return of God’s anointed would come into conflict with the authorities & that the inevitable consequence of this conflict could even be death, a shameful death on a cross. They had to come to terms with what following him really meant & it could mean this: were they prepared for that. This was no club where it would be easy & they could gain some superb benefits. It was not an invitation to an easy life where they would tick along as long as no one rocked the boat: it was an invitation to the dance in the fullest sense of the word & caught so magnificently in Carter’s hymn, Lord of the Dance. They were to confess him even if it demanded they gave up their lives in the most humiliating & appallingly cruel fashion.
The reward for this tho’ was something greater than the whole world. If they followed, & confessed him they would gain life eternal. What would it profit you if you gained the whole world in comparison? It would be an insult in comparison. Nothing could compare to what is being offered to those who would follow in his steps & he wanted them to know it. The journey might be hard, it might even demand that you give up your life but it will be worth it.
One can then begin to understand the fanatics desire to see paradise. Witness to me & you will come into the glory of God. It is the licence for the lunatic & the dangerous. The Presbyterian lay pastor executed in America, the other week, for killing the doctor who carried out abortions was not bearing the cross of faith. He was not facing up to the teaching of Jesus & being prepared to die for it as this passage suggests we should be. He invited his own death by committing murder that obscenity against the image of God & to excuse it as he & his followers tried to do by citing this passage about taking up the cross was a blasphemy. We are not meant to invite death, to court it. The teaching about martyrdom in all the great faiths is about suffering death in the name of God not committing murder in order that we in turn might be executed & see God. The disciples were not to court martyrdom, they were to live lives confessing Jesus & if that meant forsaking power, riches, status everything the world saw & still does as being what any sensible person would want then so be it. That is what is demanded of us.
It is years since I have seen the film “A man for all Seasons”, but that trial scene was a sermon - the most effective sermon I have ever heard on this teaching of Christ. Master Rich obtained the governorship of Wales, not the whole world. What a tawdry deal he got even by those standards.
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