Today we welcome Pope Francis to the United States. In so doing, we welcome more than just a popular public figure. We welcome someone whom the Lord prays for in a very special manner. Simon Peter and his successors enjoy a special charism to unite us, by the Lord’s prayer and grace. Let’s look at the scriptural foundation of this prayer and charism and see how essential the office of the pope is for us.
One day, near the final ascent to Jerusalem, the Lord warned of a fundamental problem that the Church would face: disunity. He turned to Simon Peter and said of the Twelve,
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you all that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers (Luke 22:31-32).
To “sift like wheat” is to divide, and Satan would work hard at it in order to divide the apostles, and the Church with them. The debate about who was the greatest only served to show what a mess we human beings, when left to our own devices, will make of something.
Yes, Jesus plainly says that the devil is going to work hard to divide you. And Jesus’ plan is not to write a book and then just hope that everyone follows it and interprets it in the same way. His plan is not to pray that they all work out their differences.
Jesus’ plan is to pray for one man, Simon Peter. Now Peter is not invisible, nor do his words require interpretation. For if anyone wants to ask, “What do you mean by this?” he can just go right up to Peter and say, “Peter, what do you mean by this?” And the real Peter can answer.
So, the Lord’s plan for unity is to have one visible man; one living, breathing source of unity. The Lord will pray for him; thus we can be assured of right outcomes in matters of faith and morals if we follow Peter (and his successors, the popes) in matters that might divide us.
Peter fulfilled this task of unity well and consistently, as recounted in the Acts of the Apostles, the history of the early Church. He rose to settle the question of Judas’ successor (Acts 1:15ff). He preached the first public sermon (Acts 2). He was inspired in a dream and then baptized the first Gentile converts (Acts 10). He arose at the Council of Jerusalem to settle the dispute between the “Party of James” and Paul, Barnabas, and others about Gentile converts (Acts 15).
Yes, Peter strengthened and unified the brethren. This does not mean that he did so without sin. On one occasion St. Paul even had to rebuke Peter (cf Gal 2). For though Peter had taught correctly (that Gentiles were in without lots of customary Jewish observances), he did not fully live the teaching, drawing back from close association with the Gentiles in order to avoid offending Jewish Christians. We do not argue that Peter and his successors are sinless, only that in solemnly teaching on faith and morals they enjoy the prayer of the Lord and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, never to teach error and thus unite us in the truth.
Peter’s successors must unite us. Though they are not sinless men, we trust in God’s protection for their solemn teachings and thus preserve union through the prayers of the Lord for Peter.
And boy do we need it! We Catholics are a difficult lot. Shepherding Catholics is harder than herding cats. But thanks be to God for the Lord’s Prayer and for the Holy Spirit. If it were not for these, the Church wouldn’t have lasted twenty minutes! But here we are more than two thousand years later, not without our troubles and tensions, but here and fundamentally united (with legitimate diversity). There is just no other way to describe the fundamental unity of the Catholic Church for all these years than as a miracle.
Compare this to the Protestant denominations, which severed their ties to Simon Peter and have now divided and subdivided some thirty thousand times—sifted like wheat to say the least. And the divisions are not just about minor things like vestments or the type of music. The differences are about fundamental and essential doctrines such as how one is saved, if once saved means always saved, if Baptism is necessary, if adultery is grounds for divorce, whether homosexual acts are sinful, if abortion is wrong, whether there is a priesthood, and how critical texts of the Bible are to be understood. The moral and doctrinal divisions are deep and concern foundational matters related to salvation. So divided is Protestantism that many Evangelicals have more in common with Catholics (on the moral issues) than with the old, mainline Protestants.
The tragic disunity of Christendom is not entirely the fault of the Protestants. We Catholics contributed to breaks that happened in the 12th century (with the Orthodox) and the 16th century (with the Protestants).
But the disunity among Protestants does put to the lie that people can be united by a book or by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (apart from the authentic discernment of the Church’s magisterium).
The simple fact is that we have to have a pope. And if no one is pope, everyone is pope. Some may be dismissive of the need for “some pope” to tell them what to think. But truth be told, by not acknowledging some visible authority outside their own mind, they are merely appointing themselves as pope of their own little “denomination of one.”
The pope is not possessed of unlimited power. He is the Servant of Divine Revelation, not its source. He cannot overrule dogmatically defined faith that comes from Holy Scripture and Sacred Tradition. Neither does he micromanage every aspect of Church life. But in service of the Lord’s prayer and vision, Simon Peter and his successors strengthen and unite us by working with the bishops to resolve significant matters that arise in the Church in terms of discipline and the understanding of doctrine.
But without him, we are trouble, serious trouble—trouble times thirty thousand!
