Sunday Homily - November 24, 2019 - "We Few; We Happy Few!"

Christ the King Icon

I.

Have you ever seen a movie that had one of those magical performances by an actor,
 the ones that keep you hanging on every moment,
  and then in perfect synergy with the cast and the screenwriting,
   deliver an iconic moment that lasts in your memory for years?

One of those moments for me and a lot of others
 is the iconic performance of Kenneth Branagh
  in the 1989 movie adaptation
   of Shakespeare's play "Henry V."

Shakespeare wrote this play around 1599,
 and his play "Henry V" contains the riveting lead up to the Battle of Agincourt,
  an actual historical battle in the Hundred Years War,
   in which the English King Henry V invades France after negotiations fail
    and the English army is substantially outnumbered by the French forces,
     portrayed in Shakespeare's play as being outnumbered "5:1."
     [http://shakespeare.mit.edu/henryv/henryv.4.3.html; Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3]

On the eve of the battle,
 the English troops are disheartened by the reporting of the odds that they are up against,
  and many fear that the entire invasion will be destroyed
   in the upcoming engagement.
    The soldiers complain about the men from England who did not take up sword and shield
     and march with them to engage the French forces.

Some of the men even pipe up and pine for additions to the army
 who are as fresh and unworn by the previous battles and marches
  to fight along side them.
   One of Henry V's soldiers by the name of Westmoreland laments,
    "O that we now had here
     But one ten thousand of those men in England
     That do no work to-day!"
      [http://shakespeare.mit.edu/henryv/henryv.4.3.html; Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3]

But then,
 in the midst of that fear and trembling,
  Kenneth Branagh's character, King Henry V,
   delivers the legendary St. Crispin's Day Speech.

Henry V hears Westmoreland's lament,
 and answers thus:

"What's he that wishes so?
 My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:
  If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
   To do our country loss; and if to live,
    The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
     God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more...

...This day is called the feast of Crispian:
 He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
  Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
   And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
    He that shall live this day, and see old age,
     Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
      And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
       Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
        And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day...'

This story shall the good man teach his son;
 And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
  From this day to the ending of the world,
   But we in it shall be remember'd;
 
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
 For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
  Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
   This day shall gentle his condition:
    And gentlemen in England now a-bed
     Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
      And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
       That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

        [http://shakespeare.mit.edu/henryv/henryv.4.3.html; Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3]

And with the speech ended,
 the English forces mustered,
  the battle lines drawn,
   these happy few of Henry V's army
    run towards the battle lines,
     Henry V brandishing sword in hand,
      and meet their enemies, outnumbering them 5:1,
       in the mortal conflict of the Battle of Agincourt.

II.

But today, friends,
 the Battle of Agincourt
  pales in comparison to the cosmic scope
   of the famous battle of good and evil,
    of the Prince of Peace against the Powers of Darkness,
     of the Sole Begotten One against sin, death, Satan, and hell
      in the pivot of world history
       of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

We who have been walking with Christ Jesus through the Gospel of St. Luke
 ever since last November
  have walked the path of the few, the happy few!

We have walked with Christ when he first came to earth,
 carrying not a sword, nor a crown,
  but instead being hailed by the Foreign Wise Men of the East,
   praised by the shepherds watching their flocks in the fields,
    and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a manger in Bethlehem.

We walk with Christ as he grows in stature and wisdom,
 even as he astounds the teachers in the Temple when he is a young boy,
  and in the silent years before his ministry
   as he models perfect contemplation and adoration of the Father in Heaven.
   [Luke 2:39-52; Pastoral Theology: A Reorientation by Martin Thornton]

And then, in the proclamation of repentance and the coming of the Kingdom of God,
 we also began to learn to march with Christ.

We learn to march with Jesus,
 to worship weekly, as was Jesus's custom,
  to develop our private prayer life,
   and from that union with God in worship and prayer
    to then go into the world to serve the ones in need.
    [Luke 4:16; Luke 5:16]

We march with Jesus out into the wilderness,
 where temptations of Satan and the evils of the world assail us,
  and yet we hold our ranks
   and trust in God's goodness over against the temptations of the world
    as Jesus Christ shows us the way.

