The price of freedom

 ‘…Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me’ (Matthew 16:24)

Matthew 16:21-27 (Year A: Trinity+11)

There are presentations of spirituality and indeed Christianity that sanitises the larger story into one of two ‘heresies’:

• ·       The road to heaven is all blood, sweat and tears – the more suffering the better this side of death (the resurrection barely gets a mention if at all).
• ·       The road to heaven is all sweetness and light where souls peacefully, gracefully move along to the final destination with the minimum of discomfort and challenge.

In a way both ‘heresies’ are two sides of the same coin. They effectively deny the death-resurrection of Jesus as something life-changing and world-changing both then and now. There is a failure to see the larger picture and draw the necessary conclusions.

Directly after the exchange between Peter and Jesus there is a tussle between the same Peter and Jesus about the way of the cross. – ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’’

Oh yes it will.

And if it is so for our Lord so it is for us too here and now in this life and in this world in spite of all our insurance policies, comforts and status.

A great Christian mystic, theologian and martyr of the 20th Century was by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) who wrote the following beautiful poem a few months before his execution by the Nazi regime in 1945:

Stations on the Road to Freedom

Discipline

If you set out to seek freedom, then learn above all things to govern your soul and your senses,  

for fear that your passions and longings may lead you away from the path you should follow. 

Chaste be your mind and your body, and both in subjection, obediently, steadfastly seeking the aim set before them;  

only through discipline may a man learn to be free.

Action

Daring to do what is right, not what fancy may tell you, 

valiantly grasping occasions, not cravenly doubting – 

freedom comes only through deeds, not through thoughts taking wing. 

Faint not nor fear, but go out to the storm and the action,  

trusting in God whose commandment you faithfully follow;  

freedom, exultant, will welcome your spirit with joy.

Suffering

A change has come indeed.  

Your hands, so strong and active, are bound; in helplessness now you see your action is ended;  

you sigh in relief, your cause committing to stronger hands; so now you may rest contented. 

Only for one blissful moment could you draw near to touch freedom;  

then, that it might be perfected in glory, you gave it to God.

Death

Come now, thou greatest of feasts on the journey to freedom eternal;  

death, cast aside all the burdensome chains, and demolish the walls of our temporal body, the walls of our souls that are blinded,  

so that at last we may see that which here remains hidden. 

Freedom, how long we have sought thee in discipline, action, and suffering;  

dying, we now may behold thee revealed in the Lord.

**

Self-denial is not about running from the world or our responsibility for change. Neither is it a denial of our very own humanity with all its complexity, fragility and need. It is about being open to our real selves re-discovered in a new relationship.  Such is the price of freedom and in denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Jesus wherever he leads us is the royal road.

Who am I for you? – joining up the dots

 ‘…But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’’ (Matthew 16:15)

Matthew 16:13-20 (Year A: Trinity+10)

This is a famous passage in the Gospel. It marks the profession of Peter’s faith in Jesus the Messiah, the Christ. It was not ‘flesh and blood’ that revealed this to Peter but the Father in heaven. A work of grace. A calling and a trust that would be the rock foundation (the Cephas to use the Greek term for rock and the meaning of the name Peter) on which the early Christian community would be founded (some scholars claim that use of the word ‘Church’ or ekklêsia in the Greek was added later). Immediately following this part of the conversation the Gospel of Matthew moves into a prediction of suffering and death.  This horrified Peter reacted and Peter’s worldly (and all together understandable and human) way of thinking was confronted by Jesus.

The conferring of the ‘keys of the kingdom’ with the use of the rabbinical ‘binding and loosing’ instruction echoes the very same words in Matthew 18:18-19):

Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.

Matthew 16:18 and Matthew 18:18-19 need to be read together.  ‘Where two or three gather in my name…’ is the essence, meaning, source and destination of the ekklêsia  - literally a ‘gathering together of people’ in the ancient Greek.  Both passages have been cited by Christians through the ages to strengthen a particular emphasis or latter-day arrangement for Church authority and governance. The Primus inter Pares (first among equals) of Peter is clear to most.   But, we would be missing the point of the Gospel if we were to focus on this matter only. Likewise, we would be missing the point if we were to understand the conversation between Peter and Jesus as a type of Viva examination of an academic thesis into the Theological Status of the Son of God (although, clearly, this is important too in its own place and time).
Jesus’ question to Peter ‘who do you say I am’ is essentially a question about what does Jesus mean for Peter. It is about their relationship and how they relate. It is an I Thou dialogue (Martin Buber)
At the beginning and end of every day we can ask the same question of ourselves – Who is Jesus for me today in the events, people, relationships and challenges of the day gone by or to arrive? Where do I know, find, experience, sense, miss Jesus in this feeling, thought, happening, triumph or failure? This is the stuff of discernment and it is a life journey. A writer recently described Jesus as the ‘self-portrait of God in the flesh’. (One might add a ‘self-portrait of God in the flesh of the poor and the oppressed’).


That painting is in front of us every day but we have to join up the dots.

One of us

 ‘…Woman, you have great faith!’ (Matthew 15:28)

Matthew 15:21-28 (Year A: Trinity+9)

Canaanites were outcasts. They were not of the chosen and were not to be included in the spiritual family so it was thought by some. At first it seems as if Jesus, the Jew, went along with this view and practice. But, then he turns the tables – while remaining a Jew.