In welcoming Pope Francis, we welcome the visible source of our unity. It is not merely that Jorge Bergoglio is a good negotiator. Whatever personal skills he may have, our faith lies not in those skills but in the prayer of the Lord Jesus for him to strengthen and unify us. Unity is not always easy. To accept the leadership of another is, frankly, hard. But the unity the Lord intends us to have with Simon Peter is a lot easier than the endless divisions we create on our own, apart from the Lord’s Prayer for Peter.
Welcome Pope Francis today and pray for unity among all Catholics and Christians. We may have minor differences and even a few hurtful ones, but thank God we don’t have thirty thousand differences!
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On Thursday morning, Pope Francis will speak at a joint session of Congress. Shortly thereafter he will journey to a nearby center of Catholic Charities. In so doing, he will be meeting very different groups of people: politicians, and the poor, legislators and the less fortunate.
There is in these visits a powerful contrast. But not all things are as they appear for not as man sees does God see. Let’s consider both.
The day will begin in the well of the U.S. Congress. This will be the first time that a pope has addressed a joint session of Congress. He does so as a religious and moral leader, but also as a head of state. In fact, many of the honors the pope has been accorded, including arrival at Andrews Air Force Base, an official welcome, and Secret Service protection are due to his status as the head of state of the Vatican City State, the smallest internationally recognized state in the world.
But do not miss the stunning image here: a pope addressing Congress. Such a thing would have been unthinkable before the 1960s. Catholics were generally considered with suspicion by the Protestant majority in the United State. They wondered if our loyalties were here or with the Vatican. Wave after wave of Catholic immigrants in the early 20th century also created fear in the minds of many Americans. These Catholics immigrants were poor and brought with them many of the social ills associated with poverty. Thus, anti-Catholic sentiment ran deep before the 1960s. And despite Catholics gaining local power in many northeastern cities, it was generally difficult for Catholics to be elected to national office. In those times, people who talked about the important of the “separation of Church and State” usually had Catholics in mind.
Much of the severity of sectarian hostility has waned, even as secular hostility against the Church has risen. But most people who lived before 1960 could never have imagined a pope addressing a joint session of Congress or receiving the sorts of state-sponsored honors you have seen; it would have been politically impossible.
Yet note a further paradox!In many minds, this address of the pope to Congress is one to arguably the most powerful body on this planet. The men and women gathered there sit atop billion dollar budgets and make decisions that affect the entire world, let alone the United States. The fate and well-being of many depends on them.
But not all things are as they appear. For that body of individuals is likely the second most important group the pope will address on Thursday. The most important and influential group awaits him at his next stop: the poor at Catholic Charities.
Please be assured that I do not make this observation with the common class hatred/envy that simplistically concludes that all rich and powerful people are evil and greedy while all the poor are good and holy. Things are never that black and white. There are sinners and saints in each group.
But understand this: the poor, the suffering, and the vulnerable are far more powerful than most of us imagine. Consider that while the poor need us in this life, we are going to them in the next. The Lord Jesus counseled us, I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings (Lk 16:9). In other words, if we are generous to the poor here, they are going to be powerful advocates for us on our judgment day.
Mother Mary, too, spoke of a great reversal that is coming: he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty (Lk 1:52-53). And Jesus added, But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first (Matt 19:30). And Psalm 72 says, The Lord hears the cry of the poor (Ps 72).
It seems that many of us here are going to have to make an appointment to be able to see them in Heaven! Many who are poor, suffering, and vulnerable now are going to have the highest places in Heaven, and they’re going have a lot to say about our final judgment. It’s not bad advice to befriend them now because we’re going to need them later!
So which is the most powerful group the pope will address on Thursday? Well, you decide. But remember, things are not always as they appear; God does not see as man sees.
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In the papal visit soon to unfold in this country we see writ large a process and pattern established by Jesus Himself. In this blog post we will look especially at the process of preparation and see that it is quite directly connected to the way in which Jesus operated.
To many readers of the gospel, who overlook the details, it could seem that Jesus and the Twelve just wandered about in a haphazard manner, charismatically deciding “on the fly” when and where to go. But according to Scripture, this is not the case.
Jesus had a plan, an itinerary of his journey, laid out rather carefully it would seem. Further, He sent “advance teams” on ahead to prepare the people for His arrival. Consider the following quotes:
Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Luke 10:1-2).
And He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him (Luke 9:52).
Further, His “apostolic band” required financial and personal support. Here, too, this support was not accomplished in some disorganized way; it was more organized than many today would think. Scripture attests to this:
Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources (Luke 8:1-3).
So the evangelical journeys of Jesus were not some haphazard wandering about.They visits were planned and the people were prepared. And here was the goal: that when Jesus entered, The crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him (Luke 8:40).
It is like this with the upcoming visit of Pope Francis. The pope is the Vicar of Christ; that is, he is Christ’s representative. People are not clamoring to meet Jorge Bergoglio; they are eager to meet the Christ he represents and whose Vicar he is.
