“Look at my Journey to the Cross!”

Homily – Sunday, the 25^th February 2024 – Second Sunday in Lent

Reading: Mark 8:31-38

Sometimes life’s journey can become very tough. Through rough patches our prayer is not always- Lord take away the storms but instead it could be Give us the strength to sail through the storms.

When the storm becomes even tougher it is natural, we ask- Now what?

And Jesus says- Look at Me.

Look at my Journey to the Cross

Look at the Hope beyond!!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship reminds us,

“So many people come to church with a genuine desire to hear what we have to say, yet they are always going back home with the uncomfortable feeling that sometimes we are making it too difficult for them to come to Jesus. We keep talking of uncomfortable realities like cross and suffering”

He also wrote, Discipleship is not limited to what you can comprehend – it must transcend all comprehension. Plunge into the deep waters beyond your own comprehension, and God will help you to comprehend. Bewilderment is the true comprehension. Not to know where you are going is the true knowledge.

It is not easy but is indeed exciting despite the pain.

Cross: A milestone not the destination

The text that we read today from Mark is about the Cost of Discipleship, the pain involved in the journey towards the cross, the agony of the cross, the three days of oblivion and finally the Hope beyond the three days- the hope of the new beginning.

The Journal “Conversation” in its May 6, 2022 issue showcases the life of a Belgian priest Fr. Damien (Josef de Veuster)

When Father Damien a young priest heard of the policy of Hawaii to exile all people who contracted leprosy to the island of Molokai to keep the nation safe his heart burned for those suffering people. The disease was then locally known as “the sickness that separates family”. Once you are there, there was no return to the family, no return to mainstream.

For Damien it was not an easy decision- because living with the disease meant great suffering. Rejection and social ostracization was inevitable and sometime death came in a very gruesome way.

Surrounded by steep cliffs and treacherous ocean, the peninsula served as a natural prison and soon gathered a reputation as a de facto death sentence.

Going there Damien ‘employed his carpentry skills to build two chapels, new shelters for the residents, and a multitude of coffins. He provided rudimentary medical care, secured a fresh water supply, and established an orphanage. At a time when fear of being near people with leprosy was the norm, the priest also ate with residents from the same pot, and shared his pipe with them’. The book “Kaluapapa: A Collective Memory” is the story of the people of the Island. A review thus reads, “Unwilling to accept the loss of their families, homes, and citizenship, these individuals ensured they would be accorded their rightful place in history. They left a powerful testimony of their lives in the form of letters, petitions, music, memoirs, and oral history interviews.”

The Belgian missionary who volunteered to go, did contract the disease and eventually die there. Canonised as a saint in 2009 he is regarded as the patron saint of those who live with leprosy or Hansen’s disease.

One question that intrigued many was “What prompted Fr. Damien to go there?” and the answer is in Mark 8:31 which was the foundation of his faith.

Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 

The Possibility of Suffering

Damien knew that going to Molokai meant suffering. The first aspect of that suffering was that, it was a suffering that he chose for himself to make his life meaningful for others.

The choice meant suffering not just physically but also emotionally, mentally and socially but yet he chose the path.

Jesus is teaching his disciples of this suffering. The Greek word “pathos” is from the root ‘pasko’ which means to experience a sensation of pain. The aorist tense is used in its punctiliar form which means the impact of the action is beyond the time- into the past and the future. It is worth noting the adjective- polla pathe- great suffering. Mark says- the Son of Man MUST suffer MANY things.

Jesus knew that suffering was part of his salvific mission and he is mincing no words in letting the disciples know.

Standing up for truth can sometimes be costly. On Wednesday we heard Bishop Antonio in our Bible Study. It is five years since he saw his family, his wife and children. He told us, when he took the cause of the indigenous people the people in power warned him to keep off or to pay the price. For him he could not imagine betraying his people and instead he chose the hard path and had to live the life of an exile. Yes sometimes suffering is a choice.

The Possibility of Rejection

In the case of Father Damien as a man who embraced those the rest of society had rejected, joining them and even dying for them, he also represents people at the margins, who are rejected and excluded. He became one of them and chose to be rejected.

