PALM SUNDAY (B)
Then they crucified him …. – Mark 15: 24
During
these latter days of Lent, I suggest we
ponder anew what we take so lightly;
that we discover a sense of scandal &
outrage that the primary symbol of our
faith is a cross. We must come to terms
with the reality that the cross is not a
pendant, not a decoration. It is the
sign of a radical way of living that
demands making choices. When we make the
sign of the Cross, we declare our
radical stance to the world. We state
that we are willing to die to self –
probably the most difficult thing any
human being can be asked to do.
In
Robert Bolt’s Play, A
Man for All Seasons, Henry VIII is
trying persuade his chancellor, Thomas
More, to agree with his decision to
divorce his first wife & marry Anne
Boleyn. Henry says: “You must consider,
Thomas, that I stand in peril of my
soul. It was no marriage; she was my
brother’s widow.” More responds, “Your
Grace, I’m not fit to meddle in these
matters. To me it seems a matter for the
Holy See.” Henry interrupts:
Thomas, Thomas, does a man need a pope
to tell him when he’s sinned? It was a
sin, Thomas; I admit it. I repent. And
God has punished me; I have no son ….
Son after son she’s borne me, Thomas,
all dead at birth, or dead within the
month; I never saw the hand of God so
clear in anything…. I have a daughter,
she’s my good child, a well-set child,
but I have no son. It is my bounden duty
to put away the Queen, & all the popes
back to St. Peter shall not come between
me & my duty!
Then he adds
these powerful words: “How is it that
you cannot see? Everyone else does.”
More answers quietly, “Why, then, does
your Grace need my poor support?” Here
comes Henry’s answer, in effect a
challenge to Thomas More to take up the
Cross:
Because you are
honest. What’s more to the purpose,
you’re known to be honest…. Look, there
are those like Norfolk who follow me
because I wear the crown, & there are
those like Master Cromwell who follow me
because they are jackals with sharp
teeth & I am their lion, & there is a
mass that follows me because it follows
anything that moves – and then there is
you.
More can reject
the Cross & live with fame & riches for
the rest of his life, or he can defy the
king & face certain death. More embraces
the cross. He becomes one of those weird
people whose leader died on a cross.
Jesus
died on the Cross & we are asked to
embrace it. So look at it for what it
is. Don’t sanitize it. Realize how
bizarre you & I are to center our lives
around a cross. But for those who can
believe, it is not a stumbling block but
the way of salvation. The Cross is not a
pendant or a decoration. It is not
pretty. It is a challenge – for Thomas
More, for you & for me. Are we up to it? AMEN!