It is much like the visits of Jesus in ancient Galilee and Judea, just writ larger—much larger! The villages and towns of the ancient Holy Land were seldom larger than a thousand people. Only Jerusalem, Caesarea, and some of the Greek cities of the Decapolis were much larger. Today, metropolises contain millions of people and the distances between them are global!
Many have been preparing the cities of Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York for his coming, and crowds will greet the pope, the Vicar of Christ.
Consider well the complex preparations! Be grateful to those who have labored long and hard. There have been long hours, complex arrangements, publicity, fundraising, logistics, last-minute changes, public safety, and delicate negotiations with religious and government officials and private citizens.
I have personally observed the sacrifices that many at the Pastoral Center of the Archdiocese of Washington have made. Do not underestimate the personal price that many have paid to ensure that all is ready, safe, and organized.
Be grateful, too, for the many benefactors who have generously supplied funds for this visit. Gratitude is also due to government officials, the Secret Service, the D.C. Police, and many other “first responders” who stand ready for the arrival and poised to care for any difficulties that might arise. Acknowledgement is also due to many individuals and business owners who will be inconvenienced due to the festivities. We are and must be grateful for their patience and sacrifice!
Yes, it is the apostolic and evangelical journeys of Jesus, writ large. They were organized and underwritten. So is this one. Many sacrificed to prepare towns for Jesus; many here have done the same for the pope. The Scriptures are really not so distant after all. They are still fulfilled in ever larger and more visible ways.
Surely Pope Francis would be the first to say, “Viva Christo Rey!” Indeed, may Jesus Christ be praised!
The short film below is an allegory of one young boy’s journey back to the light from the sad, dark world left to him by his mother and other elders of previous generations. I have seen this journey in the lives of many young adults in the Church today.
You might wish to view it first, but here is my summary:
The film opens with a mother (but it could be any elder) returning fearfully from the dark, tragic world she and others of her generation have made. It is noteworthy and emblematic that there is only a mother; no father is present nor is there any evidence of him. The mother has with her some “antiques” she has scavenged from the ruins outside. Her young son is anxious to see what she has found.
She tries to interest him in a flashlight and at first he is mesmerized. But then he hears the sounds coming from an old tape player she found and his eyes and heart light up (for faith comes by hearing, and hearing from the Word of God). The recording is one of a group of children playing. The voice of one child in the recording calls out, “Do you want to play with us?” Somehow the boy hears a call to come back to an old world, one where children still play and sing and dance (as Chesterton described in Orthodoxy).
The boy wants to look more closely at the tape player, but his mother will have none of it. For her, it is just something to sell in the dark world she and her generation have made. She puts it high up on a shelf out of reach and sends him to bed.
But he has heard a truth. His mind and heart have been touched. And so he makes a journey to the world he heard for just a brief moment. He leaves the dark, colorless world of poisoned cultural air and, listening to the tape (for faith comes by hearing, and hearing from the Word of God), enters a colorful world where children still play and can breathe the air without dying.
I have found this little story writ large and true in the lives of an increasing number of young adults in the Church. They have inherited from my generation (the Baby Boomers) a ruined world. Collectively speaking, we Baby Boomers are perhaps the most selfish, egotistical, spoiled, and destructive generation this planet has known. We launched a self-centered revolution and left in our wake a ruined culture, destroyed families, and great darkness; the very air of our culture is too poisonous to breathe.
But some younger adults have heard a Word of truth that calls them out of the ruins. Perhaps they wander into an older, untouched church built by a generation prior to the Baby Boomers. (The Baby Boomers built drab, deconstructionist, iconoclastic churches.) Perhaps they stumble upon a spiritual classic, attend a Latin Mass, or see a classic movie from before the revolution. Perhaps they hear a sermon by a priest or deacon who is “unreformed,” or who preaches solidly and unapologetically from Scripture and the Catechism.
Whatever it is, some young adults are rediscovering the wisdom that was cast off collectively by the Baby Boomers. I do not claim that most young adults are making this journey, just that there are enough to make the pattern noticeable. They come to Mass and to the bible studies and lectures I give. They want solid food; they want the truth, not some watered-down version of it. They do not want to make the mistake their parents made. They do not all go to the Latin Mass, but they seem to have an appreciation for the traditions that we Boomers cast aside.
There is something of this movement in the video below. A young boy hears a snippet of truth from a previous era. Unlike his mother, he is touched by it and makes a journey toward the truth he has heard.
How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! … So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world” (Rom 10:15-18).
