I used to love watching ‘Yes, Prime Minister’, especially the eternal playoff between Sir Humphrey and the Prime Minister. It usually ended with Sir Humphrey getting exactly what he wanted and making the Prime Minister, Jim Hacker, think he had got what he wanted. It was a complex interplay, with many people on the side of Jim or the side of Sir Humphrey pulling them in different directions. I found myself in the Mayors Parlour last Sunday before walking out to lead the Armed Forces Day service and the Mayor was having a picture taken of himself next to someone and he asked, with his tongue in his cheek, ‘did I look taller than him’ which he plainly did not, so I just sad ‘yes, Mister Mayor’ with my tongue firmly in my cheek as well. It is certainly the case that most of us prefer to surround ourselves with people who agree with us and who tell us that what we’re doing is right and good. We know really that it would be better for us to have around us someone who would tell the truth about us, challenge us, help us to face our faults and mistakes, but most of us are not brave enough for that, which is why so many people do not read the Bible, or believe it to be some kind of buffet. And it was ever thus. The rulers of the Jewish people preferred the false prophets, who told them what they wanted to hear, to the true prophets who told them what was uncomfortable and disturbing and, unfortunately for them, true. They preferred flattery to the ruth, and, again, it was and is ever thus. We have little idea what the false prophets ever said, nobody appears to have recorded it, while the true prophets were often persecuted, at least until people realised they were telling the truth. I assume the reason the true prophets’ writings ended up being preserved was because events proved them true. Today’s first reading from the prophecy of Zechariah, though, is not so much bad news as strange news. It might, indeed, look like good news to us with the gift of hindsight, but not at all the sort of good news that would make any ruler feel comfortable. Earthly rulers, with a few notable exceptions, believe in symbols of power. Ballrooms, cloaks, palaces, torture chambers, armies and secret services. They might expect a king who is victorious, triumphant, to enter on a war horse, with a great retinue. The king in the prophecy of Zechariah today comes riding on a donkey, which is not the same as a Lear Jet at all. Most earthly rulers trust for their security in strength of arms, armies, nuclear weapons, misinformation and so on. The king in the prophecy banishes chariots from Ephraim, horses from Jerusalem, banishes the bow of war and speaks the truth to power so insistently that, as we know, He is killed for it. Why did people preserve such a prophecy? Certainly not because they could understand how such a world could come about, it seems as impossible as he thought of love conquering death, of a God who takes the form of a servant, of us still hearing this thousands of years later. Truth has an uncanny ability to be heard and to remain, and amid the mire of disinformation around us, we would do well to hold on to the uncomfortable truth that the King did indeed arrive on a donkey, and that He will indeed come to judge the living and the dead at the end of time. And for us it is not possible humanly to see how this prophecy could begin to come true and more than the people could hear Zechariah and believe that. They would have been silenced, ridiculed, and sidelined, but they know that their God would come and we know He will come again. The experience of the people of those times came with a belief that safety came from swords, walls, defined borders, wealth and armies, but Zechariah came to tell Israel that real strength came not from this, but from the plan and will of God and the keeping of His commandments. So it was then, so it is now. The King on the Donkey came, and people began to believe again, and the King will come again and it will be too late, which is why the Church of God preaches repentance, hope and salvation in season and out of season, and we need more people to do just that, to join with us, to grow the Kingdom with us. Our strength though is not in numbers, but in faith. Today’s Gospel is no different. Jesus brings freedom. We might expect that will involve that he will ‘break every yoke’, as God tells us through Isaiah to do. Human wisdom tells us that freedom is a solitary thing, me against the world, refusing to submit to those who would control me. As in so many things, it takes the foolishness of God to teach us that true freedom is to be had through being yoked to Christ, of being part of His Holy Church, His Holy Family here on earth and those who wait for us in the Kingdom yet to come.
