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The following message for the moment is delivered by the Reverend Dr. Bruce Wheeler Thielman. Today's sermon, Good Friday Service, is entitled, "To Heaven on Horseback." The scripture reading of the morning is taken from two places in the New Testament. I read first from the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 5, and I begin at the verse numbered

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10. Jesus is speaking. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid, nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine

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before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." And then from Paul's letter to the Christians in Rome, I read from chapter 8, and I begin at the verse numbered 14. "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship

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when we cry, 'Abba, Father.' It is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. And may the same Spirit who inspired these words incline our hearts to their understanding. Pray with me."

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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. It has always interested me that the Sermon on the Mount has been accepted by most of the religions and even by most of the non-religious people of the world. At least they treat it with some significant respect. For example, practitioners of other faiths will point out the similarities

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between some of the teachings in their faith and Jesus' Sermon from the Mount. Individuals who are opposed to organized religion will say things like, "I don't want to have anything to do with the Church. My religion is just the Sermon on the Mount." I've even had agnostics and atheists tell me that while they cannot accept the theology of Christianity, they accept the ethics, the moral

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code that is laid out in the Sermon on the Mount. Now, I am not protesting this today. I do not in any way deplore this, but I must confess that when I hear people say this, I wonder if they have ever really read the Sermon on the Mount. Look at the text which is before us today. Jesus says, "Happy are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." That's

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an amazing word and a very blunt one. Jesus never pulled punches with his disciples. He said to them, "You are going to be called upon to bear a cross." He said to them, "You are going to be jailed. You are going to be beaten, and you are going to be hated." He said to them, "The time will come when those who think they are serving God will attack you in God's name." And he sums all of this with

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these words in the Sermon on the Mount, "Happy are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." It is no accident, you see, that the word for witness and the word for martyr in the Greek language as they appear in the New Testament were the same word by the end of the first century. Look at the example of our Lord Jesus himself. He was one who suffered

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and who died, and yet in his suffering and his dying, he showed a splendid confidence and a powerful positivity. This is testified to by the very words he uttered from the cross. He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," suggesting that those for whom he prayed were in far greater danger than he was. He said, "Today thou shalt be with me in paradise," showing

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his absolute confidence in the fact that before the sun set, he would be in the kingdom of heaven. He said, "Woman, behold thy son; son, behold thy mother," and in so saying indicated his concern for others was greater than his concern for himself. Even his word, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" is taken from one of the most triumphant of the Psalms, Psalm number 22, which

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begins with an expression of dereliction but ends with an affirmation of great faith and power. Jesus said, "I thirst." Now most people who have been defeated hesitate to acknowledge to those who have conquered them any need, lest they be further humiliated, but Jesus on the cross did not see himself as one who was defeated. He saw himself as the conqueror, and so he did not

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hesitate for one moment to say, "I thirst." His word, "It is finished," might be accurately translated, "Mission accomplished," and his final word from the cross, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit," is certainly an affirmation of the mighty positive faith which was his. Jesus shows us the happiness of the persecuted. His word, "Happy are those who are persecuted for

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righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," those words that he stated on the Sermon on the Mount, he demonstrated on the hill called Calvary. But how can this be? What happiness can there possibly be in being persecuted? Well, first of all, there is the happiness of knowing that you are guiltless. Paul Tillich, one of the great theologians of

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the 20th century, says in his little book, The Courage to Be, that there are essentially two kinds of courage. The first is the courage to be a part of a group, and the second is the courage to stand alone. He calls this standing alone the courage to be, and he says it takes far more courage to stand alone than to stand with the group. To hold fast to what you believe

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when those about you so quickly surrender their belief. Those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake can endure the hurt they are called upon to endure because they know they are not morally wrong. In a sense, you see, persecution is a compliment. It means that your words and efforts are being taken seriously. George Bernard Shaw was asked on one occasion, "What was the highest

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praise that could be given to an author?" And he replied immediately, "The highest praise is for his books to be burned, for this shows that his writings are so explosive, dynamic, and powerful that they cannot be tolerated by those who will not accept the truth." Persecution, you see, is a sign that you are genuine. Hypocrites are not persecuted. And so to be hit in the act of

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persecution is testimony to the truth that you proclaim and the courage with which you announce it. Being persecuted also brings the happiness of the knowledge that you see in the world things which the world itself does not see. I often think of this in terms of a mountain range. The highest peaks catch the light of the morning sun while the lower peaks are still in darkness. Just so,

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those who are persecuted are paying a price. But as you look across the course of history, you discover that those who have made great adventures in faith, those who have laid hand and mind on new truth have never retreated from the propositions which became part of their heart's life. Governments hit them, accused them of treason, and threatened them with other dire

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punishments, but they would not back off. The church hit them, for the church can become very conventional and very upset when someone suggests some new thought for thinking. Just about every doctrine of the church that it holds precious today was called a heresy by someone at one time or another. And society hits those who hold fast to the things they see which the world does not

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see. Society is prejudiced against such ones because they reject the norms of everyday living, and society does not approve of this. Do you remember in the 1960s when the Federal Drug Administration was asked to approve a sedative called thalidomide? The drug companies got behind the promotion of this new product with tremendous public relations and advertising campaigns. But