There is a helpful word of reminder given by Saint Maximus the Confessor, one of the Fathers of the Church, who was in the Breviary yesterday. I want to rework the order of what he wrote, if only for the purpose of applying it to the times in which we live. But for the sake of respect, here is the original quote:
This Word is most unwilling to be kept under a bushel; it wills to be set in a high place, upon the sublime beauty of the Church. For while the Word was hidden under the bushel, that is, under the letter of the law, it deprived all men of eternal light. For then it could not give spiritual contemplation to men striving to strip themselves of a sensuality that is illusory, capable only of deceit, and able to perceive only decadent bodies like their own. But the Word wills to be set upon a lampstand, the Church, where rational worship is offered in the Spirit, that it may enlighten all men. For the letter, when it is not spiritually understood, bears a carnal sense only, which restricts its expression and does not allow the real force of what is written to reach the hearer’s mind (from an inquiry addressed to Thalassius by Saint Maximus the Confessor, abbot (Quaest. 63: PG 90, 667-670)).
Let’s look at this teaching in three sections.
1. The Problem of the Flesh – St. Maximus explains well the deadening effects of the flesh in coming to grasp the beauty and sublimity of God’s Word, of His vision for our lives. He therefore speaks of those living in the flesh as indulging a sensuality that is illusory, capable only of deceit, and able to perceive only decadent bodies like their own.
We who live in the increasingly decadent and self-indulgent West need to be sober about these words, first of all for our very selves. All day long we are bombarded with temptations to sensuality, self-indulgence, and almost complete preoccupation with the flesh.
We must stay on our guard against the indulgence of the flesh that is so easily available today, lest we soon discover that our intellect is clouded and we find the clear light of God’s vision too strong or “harsh.” In excessive self-indulgence, any call to self-denial seems arduous, even repugnant. In excessive sensuality, any appeal to spiritual matters seems strange, foreign, even threatening.
This is what the Church is largely facing today in trying to preach to an increasingly decadent, excessively sensual world. While these proclivities can be ascribed to the fallen human condition, the tendency to indulge the flesh has never been greater. Almost endless and often instant self-gratifications and diversions are available to us. There are a wealth of comforts today that kings and queens of old never dreamed of.
Along with the onset of this extreme sensuality has come the darkening of the intellect such that some of us, who by God’s grace alone have been spared some of the worst trends of modern culture, often ask with dismay, “How can people get this confused?”
St. Maximus supplies the general answer:[They have indulged] a sensuality that is illusory, capable only of deceit, and able to perceive only decadent bodies like their own. In other words, the flesh cannot perceive the things of the spirit. He adds, For the letter [of the Law], when it is not spiritually understood, bears a carnal sense only, which restricts its expression and does not allow the real force of what is written to reach the hearer’s mind.
And thus the plainest and most beautiful utterances of God’s moral and spiritual vision have little effect on many moderns, who see God’s glorious call to human freedom from slavery to passions as intrusive, limiting, intolerant, and even hateful. No matter how deep the darkness of indulgent flesh gets, it seems that the proposed answer is always to further indulge the flesh. And herein is manifested the darkening of the intellect and human spirit brought about by the indulgence of the flesh. Paradoxically, indulging the physical senses leads us to have senseless minds.
2. The Passion of the Lord – In the face of this cancerous situation, what does the Lord want? St. Maximus says here, This Word is most unwilling to be kept under a bushel; it wills to be set in a high place, upon the sublime beauty of the Church.
And therefore God continues to speak forth His Word. He continues to let the light of His truth shine forth. He has a passion to call His wayward children home. Too easily we act like the foolish prodigal son, who wandered off. Yet his father never stopped looking for him. And when the foolish prodigal son took one step back, his father took two steps toward him and started running.
For just as once the Eternal Father uttered the Word of His Son, and through this one Word all creation came forth, thus this Logos (Word) imbued all creation with the logike (logic) or impression of His will and glory.
Sadly, in our fallen condition, many indulging the fallen flesh no longer love or appreciate the logike, the Logos, or the Father who utters the Logos.
Yet still the Father speaks the Word, the Logos. He has an endless passion to summon all His fallen children back to the glory of His Word. And His Word, Jesus, has a passion too. The Word must still go forth.
3. The Purpose of the Church – But how can the Word go forth? St. Maximus tells us how: This Word is most unwilling to be kept under a bushel; it wills to be set in a high place, upon the sublime beauty of the Church … the Word wills to be set upon a lampstand, the Church, where rational worship is offered in the Spirit, that it may enlighten all men.
As the Church, our role is to be the lampstand on which God sets His Word in order to enlighten all. And, as Maximus says, through our “rational worship” (a spiritual worship rooted in truth) we are to enlighten all.
Our mission is not to reflect worldly “lights,” but to set forth the LIGHT of the world, Jesus. We are to speak His Word, not parrot the passing words or “lights” of this world.
The Church must continue to set out the lamp of God’s Word, Jesus. And while light may bring different things to light, the Light itself never changes. And though translated into a thousand different languages, the Word Himself does not change or mutate.
