Sermon for the twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity (using propers of the sixth Sunday after Epiphany)
Is the shroud of Turin
a fake?
In the past forty years or so,
competing scientific research
has deemed it
a fake from the Middle Ages
or undoubtedly
a relic from the First Century.
Many people
believe it to be genuine.
Many people
believe it to be a forgery.
And it seems
people are determined
to use the scientific method
to prop up their own
belief about what this cloth is.
It does seem,
given recent articles
that no-one comes to
study the shroud
without some preconceived desire
to prove that it shows
The True Christ
or a false Christ.
Does it show
the True face of Christ?
[PAUSE]
If it does,
then we have
some way of recognising Him
when He comes again.
Wouldn't it be awful
if He returned to us
and we didn't recognise Him?
Wouldn't it be awfuI
if we've missed His second coming
just because we didn't know
what He looked like.
Doesn't the Turin Shroud
give us a way of knowing
Who we're looking for?
Doesn't it give us
a frame of reference for our faith?
Doesn't it give us
the ability to say
"Yes! This is Christ!
Here He is!"?
No.
No it doesn't.
And why?
Listen to the True Christ.
"If any man shall say unto you,
Lo, here is Christ, or there;
believe it not.
For there shall arise false Christs,
and false prophets,
and shall shew
great signs and wonders;
insomuch that,
if it were possible,
they shall deceive the very elect."
If the Shroud of Turin
is real,
and there is every chance
that it is,
then it is an ikon
a way of seeing into
the Heavenly Truth.
But,
while ikons are so good
for the soul
and a necessary part
of Christian doctrine
no one ikon
is necessary.
The Shroud of Turin
adds nothing to our Faith
beyond any other ikon.
If the Shroud is a fake
then this takes nothing away
from our faith:
it still remains as much an ikon
as any ikon written on wood.
The Shroud is not the basis
of our faith.
Christ is the basis of our faith.
The Man
depicted upon the Shroud
the one depicted in the ikon
the one depicted upon the Cross,
He is the Christ
and basis of our faith.
[PAUSE]
But don't we say
"Here is Christ"
when the priest lifts up
the consecrated host?
Indeed we do,
but this is Christ in the Sacrament,
not Christ coming in glory
to judge the quick and the dead.
It is those people
who say "Here is Christ"
meaning the Messiah
at His second coming
who are talking about
a false Christ.
It is those people
who are thinking of a Christ
made in their own image
who hope for a return
of a false Christ.
[PAUSE]
But that is not how Christ will return.
He won't suddenly appear
in one place
so that we all have to pile
into cars and aeroplanes
to meet Him
He won't appear
on television
and tell us to do bizarre things
to prove our love for Him.
But if the Shroud is fake
how will we recognise Him?
[PAUSE]
The apostles tell us how.
They see Him
hear Him
and touch Him.
And their faith is ours.
We just need to preserve that faith.
Christian Doctrine
isn't just about
what to do
and what not to do.
It is about living,
studying,
praying,
and getting to know Jesus
as He is
through what the Church
has always handed down to us
since those feet in ancient time
walk closely with the apostles
and walk with us
through those who follow the apostles.
Christian Doctrine
will ensure
that we will truly know Him
when He comes again
in His own way
at a time when we least expect Him.
And then how much joy
will there be for us?
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