How often do we conduct business, politics, living, socialising and communications by social media and others and religion on the basis that the ones we hang out with are ‘one of us’.  Taken to extreme those dissenters who don’t share all of the assumptions, perceptions and insights of the in-group are at risk of being castigated as ‘one of them’ and therefore not possibly ‘one of us’.

But in this story, compassion rather than convenience seized this moment when confronted with a pressing, persistent, humble, trusting request arising from human suffering the God of compassion worked a miracle. 

“We do not presume ….” 

First things first.  Humanity, compassion, turning towards goodness, trust, reasonableness lead to healing. This is the rule of the Gospel and is the springboard for following and spreading far and wide.

In the end the good and innocent will be vindicated

 ‘He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble..’ (Luke 1:52)

It was 15^th August 1998. I was in Lourdes in the South of France with my family. As in Ireland that day it was a warm sunny day. People were relaxed.

I did not know until the following day that something terrible had happened in Ireland.  The news was mentioned during one of the services. We were shocked. The world around us was shocked. In Omagh, Northern Ireland there was the biggest loss of life and injury since the recent ‘troubles’ had begun 30 years earlier.  That day, many people were taken soul and body as a result of one action of evil.  The suffering and maiming inflicted on over 300 people directly and 1,000s of others had left a mark as all such events do. The choice of timing may have been intentional only to the extent that people would be in Omagh town that day in large numbers for various reasons.  Those responsible for positioning the car bomb are likely to have been brought up in a religious tradition in which the 15^th August was a special day.

In today’s world we hear many stories of oppression, war, famine, torture. Always it is the innocent who suffer the most. Where is God in all of this? What significance has a day such as the 15^th August and the ‘Assumption of Mary’ or the Dormition (Koímēsis in the Greek orthodox tradition) as the term is used in Eastern Europe for anyone?

Whatever interpretation or precise formula used to explain the ‘falling asleep’ of Mary the Mother of Jesus it is certain that for those who have faith the resurrection of Christ who has gone ahead of us is the source of our hope and this in the struggle to make the world a better, fairer and safer place. It is possible to speak of this ‘falling asleep’ and taking up of Mary because Christ is risen from the dead and his grace is sufficient for all. We cannot add or take from that but we can draw inspiration from our sister, Mary, who faced huge difficulties and rejection but stood in faith to the end. That is why that no matter what happens we can be sure that God cares and watches over each one whether in the open concentration camp of Gaza or on a mountain in Northern Iraq. Everyone is precious to God even those who inflict evil because they too are in need of grace and all is possible in the fullness of time.

Holding on

‘…Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ (Matthew 14:27)

Matthew 14:22-33 (Year A: Trinity+8)

If you ever find yourself on a ‘High Speed’ sailing across the Irish Sea as I was some years ago and the waves are high and furious you don’t have time to think about getting sick – you are already too frightened!. A condition worse than sea sickness! (coincidentally it was a Sunday and the reading for the day was Matthew 14:22-33).

The call to be not afraid, to trust and to stand trustingly in the presence of Another who gives us assurance and strength in the middle of the storms of life. Often, fears of the known, fears of the unknown, unknown fears of the unknown (or known) can cripple, hold back, disrupt our journey.

We need to go forward (or back as the case may require). We can’t stand where we are. Neither can we stand on a stone forever in the river of life. At some point we must swim across.  But, we fear drowning or being swept downstream. Perhaps someone will come and show us the way across? We can find that we must make that first step – like Peter – in trust. We might fear for a moment of slipping and sinking but immediately Jesus reaches out his arm and holds us. (‘Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him’ Matt 14:31)…. And He comes to walk across the water with us.

Storms will arise and abate. Some may last many years. What matters is our response – in trust – to a bigger picture, a longer journey and a more fruitful outcome.  Did Jesus allow matters to be this way to put his disciples ‘to the test’? I think not. God – who created all in love – does not work this way so much as to intervene when the forces of nature or human weakness and faith are at play. He is much nearer than we could ever imagine or think. But we must be ready to lose our fears, call out and …

He will come walking on the waters to us.

A Personal Psalm

What need have I to worry or care

Jesus stands by my side

All shall be well and all manners of things shall be well

So I leave my past with God

All things done and undone to his mercy

What do I care

And so I leave my future to God

All that is to be or not to be

What do I care

Christ today, yesterday and tomorrow

Christ in each one that I meet and in each one that meets me

All that I pray for ..

Health of soul, mind and body

For myself and my others

And if these should fail

What do I care

God’s love will see me through it all

And the night will be as clear as the day.

Going away and coming back

 ‘…When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed those who were ill.’ (Matthew 14:14)

Matthew 14:13-21 (Year A: Trinity+7)

 ‘When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.’ But, ‘’…when Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed those who were ill’. And Jesus had compassion on them …. Compassion. The context was a plan to take time out after the news of his cousins violent execution.  

At times it is good to withdraw ‘privately’ to ‘a solitary place’ either with others in our community or on our own. Time to be, to listen, to be refreshed.  But, the timing of such temporary going away is dependent on our duty to care for others wherever we are.  There is no necessary contradiction. We need to keep coming back to others not just because they need us and we need them (we do need each other of course) but because the world we live in is broken, fragmented, starved – yes even in the those parts where GDP per capita is highest.

To be compassionate is to ‘literally suffer with’ – compassio. And to suffer with means to struggle with, to empower, to set free. A God who suffers with us and through us. Not an immovable, impassible God. Not a God where it is ‘impossible for such a perfect being to be affected or changed by anything outside itself’ (Alister McGrath).

True healing of individuals and societies is the point.