Note, too, Maximus’ reference to liturgy, wherein we are formed by God unto “rational worship.” The sacred liturgy both forms and conforms us to the truth of God and the truth about ourselves. We become the Word we hear proclaimed, and the Word made Flesh, whom we receive. The Church must ever undertake her sacred liturgy with joy, reverence, and profound attentiveness. An old saying goes, “Save the Liturgy, save the World.”
Yes, the Church is but the lampstand on which God sets His Light. It is God’s Light and it must shine. We can do no other. She is the pulpit from which He proclaims His Word.
St. Paul adds,by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God (2 Cor 4:2).
Yes, we can do no other. The world has lately indulged the blindness of the flesh, but the Father has not stopped uttering His Word and setting forth the light of His truth. On account of this we can do no other. We are His instrument; we are His lampstand.
The video below has a scary side to it. Because of this, even though it is a cartoon, I do not recommend it for young children. But its message is an important one on several different levels.
The title of the video, “In sickness …,” is a reminder of one of the parts of the marital vow: that the spouses will remain faithful to each other “in sickness and in health.” The video shows the power of faithful and abiding love to bring healing, consolation, and peace in some of life’s darkest hours. The opening darkness and delirium of the sick man gives way quickly when his wife embraces him in love. The confident conclusion of the medical doctor (who in the dream is not able to stave off the attack) is based firmly on the fact that the man is in the care and embrace of his loving wife. All is well. Love conquers even death.
But of course physical illnesses are not the only struggles endured in life. The man’s fears and dreams may also be seen as a metaphor for the Scripture passage that says, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith (1 Peter 5:8-9). One of the most central aspects of our faith is that we should love one another and help one other through life’s struggles. When one is weak, another is strong. Woe to the solitary man; if he falls he has no one to help him up (Eccles 4:10). Love and understanding provide sure support in getting through the dark moments of life.
Finally, the woman in the story extending love can also be seen as a metaphor for Mother Church, showing love and prayerfully embracing us in our struggles, both in sickness and in darkness.
Enjoy the video. The opening section is scary, but light comes!
As a kind of follow-up to yesterday’s post on testing everything based on the truth of the Gospel, we might do well to consider that Jesus says, To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, “We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.” He goes on to observe that people said that John the Baptist was crazy because he did not eat or drink, yet when Jesus both ate and drank they called Him a glutton and a drunkard (see Matt 11:16-19).
Indeed, this world has many bewildering and often contradictory standards. This is another very good reason why we should test everything that this world says. The world is fickle in its judgments, but the Word of the Lord is tested and true.
And thus the world should not be used to judge the Word, but the Word to judge the world. In the passage above, Jesus reminds us not even to let the world judge us. God alone, with His standards, will be our final judge.
One of the great human struggles is to become free from allowing ourselves to be defined by others, from being so much under the world’s judgment that we lack personal conviction or a deep, stable, serene core.
An old African proverb says, “If I don’t know who I am, anyone can name me.”
Somewhere in the midst of the world’s demands for conformity to its fleeting and ever-changing standards, each of us must come to know the man or woman God created us to be.
Now this does not mean, particularly when we are young, that we should not seek guidance from people (especially our elders) whom we trust. But in the end, each of us must make that very private journey with God that every person must. It is the journey to discover one’s true self, as God gently reveals.
It is to this deep truth that Jesus refers in the passage referenced above. The world cannot be our measure. Too often its standards are passing, foolish, and highly inconsistent. To hearken to its cacophonous voice is a sure invitation to high anxiety and deep inner conflict.
There is a saying, “A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure.”
Jesus, too, warns, “No one can serve two masters.” But, sadly, most of us try. And, frankly, it is not merely two masters but two hundred!
Not so with Jesus.
Jesus resisted and even defied most of the ways in which people tried to define him. He was the Messiah, but He would not be the Messiah in any way that they understood. He would not ride in on a war horse and usher in a bloodbath. He would not follow a career of conquest. He would die as a suffering servant. Neither would He simply be reduced to being the “bread king” (Jn 6:15) or the “medical miracle worker” (Mk 1:38). Jesus was sure to move on to the next town before others could label Him as such. He came to bear witness to the truth and to save us, not so much from economic calamity, health problems, or political enemies, but rather from our very selves, from our own sinfulness.
No, Jesus would not be defined by this world. He was free from its grip; it had no power over Him. And to that same freedom the Lord ultimately summons us.
To be sure, this personal journey with the Lord, this journey to discover our true self, is not an invitation to hideous idiosyncrasies or sociopathic behavior. Holiness may, and often does, startle this world. But it is not unnecessarily disruptive; it is not simply “weird.” Discovering our true self leads to serenity, a peace that this world cannot give but that it also cannot deny.
So, a man with one watch knows what time it is, but a man with two watches is never quite sure.
Whom are you watching? What time is it in your life? Is it a time of teenage conformity and capitulation to peer pressure? Or is it a time of serene and mature self-understanding, rooted in the Father?
