For many people the lesson we have read tonight is something that they find troublesome. At Elwood, my first appointment, we had a Bible study that had been a part of that congregation’s Christian education program for many years. They had begun reading in the first chapter of Genesis and would continue through the end of Revelation, looking at between one and three chapters per week. I don’t know how many times they had gone through the whole Bible. When I arrived to be their pastor they were somewhere around Matthew 20. I was really surprised a could of weeks later when a few of the members of the study wanted to skip past chapters 26 and 27 and go straight to Matthew 28. They wanted to skip the crucifixion and move straight to the resurrection. The same scene was repeated again when we got to Mark and later with Luke and John.
Since those days at Elwood I have often wondered why that was the case. It wasn’t until sometime later that I came to realize that many of us want to skip the pain of the crucifixion and move straight to the resurrection. There is nothing fun about the crucifixion. It does little to make us feel good. The resurrection, on the other had, now there is an event that we want to be a part of, there is an event that we can jump into and celebrate.
Though it was not a popular decision with some of those attending the Bible study, we didn’t skip over Matthew 26 and 27. After all, you cannot have the resurrection without the crucifixion. As we read Matthew 26 the discussion turned first to Judas and then later to Peter. The discussion led in the direction that we all might imagine. “How could Judas betray Jesus? How could Peter deny Jesus? After all, Jesus loved them both so much. Jesus had taught them so much. Now, after all that they had been through together, these two, two of the most trusted disciples turned their backs on Jesus. How could they do it?”
As the discussion continued I heard things like “I would not have turned away from Jesus. I would have stood right there beside him. They could crucify me right there with him, but I would not ever deny him.” Those were the kinds of comments made again and again at that night’s Bible study.
Funny, I believe Peter said almost those exact same words to Jesus only a short time before he denied ever having seen Jesus much less knowing him. It is real easy for us to say what we would do if we were in the place of the disciples. It is really easy for us to say what we would do if we were in the place of one of the martyrs of early Christian history. It is a far different thing to live and experience Christian persecution. We live in a relatively free society. We can worship if we want, when we want, and even what we want. Some may pester us and nag us, they may question us about the existence of God in a world such as the one we live in. But when you get right down to it, living in the United States, we don’t really face much physical harm for worshipping God. We might take some emotional abuse, but our lives are not in any real danger.
That isn’t true in other parts of the world. Nor has it been true in the history of the Christian Church. Throughout the Church’s history there have been men and women who have lost their lives for the faith. Peter, who we often criticize for his actions in our lesson, tradition says was himself crucified for his faith. When we read the Acts of the Apostles we can read the story of Stephen who was stoned to death because of his faith in Christ. Others could be named as well.
During times of persecution the Christian Church has not been filled with just these martyrs alone. There are others who in some way or another often for reasons we little understand have, at least for a time denied Christ, have betrayed Christ.
There are two such characters in Shusaku Endo’s novel Silence. This powerful gripping book is set in Japan during the sixteenth century. The book has two very different characters who are central to the story.
The first is Father Sebastian Rodrigues, a priest from Portugal. As the book opens we find this very committed Roman Catholic pries greatly concerned because he has just learned that his mentor, who had been a missionary in Japan has denied faith in Christ. Rather Rodrigues wants to travel to Japan to search for Father Ferreira and to minister to Japanese Christians and witness to those who are not Christian.
After receiving permission from the Church to travel to Japan, Father Rodrigues and his companions go first to India and then to China. In China he meets another man, a Japanese man named Kichijiro, the second central character to the story. Kichijiro agrees to take them into Japan and introduce them to Japanese Christians. They make preparations for secretly entering Japan.
Once in Japan Kichijiro is true to his word and leads them to the Christians. After some time, however, Kichijiro who himself is a Christian though he often denies it, he denies Christ, turns Father Rodrigues over to the authorities for 300 pieces of silver. He betrays Jesus by betraying Father Rodrigues. He tells Father Rodrigues that he is a weak man and asks for his forgiveness. Again and again Kichijiro denies his faith in Christ to get himself out of a tough spot and again and again he comes back to Father Rodrigues confessing and asking to be absolved of his sin.
