But there's a problem with that, and that is that it's not how it works. The warning from Jesus is that not everyone who says 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven. That's troubling for us, because we assume that we are a sure thing as soon as we get baptized, confirmed, whatever, then you're done. But you're not done. Jesus tells us that if we deny him before men, he will deny us before his father in heaven, and that's hard to hear. It's hard to hear, because most of us have had that experience at some time or another, of denying Christ, whether actively or passively. We've had the experience of encountering a situation which would be made slightly more awkward by mentioning or discussing our faith, and we caved. We have almost all done this. Either we didn't speak up when we could have, or we admitted to things that aren't true, or whatever we did to try to smooth over the situation that we found ourselves into. If you have ever done that, if you've ever just let something go, or acted quiet when religion came up, or said that you weren't all that into Jesus when the opportunity came up, think on these words from Jesus.
If you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father who is in Heaven.
Hard words. Hard words, made harder by the fact that they're in the confirmation liturgy. These words are spoken to the young people in our congregation, and they are young people who, as they mature, as they go to parties and soirees, they will deny Christ whether actively or passively.
How do I know? I know because they're human beings, and they don't outrank the disciples as far as holiness goes. And the disciples, as soon as there was a cost to following Christ, caved as well.
The situation that the disciples found themselves in was that Jesus had been taken away, and was going to be crucified. He was nailed to a cross, left to die, and stabbed with a spear designed to end human life efficiently and brutally. Jesus had bled out, and there was no life left in him. They took him down from the cross, and buried him, and upon that happening, the disciples deserted, ran away, and hid. They treated their faith as we do when it becomes uncomfortable to mention. We hide it. We hide it behind locked doors, free and comfortable to practice it when it's just us, but quite disturbed to do so when we're surrounded by people who may not agree with us. We are embarrased by our faith, treating it like a girlfriend or boyfriend that we're ashamed of. We're happy to call him or her up in the middle of the night, but we don't want anyone to see us together.
Jesus, though, is quite serious when he says that if we deny him before men, he will deny us before our father who is in heaven, and that should trouble us. It should trouble and bother us, because whom among us can honestly say that we have never denied Christ, have never fled from our responsibilities, have never turned from what he says and commands for the purpose of saving face. We do all the time. It's who we are. We like to keep our heads down as the disciples did, because if we speak up about our faith, then we may very well have something to lose. There will be a cost to speaking up about our belief. Peter found that out, when he promised, swore up and down, that he would never leave nor forsake Jesus, and yet immediately upon being called upon to back that up, folded instantly. There was a cost, and Peter was unwilling to pay it. If you're going to posit yourself as a great bastion of faith, who has never denied Christ, who has never turned your back on him and shrugged when asked, then you have put yourself above St. Peter and the rest of the disciples who, upon learning that there was a cost, were unwilling to pay, and fled.
So, what's to be done? Are you sure you're not going to be denied before your father in heaven? Have you fled and denied Christ? Are you, and can you be 100% sure that Jesus, based on what you've done, will loudly and boldly announce you before his father? Are you sure?
And that gets to the heart of what the Christian faith is really all about, and that is certainty. The way that Jesus did things here on earth was designed to give us certainty, to make us sure about what is going on based on what he does for us. Why do we have baptism? Why do we have the Lord's Supper? We have these things because we need a sign, a physical sign of what Christ has done for us. We need and crave that certainty. Why do we have the vacant cross and the empty tomb? because we need to see the reality of grace and resurrection in action. We are frail people who, even in the presence of God, get nervous and frightened, who are concerned and perturbed by the way the world goes. we are frightened and weak willed, and get really bothered by the cost that the Christian faith asks. But the wondrous thing that Easter teaches us is that it's not about us. If it were about us, then we'd be in a lot of trouble. We'd be stuck in that perpetual loop, where we promise lifelong commitment to Jesus, fail, get disheartened, reflect on how far we've gone wrong, and then try to vault back into his esteem. Complicated, and likely leading to frustration and despair. But it's not about us, it's all about Him. Our commitment is frail, his is great. The disciples turned and fled, denied him, ran away naked if they had to, they deserted him and abandoned him, and yet Christ's commitment to them as secure. He was nailed to the cross, dying for the sins of the whole world, including, but not limited to, those who had denied and deserted him.
This is what the scriptures mean, and this is what we take heart in, when we hear them say
'Though we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.'
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