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there was a little woman doctor down in Washington, D.C. with the FDA named Frances O. Kelly, and she said, "No, I will not approve this drug until it is completely tested." She was liable for taking that position. She was criticized for taking that position. Now while this process of testing continued, Europe began to report that women who had used thalidomide there were giving birth to

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terribly deformed children. Indeed, European nations were beginning to withdraw the product from the shelves of their pharmacies. But even when that was happening, drug companies in America were still promoting this particular product, and this little doctor kept saying no. And no one will ever be able to understand how many thousands of babies were born whole and not deformed because

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she was willing to be persecuted, because she saw things that other people did not see. She is a sun-crowned personality because she stood fast announcing what she knew to be true at whatever cost. There is also a happiness that comes to the persecuted in knowing that they are one with Christ and with other martyrs. Jesus said, "The world has persecuted me, and so it will persecute

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you." He identified three specific kinds of persecution. First, he said, "You will be reviled," which means literally you will be wounded. Then he said, "You will be lied about," which means you will be defamed and slandered. And then he said, "You will know the cross," which means that you will be called upon to endure both pain and shame. And yet, those who are persecuted, knowing that

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they stand with Christ and others disciples of the truth, do it without hesitation, without pause, convicted, they stand firm. Theirs is the hard way, the way of persecution, but that is also the glad way because it is the right way. In 29, they killed Jesus of Nazareth. In 64, they killed Paul of Tarsus. In 1431, they burned Joan of Arc at Rouen. In 1498, they massacred Savannarola in

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Florence. In 1553, they beheaded Servetus in Geneva. In 1556, they burned Archbishop Cramner at the stake in Oxford. In 1638, they killed Anne Hutcheson in Boston. In 1945, they hanged Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the concentration camp at Flossenberg. In 1965, they assassinated James Reeb in a place called Selma, Alabama. In 1971, thousands of Christians gave up their lives at the hands of

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Edy Amin in Uganda. In 1973, Evelyn Anderson and Beatrice Koson were burned into nothingness because of their faith. It happened in the Philippine Islands. In 1975, 36 Christian clergy were slain at one time in Burundi. In 1984, six elders in Peru were taken before their congregation and hacked to death. In 1990, Hussein Sudman, the last Christian minister in Iran, was

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hanged by the neck until he was dead. I have mentioned but a few. There are countless millions and more have died in the service of Christ in the 20th century than the previous 19th centuries added together. What a company and what a privilege to be a part of it. Their scars become stars. It also is a happiness to the persecuted to know that they have the applause of their own

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conscience. There is no greater satisfaction than to be at peace with your own heart and mind. Even the pagans recognized this. Marcus Aurelius said, "Cleave to the right. The whole world cannot cheat you of your conquest." As one looks across the course of history, one sees that many who have stood for truth have suffered because of it. But in the end, truth and history stands with these

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people because their consciences were clear. In Profiles in Courage, which is the story of eight senators who were willing to give up their careers in government for the sake of their high principles, these eight senators are described by the author not as individuals who had a greater concern for the public than for themselves, not at all. John Kennedy wrote, "They did what they did

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not because they loved the public better than themselves, but because their consciences were stronger than any desire in them to stay in office. What they honored was not the crowd, but the voice of their own conscience. There is no applause like the acclamation of one's own heart. It delights the spirit. Happy are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for the kingdom of heaven is

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theirs." And finally, "Those who are persecuted have the happiness of knowing that others will be blessed because of their faithfulness." If we could see this day all the good that has come forth out of the lives and the deaths, out of the nativity and the suffering of these persecuted ones, if we could see all of the good that has come from them, we would recognize it as the

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greatest or one of the greatest contributions to civilization as we know it. Their very pain publicized the truth of what they lived. Their very suffering accentuated the strength of their convictions. If Jesus had not suffered and died, there would be no Good Friday, there would be no Easter, and there would be no church. Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men that they may

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see your Father and glorify his name. No light is as bright as the flame of faith in the face of persecution." It's been said ten thousand times, ten thousand times, but the blood of Christ and the blood of the martyrs has always been the seed of the church. So we mourn our crucified Christ, but even as we mourn him, we recall his words, "Happy are those who are persecuted for righteousness

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sake, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs." For you see, as he died, he knew he was innocent. He knew he saw things the world had not yet seen. He knew he was one with all the prophetic heroes and heroines of the Old Testament story. He knew the incredible sweetness of his own clear conscience, and he knew of all those souls who would be blessed because of what he endured. So speak,

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history. Who are the victors? Unroll the long annals which are yours and say, are they those whom the world calls victors, who won the success of the day, the persecuted, or Nero, saints who fell in the Savior's sight, or those arrogant ones who ruled by might? Speak, history. Who are the victors? His judges or Paul, Pilate or Christ? In a day long ago, when horseback was the fastest way

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there was to travel, John Bradford was burned at the stake, and as the flames leaped up about him, he said to all who could hear his voice, "Surely if there be any way to heaven on horseback, it is by the cross." So it is. So it always has been, and so it always will be. Happy are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Pray with me.

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Oh God, we thank thee for the courage of the Christ and for the courage of all those who have followed him even unto death, and we pray that on this day we might be ignited with the same flame of faith which burned in them. Make us, our Father, strong witnesses, and if need be, martyrs for the faith. Let us be persecuted if we must, for we will still know happiness,

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for ours will be forever and ever the kingdom of heaven. We pray our prayer boldly in Jesus' name. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]