As a priest I am called to preach and teach, and as such I must look to Jesus Christ as my model. In this I refer to the real Jesus of Scripture. Too many people today have refashioned Jesus into a sort of “harmless hippie,” an affable affirmer, a pleasant sort of fellow who healed the sick, blessed the poor, and talked about love but in a very fuzzy and “anything goes” manner. But absent from this image is the prophetic Jesus, who accepted no compromise and called out the hypocrisy in many of His day.
Thus I must look to the real Jesus of Scripture. The real Jesus clearly loved God’s people, but on account of that love could not suffer some limited notion of salvation and healing for them. Rather, He zealously insisted that they receive the whole counsel of God. He insisted that dignity for them that was nothing less than the perfection of God Himself (cf Mat 5:41).
As a teacher, Jesus often operated in the mode of the prophets. Prophets have a way of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. Truth be told, we are all in both categories. We must be able to accept the Jesus who one moment says, “Blessed are you,” and the next adds, “Woe to you.” Jesus the teacher and prophet will affirm whatever truth there is in us, but, like any good teacher, He will put a large red “X” beside our wrongful answers and thoughts.
Yet despite Jesus’ often fiery and provocative stance, the scriptures speak of his renown as a preacher and the eagerness with which many heard Him.
And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes (Mat 7:28).
Sent to arrest him the temple guard returned empty handed saying: No one ever spoke like that man (Jn 7:46).
And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth (Luke 4:22).
And the common people heard him gladly (Mark 12:37).
But even Jesus could have a bad day in the pulpit. In Nazareth, they tried to throw him off a cliff for suggesting that Gentiles might have a place in the Kingdom (Lk 4:29). In Capernaum, many left him and would not follow him any longer because of His teaching on the Eucharist (Jn 6:66). In Jerusalem, the crowd said that He had a demon because He called Himself “I AM” (Jn 8:48). And thus Jesus warns all who would teach and preach: Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets (Lk 6:26).
And thus Jesus was a complex preacher and teacher. He was no mere affirmer; He often unsettled and troubled people, even as He consoled and comforted at other times.
Let’s consider some of the qualities of Jesus as a teacher and ponder the sort of balance that He manifests. It is a balance between His love for us, His students, and His zeal to tolerate no lasting imperfection or error in the pupils whom He loves too much to deceive. These qualities of Jesus as a teacher are presented in no particular order. Some are “positive” in the sense of being aspects of His kindness and patience. Others are “negative” in the sense that they illustrate His refusal to accept anything less than final perfection in us.
I. His authority – The Scriptures often speak of the “authority” with which Jesus taught. For example, Scripture says of Jesus, he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law (Mat 7:29). For indeed the teachers of Jesus’ time played it safe, quoting only reputable authorities in a wooden sort of way. But Jesus taught with authority.
The Greek word translated as “authority” is exousia, meaning to teach out of (one’s own) substance, to speak to the substance of what is taught. Jesus would often say, “You have heard that is was said … But I say to you” (cf Mat 5 inter al). And so Jesus spoke from His experience of knowing His Father and of knowing and cherishing the Law and its truth in His own life. He brought a personal weight to what He said. He “knew” of what He spoke; He did not merely know “about” it.
This personal authority was compelling and, even today, those with this gift stand apart from those who merely preach and teach the “safe” maxims of others but do not add their own experience to the truth that they proclaim. Jesus personally bore witness in His own life to the truth He proclaimed; and people noticed the difference.
How about you? You and I are called to speak out of the experience of the Lord in our own life and to be able to say with authority, “Everything that the Lord and His Body, the Church, have declared is true because, in the laboratory of my own life, I have tested it and come to experience it as true and transformative!”
II. His witness – A witness recounts what he has seen and heard with his own eyes and ears, what he himself knows and has experienced. Jesus could say to the Jews of his time, If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word (Jn 8:55). He thus attests to what he personally knows. He is not just reciting facts that others have said.
In a courtroom, a witness must attest to what he has seen and heard for himself. If he merely recounts what others have said it is “hearsay.” A witness can raise his right hand and say, “It is true, and I will swear to it. I have seen it for myself.”
And thus Jesus could witness to what He had heard and seen, of His Father and of us.
It is true that we cannot witness immediately to all that Jesus could, for He had lived with the Father from all eternity. But, as we make our walk, we can speak to what the Lord has done in our life and how we have come to know Him in conformity with His revealed. Word.
III. His respect for others – The Latin root of the word “respect” gives it the meaning “look again” (re (again) + spectare (to look)). Frequently in Scripture, especially in Mark’s Gospel, there appears the phrase, “Jesus looked at them and said …”
In other words, Jesus was not merely issuing dictates to an unknown, faceless crowd. He looked at them; and He looks at you and me as well. It is a personal look, a look that seeks to engage you and me in a very personal way. He is speaking to you, to me. His teaching in not merely for an ancient crowd; it is for you and for me. He looks to you, and He looks again. Are you looking? Are you listening?
