December 29, 2016 – Christmas + 4
Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury

“Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to put him to death.” John 11:45-53

On this date in 1170, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he is subsequently martyred. Thomas Becket was a commoner who made good being appointed as Archbishop by King Henry II. The events of his assassination are: after having an argument about Church privileges with the king, four knights who took the king at his words ‘Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?’ did just that – rid the king of the troublesome priest. He was Canonized by Pope Alexander III, and the king made public penance at Canterbury Cathedral.

Thomas Beckett was trying to maintain church protocol, especially when it came to the coronation of the king. And because several Bishops were upset that they could not break with tradition and were also excommunicated by Beckett, when word of the excommunications reached King Henry II, he uttered words similar to “how can the king be treated with such contempt by a low-born cleric”. These were words which several knights determined to be a death sentence for Beckett. And all he was doing was attempting to maintain the legitimacy of the process – something we often hear people lament in the church today. The question is, are we willing to die for our faith? Are we willing to die for our faith?

Because we live in a country where there is freedom of religion, we do not have to face the life or death decision to live or die for our faith. But, it is a question we should ponder, and pray about. Why? Because even in America, the day may come where we might have to make such a decision. And if we do not consider it now, we may disappoint ourselves when that time comes.

Pastor Dave