TRINITY II 2008
“Too
much Son may save you from burning.”
Once again the local church in North Gower – no longer a
Of
course, they have had to remain somewhat true to the cliché as regards the star
in the centre of our solar system; but, in reality, there can never be too much
of the Son of God. Christians understand
that play on words intends, “Only the Son can save you from burning.”
As
mentioned, this is perhaps somewhat trite, but it should prompt us to
contemplate two very significant truths that are eternally important to each of
us. As obvious as they might be, we
should perhaps visit them, as the trend towards making light of one or both
truths has reached a point where some apparently well-meaning Christians might be
surprised at the level of warmth when graduation day happens, as did the rich
man in last Sunday’s Gospel reading which Fr. David so wonderfully expanded for
us.
And
that is the first of the two truths.
There is a place of eternal
damnation. Just how hot that will be, we
don’t know. In last week’s parable about
Lazarus and the rich man, or Dives, our Lord did mention that Dives, even
though just in the particular place of departed spirits for those who did not
do good and believe during their mortal lives, was, in his own words, “tormented
in this flame”. Said torments left him
terribly thirsty, begging for but a drop of water from the tip of the finger of
the man to whom he showed no compassion prior to death. Even if this parable of our Lord is viewed
for its symbolic teaching, it does appear from our Lord’s description that
there will be little chance that people who are on the path of sharing the fate
of Dives will never make their way to the happier place, but rather that their
ultimate fate has been sealed, and that appears to be Gehenna – the lake of
unquenchable fire.
In
this week’s Gospel reading, continuing with the Trinitytide theme of the
It
has become far too fashionable for Christians, perhaps under the influence of
the vast tide of unbelievers, to feel that, in spite of the many highly graphic
descriptions of the fate of the damned that are in the Bible, there really
isn’t such a terrible place. Most
unbelievers whom I know don’t seem to spend much time at all thinking about
what happens when we die. And if they
do, their conclusion is that we just plainly and simply rot. Which is to say, after this life, oblivion,
nothing. One thinks of the darkly
humorous gravestone epitaph, “Here lies ‘Joe Bloggs’, an atheist: all dressed
up and nowhere to go.”
Even for those who acknowledge the sobering thought
that C. S. Lewis put before the world, “Christianity is a statement which, if
false, is of no importance, and, if true, is of infinite importance. The one
thing it cannot be is moderately important” (God in the Dock) there still doesn’t seem to be any
particular urgency on their part to do anything about acknowledging that
infinite importance of Christianity. And
what of us Christians? Do we agree with
Lewis wholeheartedly? And if we do, then
surely we acknowledge that we cannot simply pick and choose which parts of the
revelation that we will accept. Hell is
very real indeed; believing that is surely of some importance. If we do not believe, are we perhaps in
danger, like the invited guests who excused themselves, of being shut out of the
heavenly banquet? Will we be joining
Dives?
“Too
much Son may save you from burning.”
The
second truth is that of the Son Who saves us from burning, Jesus Christ, our
Lord and Saviour; the Great Shepherd; the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one
comes to the Father, but by Him. Here is
the second and perhaps much more important stumblingblock. Again, how terribly fashionable it has become
among far too many Christians to believe that Jesus is not the only Way to the Father, He is not the only Truth. Somehow, against the explicit words from the
mouth of God Incarnate, an alarming number of people who profess to be
Christians, feel that there are many other paths that lead to salvation. I stand here asking any of us who have
perhaps innocently fallen prey to this new age mantra, well, to wake up. Our polymorphous society continues to beat on
us, not only to tolerate, but to accept an increasingly messy stew of
religions, philosophies and lifestyles as all being equally righteous, all
leading us to some sort of feel good group hug worthy of the Guinness Book of
World Records.
But,
if these other religions, philosophies and lifestyles do not seek salvation
(and most don’t), if they do not even tolerate the very existence of others
(and many don’t), if they reject the compassionate love that characterizes the
Christian message as embodied in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, then are we
jumping in with some very strange bedfellows?
Yes, it is incumbent, based on our Lord’s own examples and His constant
teaching, to show that compassion to all people, regardless of religion,
philosophy or lifestyle; yet He Himself never once went so far as to condone
sinful behaviour, bad beliefs, and corrupt morals. In fact, He consistently, but compassionately
condemned them. As an aside, that is the
fine balance that so many of us find difficult, if not impossible, to achieve –
to uphold righteousness compassionately.