Jesus is here clearly talking about this rejection not by outsiders but by the chief priests and the elders and the teachers of the law.

Being rejected is not something anyone would fancy but that is sometimes an integral part of Christian mission and living.

This rejection need not always be something we chose. It could also thrust upon. A P Nirmal the Indian Dalit theologian calls the inner pain of the broken people- the pathos of rejection.

Jesus is here talking of the temporariness of rejection and the permanence of restoration.

The Possibility of Sacrificing Life

Damien knew that he had no escape and that he was walking into his eventual dying but then he also knew that sacrificing his life was for a worthy cause.

By the beginning of 1885, Damien began to show signs of the disease and in 1886 the priest formally became known as Admission #2886 to the settlements. Three years later, he succumbed to the disease.

Look at all the martyrs of faith. Many of them were given the offer- Deny Christ and Live. But they held on to Christ and chose to sacrifice their lives. We could narrate several such stories of faith.

Jesus is here in the clearest of terms talking about his being killed. Keeping the aorist infinitive structure here we see the passive voice which means to be put to death.

Standing up for truth can sometimes be costly.

Bonhoeffer is a classic example from Germany. Even during his tough time in prisons we are told “he would preach sermons to fellow prisoners while they were in the back of military trucks, chained and jostling around. He would preach in the barracks as they lay on their cots and as they gathered around this thoughtful, soft-spoken academic theologian in his wire-rimmed spectacles.

At the break of dawn on April 9, 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged. As they prepared him for his death, he preached a final sermon. His words were remembered and later retold, by a captured RAF pilot: “This is for me the end, the beginning of life.”

The Hope of Rising Again

Yes that is exactly what Bonhoeffer said- not the end, but the beginning of life.

Our paths might not cross again here and now but we shall surely meet on the other shore. This is what Damien is believed to have told his dear friend in their parting meeting.

Jesus tells his disciples- Do not lose hope at the foot of the cross or at the ruggedness of the grave- there is the beyond. The third day the son of man will rise from the dead.

There would surely be a new beginning. A fresh start.

No storms last for ever. No rain rains for ever. The calm is inevitable and will soon come.

For all the people who walked tough paths of suffering the hope of the third day has always been the greatest comfort.

The Lure to Avoid the Cross: A continuing reality

Jesus spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

When Peter was called to walk on the rolling sea, he had to get up and risk his life. Only one thing was required in each case-to rely on Christ’s word, and cling to it as offering greater security than all the securities in the world. But here he is not comprehending the dying language. He is rebuking Christ not to talk of death and dying but instead perhaps of kingdom and authority as he perceived it at that point.

This is an ongoing choice. The choice between divine concerns and earthly concerns.

Fr. Damien said, I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all to Jesus Christ.

We would all be called to make several choices in life. Quite often we chose purely from the perspective of worldly benefits but here there is a much deeper lesson- chose keeping God as the priority. It might look foolish from a worldly eye but the blessings that God has in store for those who chose him is beyond our comprehension.

The Call to Take up the Cross: The call to Discipleship

Then Jesus called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their lifewill lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

Fr, Damien said- I would not be cured if the price of the cure was that I must leave the island and give up my work I am perfectly resigned to my lot. Do not feel sorry for me.

Yes the question is worth pondering- what is the use if you gain the whole world and then lose your soul.

You could be successful in professional terms but if you are a disaster in the personal terms, is it really worth it?

Taking care of your economic and physical well being is good but taking care of your spiritual well-being is as important is not greater.

The Call not to be ashamed of the Cross

The passage concludes not to be ashamed of the cross. Jesus says “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

What does it mean to live a life not ashamed of Jesus, the cross and the gospel? It could manifest itself in several ways including spiritual lukewarmness, avoidance and concealment of public witness, compromising and lack of courage to stand up faith.

Fr. Damien said- The Eucharist is the bread that gives strength… It is at once the most eloquent proof of His love and the most powerful means of fostering His love in us. He gives Himself every day so that our hearts as burning coals may set afire the hearts of the faithful.

May we as we come to the Lord’s table today find our hearts ablaze to understand the deeper mysteries of the cross and the journey beyond.

Vinod Victor

February 25, 2024