We also march with Jesus Christ through battle after victorious battle,
 where the demon possessed are freed from their bondage by the might of Jesus,
  the lame are healed to walk,
   the blind receive their sight,
    the mute speak,
     and even the dead are brought back to life
      as the Kingdom of God begins to beat back the forces of evil,
       even though it seems that evil outmatches Our Lord Jesus 5:1.
       [Luke 8:26-39; Mark 2; Matthew 9:27-30; Luke 7:11-17]

And when the forces of evil begin to conspire,
 the darkness begins to twist and bend,
  when the pride, the hate, and the anger of the Devil overflows
   and the temple guard comes to arrest Jesus,
    we march with Our Lord Jesus into the Garden of Gethsemane,
     where instead of mortal weapons of wood and steel,
      Jesus insists that we keep awake in prayer,
       so that we do not fall into temptation.

And Jesus instead deepens in prayer in the garden of Gethsemane,
 and prays with blood and sweat pouring down his face,
  "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done."
   even while we faint and fall asleep on the eve of the great battle
    of the Holy Cross.
    [Matthew 26:36-56]

And the darkness, outnumbering Christ 5:1,
 culminates in one swift death-stroke,
  the betrayal of Judas Iscariot,
   the unjust trial,
    the mocking, flogging, and whipping of Jesus,
     the spectacle of the climb to Golgotha,
      and the public warning to the rest of Judea of Jesus crucified as a criminal,
       and the sarcastic sign of "King of the Jews" over his head.

Yet, even as sin, death, and hell open their jaws
 and laugh at the Son of Man hanging on the cross,
  a victory speech arises within the Cosmic King on that tree:
   "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
    [Luke 23:34]

And the powers of darkness scoff at this notion,
 crying out,
  "If you really are the Messiah, prove it!"
   "If you really are the King of the Jews, save yourself!"
    [Luke 23:33-43]

And the victory speech continues,
 as even on the cross beside the King, a desperate man cries out in faith,
  "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
   And Jesus responds with the victory of salvation,
    "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
     [Luke 23:43]

And as the darkness falls and Jesus Christ proclaims,
 "It is finished,"
  Christ descends to the dead.
   And the darkness falls on Jerusalem,
    earthquakes ripple throughout the countryside,
     the temple veil is torn in two,
      and all of a sudden the dead are coming out of their tombs!
      [Matthew 27:51-54]
     
Because Christ did not descend to the dead in failure.
 Christ descended to the dead to harrow the kingdom of darkness
  that just a few hours prior deemed itself victorious.

And when Christ Jesus arrives in the very presence
 of the powers of sin, and death, and hell with the full power of life within him,
  he destroys their power and rescues the souls in their grasp forever,
   Jesus himself becoming the first fruits of the resurrection of the dead.

And we few, we happy few!
 We, the disciples witness the resurrection of the King of Kings,
   a victor who used no mortal weapon of war,
    a Lord who does not "lord it over" anyone but humbly serves the least of these,
     God incarnate, man divine,
      alive again and we don't know what to do
       except become witnesses of what we have seen.

III.

I probably don't have to tell you,
 but Henry V and his men who were outnumbered 5:1
  won the Battle of Agincourt
   in a completely unexpected victory for the English Crown.

And the St. Crispin's Day speech of Henry V in Shakespeare
 remains one of the great speeches in Shakespeare's plays
  because it gives voice to the legend that is the Battle of Agincourt
   and the courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

But, for all the honor and glory of Shakespeare's play-writing
 and the stories associated with the Battle of Agincourt,
  we here as Church today celebrate a King
   whose glory is in laying aside his crown to become a servant,
    whose crown has no precious stones, but rather is of twisted thorns,
     and whose throne is not a seat made of gold, but a cross that he chose to die upon
      to save us from the cosmic powers of sin, death, and hell.

Today we approach that King who is closer than anyone in our lives,
 who loves us so much that he sacrificed himself,
  ascending the cross and entering into the jaws of death
   that he might destroy the power of death forever.

And as we today remember where we have walked with Christ,
 so now we are commissioned in this holy hope of the resurrection
  to share that hope with the world.

For us who are baptized into the life of Christ,
 we have been set free from the evil powers of the world
  and have chosen to walk the hard path that leads to life.

Share the love of Jesus that has saved the world.
 And always keep your mind set on that hope in Jesus Christ's resurrection.
  No matter how hard life gets,
   no matter the evils that befall you,
    no matter how hopeless it seems,
     our hope is not in the kingdom of this world,
      but is rather in the Kingdom of Heaven which is coming soon.

So for we few, we happy few,
 we band of brothers and sisters gathered under Christ the King,
  go into your mission fields in the name of the one who loves us all.

A Blessed Feast of Christ the King, dear friends.
 Now go and share the joy we have found!

In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.