At some point of our lives, we may have to make a difficult choice whether to stick to Christ’s teaching at any cost to ourselves or to get along with those who are powerful in our society or organization at expense of our faith in Christ.
We all want to get along with everyone. We inherently
desire peace and care for one another. Therefore,
as taught by Jesus, we strive to love even our enemies (Matthew 5:44) and to forgive
one another (Luke 6:37; Ephesians 4:32), to become imitators of God (Ephesians
5:1) for His perfection (Matthew 5:48), especially on mercy (Luke 6:36). However,
we must guard ourselves against heresies on peace, unity, or tolerance, just
because we are to forgive and love for the sake of oneness.
Remember, neither forgiveness nor loving enemies necessarily
mean that we would accept and embrace those who are still hostile to us and the
truth in Christ’s teaching. And forgiveness is not given blindly but to those
who repent (i.e. Luke 17:3). Otherwise, we might let devil have his way as our take
on forgiveness and love and peace and unity is naïve.
Devil likes to play his cards through heretical views
of unity, peace, mercy, tolerance, etc. These certainly give a good buzz to
Christian ears, and those whose are unvigilant against devil’s way in heretics
would not even know that they were not following Christ and his teaching but
devil. This is a problem today, as not only some Christian denominations have
embraced heretical teachings but also affecting the Catholic Church as some
bishops showing more tolerance to false teachings, as to misinterpret Vatican
II Council’s “aggiornamento” principle.
The Gospel Reading to memorialize and honor the heroic
lives of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher (Matthew 10:34-39) soberly reminds
us that Jesus was not a kind of peacemaker and pacifist as heretics describe. So,
he says:
Do not think that I have come to bring
peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have
come to set a man ‘against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of
his household (Matthew 10:34-36).
For the his kind of peace, which the world cannot give
(John 14:27), Jesus needs to cut the world through his sword of truth, namely his
word and the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 6:17), sort those who are with him with steadfast
loyalty, against those who are not (i.e. Revelation 1:7; Matthew 13:24-30, 47-14:12;25:33;
John 5:28-29).
Would Jesus see those who propagate and espouse
heretical teachings on his side?
The founder of the Anglican church, King Henry VIII of
Tudor England, would and the bishops of England who supported him and justified
his heresy, too. But Bishop John Fisher was not one of these bishops who fell
to the heresy to justify Henry VIII’s sin of adultery, in terms of divorcing
from Queen Catarina of Argon, on the ground of childlessness, to remarry younger
Anne Boleyn. And Henry VIII’s chancellor, Sir Thomas More, either. Their refusal
to support Henry VIII’s adultery and breakaway from the Catholic Church made
them enemies of this Tudor English king and those who supported him. And their
moral heroism costed their lives as they were beheaded by Henry VIII’s order.
Henry VIII's divorce from Catarina and remarriage to Anne is adultery, according to Jesus (Matthew 5:32; 19:9). Any teaching that justifies this is heresy. Those bishops, who were supposed to be moral leaders and exemplify what it means to follow Christ, betrayed the Lord in order to help earthly powerful king's selfishness to justify his adultery with heretical teaching because they wanted to keep "peace" and "unity" with this king. But, Bishop John Fisher and Sir Thomas More stook with their faith-based moral conviction.
It is clear that who were with Christ the King but against the Tudor King and who were with the Tudor King but against Christ the King.
Whoever loves father or mother more than
me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not
worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life
for my sake will find it (Matthew 10:37-39).
To put these words of Jesus in the context against
which St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher stood, we may rephrase as such as:
Whoever loved their earthly and heretical king more
than Jesus and his truth are not worthy of him, though the king himself started
to head his own church. Though their conscience did not support the king but
gave into supporting the king because of their fear of losing their lives are those
who failed to take up their crosses, thus, they were not worthy of Christ. And
when Christ comes to separate those who are with him and those who are not with
his sword of truth, those who saved their own lives from king’s wrath will lose
them.
And the First Reading (1 Peter 4:12-19) tells us that the martyrdoms of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher were not anything surprising to those who are with and worthy of Christ, as the act of carrying their respective crosses means to share his suffering for the Spirit of glory to rest upon them.
In fact, Jesus came to fight against heretics in Judaism. So he taught against false teachings of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, making them his enemies, resulting in costing his life. And the Apostles also fought against heresies. John wrote his Gospel specifically to fight against heretical views rampant of his time. The Church fathers continued on with this battle against false teachings. So they fought against various heresies, cementing and refining the truth in Christ’s teaching in the Church doctrines. Many councils have held, including the Nicene Council, to sort what is true and what is false. Nevertheless, heretics continue to emerge and propagate their heresies to divide the Church. And some of these false teachings are gaining their momentums by getting supports from those who are powerful and influential. In such a context today, being worthy of Christ may mean to stand against those who politically and economically powerful in the world. It can also make you at odds with your own families and even in your parishes or dioceses. If that is the case, who would you chose to stick to: Jesus Christ or those in your families, in your parishes, and diocese?
Be vigilant against what Dietrich Bonhoeffer describes
as “cheap grace”, which resonates with discipleship without Christ, false
discipleship not worthy of Christ, without carrying cross. Can you stand
against heretics who sell “cheap grace” in their heretical teachings to justify
their false views with such “buzz words” as, “peace”, “unity”, “tolerance”, and
so forth? Remember what Jesus is saying in
the Gospel Reading? He is against such a false peace.
As we are really carrying our cross, we are not afraid
of losing our earthly lives for the sake of standing against heretics, because
we are confident that it means receiving the Spirit of glory for sharing Christ’s
suffering and being worthy of Christ, who is the center of our lives.
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