Trinity 3 – morning prayer
In the film, Fiddler on the Roof, the hero says, “You ask why Jews always wear their hats. … Well, you see, it is because we are always on our way.” That popped into my mind when I read what Jesus says in the gospel reading for today: “When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another.”
Well, I ask you, aren’t the Fiddler and Jesus saying the same thing? Aren’t we christians supposed to have our hats on so that we can really be the pilgrims on our way to the promised land, the kingdom of God, just like the Hebrews of the OT. For years I have been hearing sermons about the pilgrim people, in fact I have preached a few in my time. But I wonder whether we really have it right yet.
I would like to consider the notion of the pilgrim people with respect to persecution. Although we are not persecuted here and now, there are many who are, many who are crying out for asylum – whether political or religious – and are trying to move on, trying to flee the perceived threats to their freedom to pursue their goal of happiness and salvation. But the paths are blocked and there are many obstacles that the persecuted must overcome in their wandering in the wilderness.
The modern-day pilgrims scale unimagined heights in their ascent of the holy hill, to the new Jerusalem, sometimes the barriers are here in this country. But I am not speaking about politics; I would rather you do that in the confines of your own home, or at coffee with a neighbour, or – dare I say it? – in the pub with your friends, and perhaps people who don’t even know you. For when the truth is spoken with love, there can be no offence.
So let us be bold and speak the truth within these four walls. Let us consider the persecuted within the church as we can identify them – the martyrs and confessors of the faith. I always like to consider Ignatius of Antioch when I turn to the martyrs of the Church (not least of all because I had to give a talk about him when I was studying theology a long time ago). He is among the first martyrs. He is not as celebrated as Stephen, and just a bit later; Ignatius left us some interesting letters for our edification on the subject of martyrdom and persecution among other things. Without a doubt, Ignatius was amidst the “wild leopards” as he called the soldiers who accompanied him to Rome on the way to his death. He wanted to become the grist for the mill, that the wild animals would rend his body into a pure flour to become like that bread of salvation, as he recalls to mind the eucharist, the central act of the church, becoming the bread as Christ became the bread. Ignatius wants to sacrifice himself for the sake of salvation. Ignatius was fierce in his speaking out against the pagans. In fact, there are times when I think along with some others that his posturing towards the authorities of his time was a taunting of them to include him as a martyr. Ignatius was an extremist – he did not want to flee the persecutions that were coming down upon the christians of the period: he wanted to stand up against the authorities of the time and create a confrontation which would lead only to death, his own martyrdom.
But my purpose was not to speak about the martyrdom of the past. Rather, I wanted to point to Ignatius as one way of countering persecution. There is another way. We can just silently leave the area. As they say, “Elvis has left the building.” We, too, can leave when there is persecution for our faith, our stand on drugs, sex and rock-and-roll, whatever our stand. Whenever we feel that we can do no good when we take our stand, we might as well let go.
I wonder who saw the last episode of “The Iron Duke” on Friday night. Wellington is supposed to have said, “The great general knows when to retreat, but more importantly to do so.” So it must be with us. We must be able to say, “Enough! I will not compromise, but I will not waste my life in squabbling over petty matters.” Thus Wellington thought about politics.
But I have said enough of Wellington. We must be courageous generals who will be able to say, this campaign need not go on. Another day, and in another way, our cause will win the day. Thus we need to put our hats on and move away. Like the army with a Wellington as its general, we should be able to retreat in good order so that battle may be engaged on better ground and when we are in good heart, for, as Peter says, the enemy is forever prowling round.
That is the secret of so much of life. To say, “We will have another day to do this. It would be best to put it off ’til then. …”
That is the secret of faith which is the hope for the unseen. We know that we shall attain it. We know that it awaits us, as long as we keep true to the cause, and we know that cause is the God who is with us, manifested through Jesus Christ, and supporting us through the Holy Spirit. So if we are persecuted, we should be like that Fiddler on the Roof – we should shrug our shoulders, gird up our loins, as the bible has it, and move on to where we can show the truth with love.
That is where I think Ignatius went wrong. I never got the feeling that there was any love in his declaration of the truth, rather he flaunted the truth in order to rile the authorities. There were other martyrs who did not do that, and who were just as courageous as Ignatius. I think of Oscar Romero, the South American Archbishop in the roman church who stood for justice for everyone. Perhaps he spoke out once too often on the side of truth, because he was murdered. Thus he is a martyr for the faith, in the liberation of the people of God while he encouraged them to be a pilgrim people on the way to God, fostering a purity of purpose in a country that was politically corrupt and morally bankrupt. To conclude then, we must be as courageous as Ignatius, for we must speak out the truth. But we must be as shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves, like Oscar Romero. Then there are times when we must be like the Jews during the times of the pogroms in eastern Europe and elsewhere, we must pack up our bags, put on our hats and witness to the fact that no-one in that town would listen. As Jesus said, “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.” God will judge, we need not; what we must do is speak the truth with love.