Henry V and the Transfiguration: Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent

One of the greatest speeches in all of literature
is the St. Crispin’s Day Speech by William Shakespeare
from his play, Henry V.

It’s October 25, in the year 1415,
and King Henry of England and his men are about to fight the French
in what will come to be known as the Battle of Agincourt.

Henry’s men are exhausted and sick.
They’ve been fighting for months,
and they’ve just finished a long and grueling siege of Harfleur castle.
As they move across the French countryside
trying to find a place to rest
the French army discovers them.

The English are outnumbered five to one,
and the French send a herald to receive their surrender.
But rather than surrender to the superior forces,
Henry chooses to fight.

When Henry’s cousin Westmoreland wishes they had
ten thousand more soldiers with them,
Henry begins his famous speech.

“No,” he says, “if we are to die, we are enough.
But if we are to live, the fewer the men the greater share of honor.”

He calls the men his “band of brothers,”
and says years from now survivors in their old age
will gladly bare their scars
to show that they were there on St. Crispin’s Day.

It’s a rousing, stirring speech,
especially when delivered by Kenneth Branagh,
in the 1989 movie version of Henry V.
On YouTube the speech has well over a million views:

And that’s what we have in today’s readings.
They are meant to inspire us, to motivate us
in this season of Lent.

We’re a week and a half into Lent,
and we’re trying to overcome not physical enemies like the French,
but the ancient enemies sloth, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, anger, and pride,
those deadly sins that enslave us.

During these forty days we intensify our efforts to overcome sin in our lives,
to reconnect with God and with each other.
And we may feel exhausted, we may feel outnumbered,
we may feel intimidated by the prospect of trying to change our lives,
or we may just not want to be bothered.
We may just want to be left alone.

Like Henry V, we are faced with a choice.
Do we surrender to those hostile forces that we struggle with?
Do we give in to our vices?

The readings of today’s liturgy encourage us to stand firm
in our Lenten commitments.
Like Shakespeare’s St. Crispin’s Day speech,
today’s readings ask, “Who’s with me?”
“Who’s willing to stay faithful to God?”

And the first answer to that question is Abraham.
Abraham trusts in the Lord even though he’s old,
even though it seems unbelievable
that he and Sarah in their old age
could have descendants as numerous as the stars.

But God promises that, and even more, saying
“I will give you this land.”
And when Abraham asks for a sign
God performs an ancient covenant ceremony
to seal his promise.
Abraham brings the sacrificial animals, splits them in two
and places the halves opposite each other.

Usually at this time in a covenant ceremony,
both parties would walk between the dead animals
as if to say,
“If either of us breaks the covenant,
this is what’s going to happen to us.”

But in this situation God alone passes between those pieces
as if to say to Abraham,
“You don’t need to guarantee this, I guarantee it.”
God is a God of promises, and a God who keeps his promises.
And Abraham trusts and the promise is fulfilled.

So as we go through Lent,
we can be assured
that God has promised and it will be done.

And what is God’s promise to us?
The answer to that is made visible in today’s gospel.

We see Jesus,
who has been teaching, preaching and healing,
very successfully.
But the gospel is about to take a turn.
In the remaining chapters of Luke’s gospel,
Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem,
the city that kills prophets.

Jesus knows what’s coming,
he’s told his disciples what’s coming—
his suffering and death.
He goes up on the mountain to pray
and when he’s there his disciples get a glimpse of what is to come,
a vision that will give them hope when things get bleak.
A promise of eternal life.

Jesus is about to go to Jerusalem
and experience humiliation, suffering, and death
And before that happens, the disciples get a view of what comes after.

It’s like Henry V’s speech,
when he tells his soldiers
“In the future, the survivors will bare their arms and show their scars,
they will tell the story of St. Crispin’s Day, of the Battle of Agincourt,
to their children and grandchildren.
Everyone will know your names.”

Henry is appealing to his men’s sense of honor.
The whole play is about honor.

But in the Transfiguration it’s not honor but eternal life that’s on display.
We see eternity, we see our eternal destiny.
It’s much greater than the honor.

Jesus is not going to Jerusalem to be honored.
He is going to be humiliated.
He is going to suffer a shameful death.

But, after that, comes resurrection.
The disciples can see it in his face.

That is the vision that gives his disciples hope.
That is the vision that gives us hope.
That is the vision to keep before our eyes this Lenten season.

When we want to remain where we are,
when we would surrender to our vices,
when we would rather not go through the difficulty of Lent,
the glory in Jesus’ face encourages us onward.

That is God’s promise to us:
the face of Jesus.
Eternal life, eternal joy.

This is what Paul means
when he says,
“…our citizenship is in heaven…
the Lord Jesus Christ…will change our lowly body
to conform with his glorified body…”

He says,
“Stand firm in the Lord.”
Stand firm, hold fast.
It’s worth it.

These readings are to inspire us
to stay true to the commitments we made for Lent.

Whatever it is we’ve given up,
whatever it is we’ve committed to doing,
keep it up.

Because if we stand firm in the Lord,
Easter is just around the corner.
The resurrection will happen.
We know this because God has promised,
and what God has promised, God does.

Henry V’s St. Crispin’s Day speech was effective.
The English, though outnumbered five to one,
defeated the French that day at the Battle of Agincourt.

God’s word to Abraham and Sarah was effective.
Though old and childless,
their descendants are as numerous as the stars,
and their people inherited the promised land.

And Jesus’ words and deeds were effective.
Though seemingly defeated by crucifixion and death,
he rose again on the third day,
opening the way to eternal life for us all.

It is now for us to stand firm in the Lord this Lent
and hold fast to the promises of God
and the vision of Christ transfigured.

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