For his part, Father Rodrigues, because he is a priest, listens to Kichijiro. He listens but has very little use for this man who had betrayed him, who had betrayed Christ. He sits in a Japanese jail. He is treated well by his captors and he wonders how his teacher could have come to deny his faith when treated this way. But after some time has past he discovers that the Japanese authorities are not going to torture him, at least not physically. They are, however, torturing the Japanese Christians and have been since his capture. Because of him, the very ones he came to serve are now being tortured. All he has to do is step on an image of Christ and the torture will stop. For Rodrigues, at least in his mind, it means he is being asked to deny Christ.
That is what he does. There is a powerful scene where the Japanese officials, with Rodrigues’ teacher present, are trying to get him to step on the image of Christ. The image seems to come alive and tells him “Trample, trample.” That moment is a time of crystal clarity for Father Sebastian Rodrigues. Endo writes, “The priest raises his foot. In it he feels a dull, heavy pain. This is no mere formality. He will now trample on what he has considered the most beautiful thing in his life, on what he has believed most pure, on what is filled with the ideals and the dreams of man. How his foot aches! And then the Christ in bronze speaks to the priest: ‘Trample! Trample! I more than anyone know the pain in your foot. Trample!’ It was to be trampled on by men that I was born into this world. It was to share men’s pain that I carried my cross. The pries placed his foot on the fumie (the image of Christ). Dawn broke. And far in the distance the cock crowed. Father Rodrigues realizes that what God is saying to him at that moment is, “That is why I came into the world, so people could step on me.” In that moment, by the standards of the world, by the standards of the Roman Catholic Church, by the standards of Sebastian Rodrigues, he denied Jesus Christ. In that moment he ceased being a Catholic priest. In that moment he lost his identity. But in that moment he performed the hardest act of live that could ever be asked of him. He gave up his life as he knew it for the lives of the Japanese Christians.
Do you still think that you would never deny Christ? Could you stand strong if you saw innocent people suffering and it would stop if you denied Christ? Could you stand by and watch your neighbor tortured or your parent or your child or your spouse? It is easy to say we would never deny Christ. It is much harder to live. But, I would further submit to you, while there is without question allusion to Peter in the line, “somewhere off in the distance a cock crowed,” stepping on that image of Christ is the most Christ-like thing that Father Rodrigues could do. You see, Rodrigues knew that the second he stepped on the image he would no longer be a priest, yet being a priest is what he was called to do. It was all the life that he knew. In that moment he picked up his cross and followed. He followed out of love of God and love of neighbor. He didn’t deny Christ. In that setting the only way that he could have denied Christ was to not step on the image to save those Rodrigues was called to serve.
It would be hard for us to live out our words in such trying times. Why, it is even hard, better yet it is impossible, for us to live out our claims of faithfulness here and now. We are Kichijoro. We are Judas. We are Peter. We deny Christ, we betray Christ when we fail to live in neighborly love with those around us. We deny Christ, we betray Christ when we choose not to feed the hungry or clothe the naked or give the thirsty something to drink, etc. etc. etc. Friends we deny Christ, we betray Christ every day by the things that we say and the things that we do. Didn’t Jesus tell those around him and through Matthew tell us, “for if you’ve done it to one of the least of these you’ve done it to me?” When we deny others the love of Christ we are denying our love of Christ. When we fail to meet the needs of others we are betraying Christ. And yet, sometimes we even manage to be Father Sebastian Rodrigues.
That is good news and there is more. Sebastian Rodrigues spend the rest of his life living in Japan in exile. He spends the rest of his life believing in his heart that he denied Christ. Still Kichijiro comes back asking Rodrigues to hear his confession. Kichijiro, probably without knowing enables Rodrigues to continue his work as a priest, he allows Rodrigues to maintain some small amount of his identity. Kichijiro was, for Rodrigues, even if Kichijiro didn’t know it, an instrument of God’s grace. And I think it might be safe to say that every time Kichijiro came back asking for forgiveness, God found a way to forgive. After all, despite his denials of Christ, we know that Peter still managed to find forgiveness and went on to lead the early church. If God can forgive Peter, God can forgive Sebastian Rodrigues and Kichijiro too.
And, if God can forgive them, God can for give the likes of us as well. God will forgive us. Yes, we are just like Peter and Judas and Sebastian Rodrigues and Kichijiro, yes we deny Christ, and yes we betray Christ. But also, just like Peter and Rodrigues and Kichijiro, we can find forgiveness through the grace of God.