Do you look with respect to those whom you are called to teach, or to the children you are called to raise? Do you engage them by your look of respect and love?
IV. His love and patience for sinners – Jesus could be very tough, even exhibiting impatience. But in the end, He is willing to stay with us in a long conversation. One text says, When Jesus went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them at great length (Mk 6:34). Yes, He teaches us at great length; He stays in long conversations with us. He knows that we are dull of mind and hard of heart, so He persistently and consistently teaches.
Do we do that? Or do we quickly write people off? Jesus had a long conversation with a Samaritan woman who, frankly, was quite rude to Him at first (John 4). He had a long conversation with Nicodemus, who was also at times resistant and argumentative (Jn 3). He had a long conversation with His Apostles, who were slow and inept.
How about us? Are we willing to experience the opposition of sinners, the resistance of the fleshly and worldly? Do we have love and patience for those whom we teach? I have met some great Catholics who were once enemies of the Faith. Someone stayed in a conversation with them. What about us?
V. His capacity to afflict and console – Jesus said, “Blessed are you,” but just as often said “Woe to you.” Jesus comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable. All of us fall into both categories. We need comfort but are often too comfortable in our sins. A true prophet fears no man and speaks to the truth of God.
Thus for a true prophet (as Jesus was) there are no permanent allies to please and no permanent enemies to oppose. The determination of every moment is based on conformity or lack of conformity to the truth of God. Jesus said to Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah” (Mat 16:17). And He gave him the keys to the Kingdom and the power to bind and loose. But in the very next passage, Jesus says to him, “Get behind me, Satan!” (Mat 16:23)
No true prophet or teacher can say, “Correct,” or “Blessed are you” every moment, because we all fall short of the glory of God! Jesus had absolute integrity when it came to assessing everything by the stand of God’s truth and Word. Do we?
VI. His parables – Stories are an important way to teach. A story that registers with us will rarely be forgotten. It is said that Jesus used more than 45 parables; some are full stories while others are just brief images. He used parables to link His sometimes complex teaching to everyday life and to plant a seed of truth for our further reflection.
What stories and examples do you use? Teachings that consistently fail to make use of these risk being seen as merely abstract and can easily be forgotten.
That said, parables are somewhat like “riddles.” They admit of various understandings and interpretations. A good parable leaves its listener wanting more, seeking a definitive interpretation.
For example, a movie will sometimes have an ambiguous ending, stirring hopes for a sequel that will provide more information. Some stories and parables are compact and definitive. Others are open-ended and ambiguous, craving for an ending.
Consider that the parable of the Prodigal Son is not really finished. It ends with the Father pleading for the second son to enter the feast. Does the son enter, or refuse to do so? This detail is not supplied. That’s because you are the son and you have to supply the answer. Will you enter? Or will you stay outside sulking that if the kingdom of Heaven includes people you don’t like you’d just as soon stay outside.
Parables are powerful, but for various reasons. Learn stories and learn to share them!
VII. His questions – Jesus asked well over a hundred questions in the gospel. Here are just a few: “What did you go out to the dessert to see? “Why do you trouble the woman?” “How many loaves do you have?” “Do you say this of me on your own, or have others told you of me?”
Good teachers ask questions and do not rush to answer every question. A question is pregnant with meaning; it invites a search. The “Socratic method” uses questions to get to the truth, especially on a personal level: “Why do you ask that? “What do you mean by this?” “Do you think there are any distinctions needed in your claim?”
This method makes a person look inward to his attitudes, prejudices, and presumptions. Good teachers ask their students a lot of questions; questions make us think.
Here is a list of one hundred Questions that Jesus asked: 100 Questions Jesus Asked. Read them; they will make you think—a lot!
VIII. His use of “focal instances” – Jesus does not propose to cover every moral situation a person might encounter or teach every doctrinal truth in an afternoon.
For example, many today say that Jesus never mentioned homosexual acts and concludefrom His silence that He must therefore approve of them. Really? He also never mentioned rape. Do you suppose that He approves of rape? Further, He did speak of homosexual acts, through His appointed spokesmen (the Apostles), and thereby condemned them.
But no teacher can cover every possibility, every sin, or every scenario. So Jesus uses “focal instances,” in which He illustrates a principle.
This is most commonly done in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) where, to illustrate the principle that we are to fulfill the law and not merely keep its minimal requirements, He uses six examples or “focal instances.” He speaks to anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, love of enemies, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. And in Mathew 25:31ff, the Lord uses the corporal works of mercy to illustrate the whole of the Law.
These are not an exhaustive treatments. of the moral life. Rather, through the use of illustrations, the Lord asks us to learn the principle of fulfillment and then apply it to other instances.
