Would You Die for “It Doesn’t Matter?”

1 Peter 2:19-25 and John 10:1-10

by Jim Westmoreland

There was a time when we thought of ourselves as a Christian society. Few would attempt to argue that we were a Christian nation in any formal sense. We respected the right to choose and to worship. We formed our government so that there would not be a state religion. But still, Judeo-Christian values were at the very heart of our Constitution. They were very much a part of the values of our leaders. But, our day has been described as the post-Christian era, the time after Christian values had much influence.

Our culture has no recognition of the holy. No longer is there a holy day, no sabbath, no day of rest. More and more businesses are open on Sundays, and we are less and less reticent about going to them on Sunday. Acknowledging that there is any sacredness to our daily lives no longer matters for far too many people. And, we are all greatly influenced by the “secular air” that we breath.

In 1977 Oscar Romero, a quiet, traditional cleric, was consecrated Arch bishop of San Salvador. Deemed a safe bet by government authorities, his installation service was even used as an excuse for more government- sanctioned murders. The killings radicalized Romero, prompting him to agree with the sentiment circulated by the priests aligned with the poor people of the country: The church is where it always should have been: with the people, surrounded by wolves.

The martyrdom of a rural priest furthered Romero's radicalism. Against official policies Romero began to support new liturgies and worship services more relevant to the poor and oppressed. He called for the church to become the voice of those whose voices were stopped up. Romero became more and more of a thorn in the government's side.

On March 24, 1980, Archbishop Oscar Romero celebrated Mass from behind the altar of the Chapel of the Divine Providence in San Salvador. As he raised the elements and proclaimed, This is my body given for you ... this is my blood shed for you, a single shot was fired. Romero collapsed, his heart pierced by an assassin's bullet.

The word sacrament comes from a Latin word used for the loyalty oath a Roman soldier took to the emperor. A soldier took a sacramentum to serve the emperor faithfully, even to death. Similarly, when we drink the cup and eat the bread, are we not renewing our vows to be faithful to Christ, until death? That is what Jesus’ disciples understood. Archbishop Romero knew the meaning of Sacramental discipleship, and He stands as one of the great Christian martyrs of our time.

In our two readings this morning that come from the Lectionary selection of scriptures for this fourth Sunday of Easter, it is interesting to consider the relationship between these verses in 1 Peter dealing with enduring suffering and hardship with the verses in John 10 dealing with Jesus as the gate by whom we are saved and by whom we have abundant life.

Now suffering and a good life are not two things I like to associate together. Maybe it is my understanding that is the problem. Maybe following Jesus isn’t about the good life, at least as I like to think of it. I like to think of the good life as abundance, not worrying about money, health insurance, not worrying about hassles at work or meeting others expectations, just being carefree, hanging loose, playing golf, puttering in the yard, having time for some vacations or being with friends. That’s the good life! Right! Well, if it is, I don’t think it has anything to do with the Gospel or with following Jesus.

Jesus came to give me life, but not the “good life.” And when Jesus called me to follow Him, he said, “take up your cross daily and follow me.” But, somehow the message has been diluted over the years, because we say “Yes and it doesn’t matter all in the same breath!”

Every week I read new articles about religious leaders and consultants working with churches who describe not a weakness in the historic faith of the church, but a weakness in the focus and commitment of the people of the church to put their lives on the line for Christ. For too many their faith like the body’s appendix. We have it, but we don’t know what it is for.

The blood of Christians is seed, wrote Tertullian, a North African Christian, in about 197. [It is] the bait that wins men to our school. We multiply whenever we are mown down by you.

Tertullian, of course, wrote with rhetorical exaggeration. Pagans hardly flocked to the church after witnessing the death of Christians. Martyrdom eventually made a large-scale impact on pagans but not before two centuries of sacrifice. They were seen as a dangerous cult, disliked and despised.

Through trusting [in resurrection], they have brought in this strange and new worship and despised terrors, going readily and with joy to death, mocked one ancient. Now let us see if they will rise again, and if their god be able to help them and take them out of our hands....

From Tertullian's time many Christians became evangelists to the death, but only in the fourth century did martyrdom become a serious factor in the church's growth. So long as the empire flourished and the values of Roman civilization prevailed, Christians were seen as an illegal and disloyal minority. Martyrs merely displayed their zeal to a largely hostile or indifferent populace.

The Great Persecution seems to have flipped the scales. After the conversion of Constantine, martyrs became part of a Golden Legend. So, Tertullian was right after all, though his statements took time to become fulfilled. For him, the martyrdom of Christians was the supreme influence that drew people (himself among them) to Christianity: For who that witness [martyrdom] is not stirred to inquire what lies indeed within it? What could have mattered so much?

Christianity would have died out as an unpopular Jewish sect had it not been for the commitment and fervor of the beliefs of the early Christians. They had a faith that was worth sharing with others. It changed their lives. They knew it would change other people’s lives too. And, they were willing to hold on to their faith, even in the face of persecution and death.

Today, people don’t know what they believe. We have these vague beliefs that we’ve grown up hearing, and then we say it doesn’t matter, just so you belief something. We all believe in the same God and are going to the same place. People who say that have not studied other religions very deeply. The disciples did not just believe that Jesus was a good teacher. Who would endure punishment, hardship and death for just that? No, they believed that Jesus was the Son of God, that He was God who had come in the flesh to reveal God to us and to die for our sins so that we might have forgiveness and salvation. The disciples had not come under the influence of only a teacher, they had been transformed, emboldened and empowered by one they worshiped as Lord! Who would die for “it doesn’t matter?”

We are heirs to a faith that has survived persecution, hardship, indifference and denial. But God has preserved a remnant throughout history. I believe that God wants us to not only hold on to our faith, but He wants us to pass it on to others. Today, we are called to remember what Christ has done for us and the abundant life that he has given us, and whether the faith that we have is worth putting on the line, not only to live for but to die for?

Years ago, in a central European town, the older townspeople could be seen making the sign of the cross as they passed by a certain ordinary- looking wall. When a visitor asked why they were doing this, no one knew. The visitor's curiosity led him to begin chipping away at the layers of whitewash and dirt covering the wall until, underneath, he discovered a beautiful mural of Mary and the child Jesus. Generations before, the townspeople had had a reason for making the sign of the cross, but succeeding generations had only learned the ritual. They continued to go through the motions without knowing the reason. This is the danger we face each Christmas and each Easter, going through the motions without ever knowing why.

        Do we have the faith that has transformed lives and made cowards live with courage, made the timid into bold witnesses, and made the selfish who merely want to hold on to the “good life” for themselves into the selfless who, day after day, live the full life by giving themselves in service to others? So, if nothing really matters or makes any difference, then forget about justice for others and forget about loving others. But, if God’s love does matter and Jesus’ death and resurrection do matter in showing us God’s purposes for us and for all of humanity, then tell others the Good News and endure all insults and criticism that may come your way. Don’t let your life be directed by what doesn’t matter. But give it completely to what does matter! Amen.

Century Christian Church, April 13, 2008 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland

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