But
back to our second point from “Too much Son may keep you from burning.” Are we sometimes, perhaps almost always
guilty, when confronted with zealous members of other religions, philosophies
or lifestyles, to hide Jesus under a bushel; claiming to avoid the mention of
His Holy Name in order to avoid possibly offending others, but in truth, just
plainly too embarrassed to say His Holy Name in public? Are we too accommodating, mistaking that response for being a satisfactory
position, or perhaps even a cowardly one, instead of being bold to proclaim
Him?
It
is difficult in a world and a society that has a marginal and very skewed
perspective on what Christianity is and how Christians behave, to be an
effective evangelist; but we must be prepared at all times to be apologists,
witnesses, disciples. Yes, to be sure,
with out of control Human Rights Commissions all across this country, seemingly
welcoming with glee any and all opportunities to sue the pants off Christians
and other traditionally minded people, who in some cases have done absolutely
nothing untoward, it is no surprise that many Christians just tend to clam up
when in the public forum.
Two
thoughts come to mind. First, our
Epistle reading this morning began quite bluntly, “Marvel not, my brethren, if
the world hate you” (1 John 3.13). For
perhaps most of us in this parish, we have lived long enough to see the
landscape in the western world change from a time when Christianity was
respected as the moral compass for our society, to a time now where it has
become the target of derision and outright attacks, an object of hatred. And yet, we are still nowhere so much
persecuted as was the early Church when John wrote those words. That time may once again be approaching,
perhaps even quite rapidly. And were the
early Christians quiet about Jesus Christ?
Hardly. Are we prepared to be as
committed to our Lord as they were, even to the point of being imprisoned?
Second,
in Wednesday morning’s Second Lesson this past week, we read that passage from
St. Peter in his first letter about how wrong it is for us to complain if we
are brought to task for things that we have done amiss; but even moreso, how
peculiar it should be to followers of Jesus Christ to actually wear without
complaint the crown of suffering, especially when we are accused of things that
we have not done. How very far do most
people, including Christians, fall from that mark – we all, I daresay, are much
too quick to defend ourselves in that situation. St. Peter reminds us of Him Who is our
pattern, “neither was guile found in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled
not again; when He suffered, he threatened not” (1 Pet. 2.22b-23a). Sadly, in addition to not accepting suffering
even when unfairly placed, many of us also still persist in criticizing those
who do not measure up to our understanding of Christian standards, all the
while so very ironically unaware, it seems, of badly missing the mark
ourselves.
We
do not do well in thinking that we are defending Christianity by criticizing
others, when we do not accompany such fault finding with the message of salvation,
when we do not uphold righteousness compassionately. For example, when we read of the latest laying
aside of some essential truth of the faith by say, the United Church or the
Anglican Church, would it not be much better, rather than wallowing with glee
in our own purity (sic), to pray that they would prayerfully recognize their
unfortunate trends and return to being fully functioning members of the Body of
Christ, His Church?
Choose
members of any other religion, philosophy, political party or lifestyle, and
pray the same thing, all the while praying also that we might be imbued with
the Spirit of Christ to endure patiently suffering, even the slings and arrows
of false accusations hurled at us by those who have come to hate Christianity.
What
a truly mixed soup of sentiments we must attempt to resolve as post-modern
Christians. But it is not so very
different than that which the early Church endured Herself. We are more and more often reviled, even
hated; we are tempted to avoid sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ under the
false impression that we are being compassionate to others who are not
believers, but truthfully only confirming in their own minds that the resulting
obvious lack of belief makes our faith not worth holding; some of us have compromised
our belief in Jesus to the point that we no longer accept that He is the only
way to the Father; we are told that Judgement and Hell are outdated concepts
with no bearing on reality; we are all too quick within these walls to roundly
criticize those who are not as lily white and perfect as we are, but then
perhaps somewhat cowardly, we are ashamed to share the truths of our faith with
those outside for fear that this will land us in hot water.
Too
much Son may save you from burning. Only
the Son can save you from burning. Even
for those whose current mindset is to hate Christians, and for whom we should
pray without reviling, the Son is patiently waiting to save them from burning,
as He is the only one Who can save them from burning. Can we be as faithful as was the early Church
to share that message with the same compassion as did our Lord?
ANNUNCIATION OTTAWA 2008 +CR