Optional Memorial of Saint John Fisher, Bishop and Saint Thomas More, Martyrs

 Lectionary: 371

And though the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and seer,

“Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes,
in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathers
and which I sent you by my servants the prophets,”

they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who had not believed in the LORD, their God.

Historians could find many reasons why Judah and Israel did not listen to God when he spoke through faithful prophets and seers. There were always plenty of prophets and seers to choose from although very few spoke with God's authority. As we like to say when we make bad choices, "Many experts disagree with that considered opinion." 

Caught as they were between the larger forces of Persia, Assyria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah felt compelled to make treaties with one or the other of these empires, paying their tribute of money, men, and materiel for impoverished peace and relative stability. Their alliances, which they called covenants, invariably involved perpetual oaths of love and fidelity. Perpetual, in world politics, means next to nothing.

But God had made a true, everlasting covenant with the people, when the prophet Moses and the priest Aaron, sacrificed heifers, sprinkling the animal's blood on the altar, representing God, and the people, representing themselves and their children into perpetuity. And despite the rise and fall of many cities, nations, and empires, God has remained faithful even as the people experimented with other gods, which always failed. "The Word of the Lord endures forever." (Isaiah 40:8; 1 Peter 1:25)

That failure, of course, led to loss; and the Bible only occasionally remarks about them. They wandered off into history and were never heard from again. In the meanwhile, the faithful could say, "We've seen 'em come, and we've seen 'em go." 

That is just as true of many Christian sects and denominations as it was true of unfaithful Israelite cities. 

I recently heard a former Protestant minister, now a Catholic Evangelist, speak of the question the Holy Spirit forced upon him, "The Church of Acts 15, where is it today?" He had knocked about through several denominations before being ordained as a minister with international status in his particular tribe, when he suddenly realized his authority had not come from the Peter who presided over that first council. It was only an endorsement from associates, colleagues, and friends. 

His wife, in the meanwhile, was studying the life of Saint Francis. She saw that God told the young man to, "Rebuild my Church, which you see has fallen in ruin." He had not been directed to start another church. As Israel had demonstrated long before Christ, that experiment invariably fails. Jesus did not come to abolish the old covenant but to fulfill it. 

Today, we honor the martyrs Saint Thomas More and Saint John Fisher. They could not take part in the reforms of King Henry VIII, despite their loyalty to England. Nor could they endorse his flagrant, murderous adultery. 

We should pray for our nation which has endorsed many abominations, including gun rights, abortion, and gay marriage. Those decisions of all three branches of the federal government have split the nation into sanctimonious remnants who cannot speak to one another, and threaten to destroy the American experiment in democracy. 

Remembering the stories of Saints Thomas More and John Fisher, we must pray, fast, and demonstrate our fidelity to Jesus, who is the Covenant made flesh. He lives among us in the Most Blessed Sacrament and in the authority of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. We have seen nations rise and fall, and sects appear and disappear. 

We remain faithful by repenting and confessing our sins without blaming anyone else. We have no need to shred God's Church into remnants of saved and unsaved. And Our God remains faithful to those who repent and confess their sins.