We celebrate today the feast of the Apostles Peter & Paul. Foremost among the followers of Christ. But what is it precisely about these two men that caused God to exalt them so? On the surface there is much that separates these two saints. St. Peter was a poor and simple man, unlearned and uncultured; St. Paul was a Roma citizen, “a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee” one educated at the feet of Gamaliel. St. Peter was with our Lord from the very beginning of His public ministry and spent years at His side, witnessing all the events of the Gospel; St. Paul, on the other hand, did not so much as glimpse Christ while He walked on this earth prior to the ascension — St. Paul’s experience of our Savior was heavenly, rather than earthly. And so it was that St. Peter became the first of the apostles to confess Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God”; St. Paul, however, became the last, as he is counted as an Apostle.Of course, there is much more that unites these two saints than separates them. The most obvious trait they share is their great zeal for God. St. Peter constantly showed his readiness to cast aside everything and follow Christ, from his first encounter with the Lord at the Sea of Galilee to the last; neither did he hesitate to lay down his life itself at the end. St. Paul, for his part, cast aside absolutely everything for which he had spent his entire life labouring before he met Christ, and thereafter lived with such zeal that nobody could doubt him when he proclaimed:‘I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung’Indeed, without such zeal their preaching could scarcely have had the power to “turn the world upside down” and to bring so many to the knowledge of Christ. And unless we ourselves learn to imitate their zeal, neither will we be able to become participants in their apostolic labours in our church. After all, if the love of Christ has not yet been able to utterly transform our own lives, how can we possibly expect to be able to help bring such transformation to the lives of those around us? And yet there is a hard truth here, and one that we must always keep before the eyes of our hearts. Even such great zeal was utterly unable to keep St. Peter from denying his Lord, out of fear of a simple serving girl; it was likewise unable to keep St. Paul from his bloodthirsty persecution of the very Church of Christ. In fact, it was not only in spite of their great zeal that these two saints each suffered their most terrible fall, but it was even precisely because of it. St. Peter’s zeal was what led to his false boast that nothing could ever cause him to deny or abandon Christ; St. Paul’s zeal was, of course, the very reason he went to such great lengths to hunt down and destroy every Christian he could possibly find, whether in his own city or in any other. And so we must take to heart these lessons: that zeal is absolutely necessary for us in the spiritual life, and that nevertheless — at least on its own — it is also wholly insufficient.It was through their own personal experience that each of these saints became able to confess: “this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptations, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief”. Zeal without repentance is nothing and it was through the power of this confession — the power of their profound repentance — that they went on to become the greatest preachers of the Gospel of Christ that this world has ever known. Because they both knew that if the Gospel could save them, then the Gospel can save anyone – and save me, can save you, can save us all from the corruption that surrounds us. It is unavoidable that we should suffer falls; as we have seen, even the greatest of the apostles themselves could not avoid them. But what will come next? Will our sins cause us to hide from the face of God, as did Adam at the first, as did Judas at the last? Or will our sins cause us to run to Christ in repentance, as did St. Peter, and as did St. Paul? This is the great choice — and truly, the only choice — of our lives on this earth. And to make our choice rightly, we need precisely such profound humility and such unshakeable faith as they. Let us not hide from the knowledge of our own sinfulness. But let us also never forget the boundless love and mercy of our God. Let us hold both of these two truths together, so that — when we inevitably suffer some fall — we will be able to run not away from God, but straight towards Him. If we can muster the faith and the humility and the courage to do this, then Christ our God will without any doubt turn even our worst defeats into victory — no less than He did for St. Peter, and no less than He did for St. Paul.
This morning, as I am in York, Fr Lawrence will be presiding and preaching at the Masses at St Stephen’s, and I am very grateful to him for doing so. As I do not wish to repeat what he (might) be saying, I instead offer a few thoughts on this month of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, in which we celebrate the very great love that Jesus has for us. This month we find ourselves faced with the Holy truth of His great love for us and finding ourselves the object of this love, we try to return it, ever asking that our own hearts may become more and more like His, part of His. No one knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. The world and the news is full of terrorists, from Palestine to Isreal, Iran to North Korea, the USA to Northern Ireland. Many of these people believe themselves to be devoutly religious. But certainly they have no knowledge of the Son, and clearly their understanding of God is seriously distorted. They think they serve the Lord of Heaven and earth by spreading terror or hate in his name. As an expression of their religious zeal, they carry out sectarian killings; they train suicide bombers who will target innocent civilians; they intimidate, kidnap, enslave and destroy.The contrast with Jesus, meek and humble in heart, could scarcely be more complete but unfortunately there are quite strong secularist forces in our society who want to bracket all religions together. They would restrict the liberty of Christians to practise or teach their faith. For them, religion, of itself, is a threat to society, and to the common good.We may start our comparison by accepting a degree of common ground held by in principle by Christianity and Islam. Christians and Muslims agree that it’s the duty of every human being to give due honour and worship to Almighty God. With all Muslims, including the Islamic terrorists, we hold that God is Great, a belief we also share with Christian terrorists and Jewish terrorists. We differ though in our conception of God’s greatness. As we see it, the terrorists especially fall far short. They seem to think that God needs the protection of their guns and their bombs; that he is somehow harmed by blasphemers or non-believers; that without the help of his militant warriors he would be lacking in glory and honour.But we know that God needs nothing from us; certainly not our protection; certainly not our acts of violence in his name. We agree that blasphemy is a bad thing, but not because it could somehow harm God. Blasphemy is bad because it must harm the blasphemer, and those influenced by him. But of course there’s more. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is wounded. On Mount Calvary a spear was thrust through it. That spear somehow summed up all the sins of the world, my sins and your sins, as well as the sins of the avowed enemies of Jesus. This month we contemplate that wound in the Heart of Jesus with deep sorrow and profound awe. We understand that it calls us to repentance and conversion, to replace any acts of un-love with acts of love. As we do this, we come to understand ever more clearly that the meaning of Christ’s wounded Heart is above all Mercy. Jesus, who was pierced through for our sins, does not call for revenge. He does not seek to assign blame or impose guilt. He does not ask us to wage holy war on his behalf – either a Crusade or a Jihad or a Milḥemet Mitzvah. Instead he gently issues his invitation: Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. The yoke I offer is a yoke of goodness and mercy and love. Yes, this yoke must appear threatening to those whose lives are immoral, or godless, or even just self-centred and comfort loving. Those who accept it will spread not indifference, and not terror or war around the world, but only peace. But the yoke of Christ is not one of an oppressor, and it is one that binds us to Him, therefore we must never be asked to relinquish it, for it is worth more to us than life itself.
Have you ever been overlooked, not chosen for something which you really wanted, something which could have been life affirming? Maybe a fantastic job prospect, or a key member of an important team. It can be quite disheartening, maybe even soul destroying especially if you had set your heart on whatever it might be. I’ll bet the overriding emotion at the time was disappointment, maybe some resentment and maybe even some feeling of a lack of self-worth. It has happened to me a few times during my life. Once I was passed over for a job at the hospital where I worked, a career move that I felt ready for. I didn’t get chosen for that job, but I still had my job within the Cardiac Research Dept. Another time when my Drama Group was staging The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, I auditioned for the part of Brodie. I felt that I auditioned well, really well to be honest, but I didn’t get chosen for the part. Instead I got a cameo part and was onstage for maybe a total of 5 minutes, if that. I was really gutted about not getting the part of Miss Brodie, and even now, I reckon I could have played it really well. I need to get over it as it was well over 30 years ago!! But – on both these occasions, OK so I didn’t get chosen for the job or the role that I wanted, but you know what? The job I still had; the role I did get – they were both just as important. The research department still needed me in my current job. The play still needed the role, albeit small, that I was given. Just because I wasn’t chosen for the parts I really wanted didn’t mean that I had no part to play whatsoever. I did. And I still do in the current areas of my life. Matthew tells us, in today’s gospel, about the Twelve who are chosen by Jesus to heal, exorcise, and to raise the dead. These are His Apostles and have been specifically chosen by Jesus over a period of time. Now I am sure that as well as the Twelve, there are many other followers of Jesus, other disciples who are not given specific roles, are not chosen to carry out these specific tasks. Maybe they feel overlooked, maybe they don’t. But whether they do or not, they still have very important roles. They are a broader group who would help propagate the word, as followers and supporters of Jesus at the time, and later, into the early beginnings of the Church. And while the notion of the Body of Christ was not yet written about, the Apostles and the other disciples need each other, they are all just as important to the message of the Kingdom as each other. My left foot has an important task, as does my nose, my eyes. But they are all very different each with very different purposes – roles. Put together, all my body parts make up the whole me. Just as the Twelve and the other disciples make up a whole proclamatory body. Just as my cameo role, and the other roles made up the complete play. We all belong……we all have our individual parts to play.Matthew takes the time to name them. He names the Twelve. And what a motley crew they turn out to be! Quite a mishmash of characters, personalities, backgrounds. At first glance you would not expect that they would mix well at all but think of them as ingredients for a rich stew or casserole. Each ingredient so very different from the next but put them together and something sacred happens in the stirring of the stew/casserole. A diverse group of men indeed. To name just a few of the Apostles, we have strong minded Peter, the eventual leader of the group, and the bold, loud and passionate Sons of Thunder, James and John – all fishermen. There’s Simon the zealot – light the blue touch paper and stand back! Then we have Bartholemew, aka Nathaneal, who reckons nothing good could come from Nazareth. Jesus had seen him sitting under the fig tree – maybe he was thinking, contemplating – maybe that was his demeanour – a thinker. Then – Matthew, the writer of this gospel – a tax collector of all things! Why would Jesus choose such a one as he? But He did. And of course, the last name in the list – Judas Iscariot – the betrayer. Apart from learning that Judas is less than honest when it comes to his management of the shared coffers, we know little about his actual personality. But Jesus chose them all – He chooses common people; uncommon leaders. He is not for the high and mighty, the eloquent and prominent to send out. He chooses this particular diverse group of ordinary men, emphasising the fact that God will use anyone regardless of skill or personality. He chooses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.This mix of characters enrages the Pharisees, who are portrayed as being rather aloof and self-centred. They just don’t get why Jesus would hang out with such a motley crew of, in their eyes, lower class citizens. The Pharisees are shirking their duties as religious guides for the people in general who are being described as harassed and helpless and are likened to sheep without a shepherd, wandering aimlessly through life and in desperate need of direction. The Pharisees should have been spiritually leading them, keeping them safe, but clearly they’re not. Jesus is the good shepherd, looking to keep His flock safe. Possibly He sees the Apostles as sub-shepherds or maybe even like sheep dogs (not being derogatory here) who have the task of helping to tend to the scattered sheep and bring them back into the fold. Unlike the Pharisees, Jesus has a deep love for people, all people, regardless of sin, shady past, misdemeanours. Quite possibly this does include the Pharisees, but boy, did they ever frustrate Him! Jesus sends the Apostles out to the lost sheep of Israel. The name apostles comes from the Greek apóstolos which means ‘one who is sent’ and who participates in the authority of He who sends them. The Twelve Apostles are sent out to the wider Jewish communities with their instructions. The directive Jesus gives them is highly specific. He is detailed about what He is asking of them. But perhaps the most striking and important aspect of this sending out of the Apostles is that Jesus is giving them authority. He is giving them authority to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. This giving of authority effectively heralds the start of apostolic succession; Jesus Christ was sent from God. Similarly, the Twelve are sent by Jesus Christ, and later, as St Clement of Rome writes, they go in the full assurance of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God. And they will appoint their new converts to become bishops and deacons for believers of the future. We learn what we learn and know what we know from such as these.We are called to be the disciples of today, the apostles of today – sent out just like the first Twelve, by Jesus, to share His compassion and to further His cause. We are sent out with the unfailing love of Jesus. The same love which compelled the fishermen to leave their nets and to follow Him. The same love that compelled a tax collector to leave his booth and to follow Him. We each have our separate gifts, and these may be quite ordinary. We don’t have to be outstanding to be chosen for God’s specific or general purposes. God has plans for each of us and our unique combination of gifts are just as important to the spreading of the good news as the next person. We go where we are sent, where God sends us. Like He, in Jesus, sent the Twelve to the Jews first, and not to the gentiles. Where we want to go may be very different to where God wants us to go. But we are to be pliant to His guidance. And so, if we are not chosen for specific roles, we need to remember that we are all still very important to the Kingdom agenda and that God will, and does, use us as He sees best. He will be there to support us and guide us through the bad and the good, the rough and the smooth as we all make up the beautiful Body of Christ.Amen