Good teachers teach principles, since they cannot possibly envision every scenario or situation. Having instructed their students in first principles, they can trust that their students will make solid decisions in many diverse situations.
Good teachers teach students to think for themselves, not in isolation, but in ongoing communion with the principles learned, and through dialogue with authorities when necessary for assistance and accountability.
IX. His use of hyperbole – Jesus uses a lot of hyperbole. It is easier, He tells us, for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter heaven (Mk 10:25). If your eye scandalizes you, gouge it out (Mat 5:29). There was a man who owed ten thousand talents (a trillion dollars) (Mat 18:24). It would be better for you to be cast into the sea with a great millstone about your neck than to scandalize one of my little ones (Mat 18:6).
Hyperbole has memorable effect. It’s hard to forget effective hyperbole. Who of us can forget Jesus’ parable about a man with a 2×4 coming out of his eye who rebukes his neighbor for the splinter in his? I often tell my congregation, “Go to church or go to Hell,” which is my way of saying that missing Mass is a mortal sin.
One of my seminary professors once signaled me that I was giving an incorrect and heretical answer to a complex theological issue. He did this by saying, “Charles, you are on the edge of an abyss.” I stopped immediately and gave the correct and orthodox answer!
Good teachers use hyperbole at the right moments.
X. His use of servile fear – Jesus made frequent use of “fear-based arguments.” He warned of Hell, of unquenchable fire, and of the worm that does not die. His parables feature of a lot of summary judgements wherein people are found unprepared, are excluded from Heaven, or are cast into darkness. One parable ends with a king burning the town of those who failed to accept his invitation to his son’s wedding banquet (Mat 22:7). Another has a king summoning those who rejected him to be slain before his eyes (Lk 19:27). Jesus warns of the wailing and grinding of teeth. He also warns of a permanent abyss between Heaven and Hell that no one will be able to cross.
Many today are dismissive of fear-based arguments. But Jesus used them; He used them a lot. So Jesus never got the memo that this is a poor way to teach. It is true that, for the spiritually mature, love can and does replace the need for fear-based arguments. But, frankly, many are not that mature, and a healthy dose of fear and the threat of unending regret is often necessary.
We ought not to exclude, as many do, the voluminous verses in which Jesus warns in vivid language of the consequences of repeated, un-repented sin. He is not playing games; He is speaking the truth.
To teach as Jesus did is to include warning of judgment and of Hell.
XI. His anger and zeal – Jesus does not hesitate to express His anger and grief at the hardness and stubbornness of many. One day He said, You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? (Matt 17:17) And in Mark’s Gospel we read, And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was furious and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them” (Mk 10: 13-14). Another day, in the synagogue, Jesus was angry at their unbelief: After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored (Mk 3:5).
Yes, Jesus memorably cleansed the temple and drove out iniquity there. He engaged in heated debates with the Jewish leaders and with unbelievers. He did not hesitate to call them hypocrites, vipers, liars, and the sons of those who murdered the prophets.
Here, too, is a teaching moment that renders what is taught memorable and meaningful.A parent who never reacts with anger risks misleading his child into making light of or not being serious enough about wrongdoing, disrespect, or stubborn unrepentance.
We must be careful of our anger. We do not have the kind of sovereignty over it that Jesus did; neither are we as able to see into people’s hearts as He was.
But there is a place for anger, and Jesus uses it—a lot, actually. Anger signals an important teaching and rebukes a lighthearted response.
XII. His refusal to compromise – There was in Jesus very little compromise about the serious teachings of doctrine or those issues related to our salvation. He said that either we would believe in Him or we would die in our sins (Jn 8). Jesus also said that He was the only way to the Father and that no one would come to the Father except through Him. He declared that no one who set his hand to the plow and looked back was fit for the reign of God. Jesus said that no one who would not deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him was worthy of Him. We are told to count the cost and decide now, and we are warned that delay may be a deadly thing.
Much of this is countercultural today, a time of uncertainty, in which there is an inappropriate sort of pluralism that thinks that there are many ways to God. Many insist on a softer Christianity, in which we can love the world and also love God. Sorry, no can do. A friend of the world is an enemy to God.
Jesus teaches His fundamental truths in an uncompromising way. This is because they are truths for our salvation. Following these truths vaguely or inconsistently will not win the day. Some disciplines need to be followed precisely.
To teach as Jesus did involves insisting that the fundamental doctrines of our faith be accepted fully and wholeheartedly.
XIII. His forgiveness – Forgiveness may not at first seem to be an obvious way of teaching. But consider that teachers often have to accept that students don’t get everything right the first time. Teaching requires a patient persistence as students first acquire skills and then master them.
A good teacher does not compromise the right method or the correct answer; He assists students who fall short rather than immediately excluding them. In an atmosphere where there is no room for error, very little learning can take place due to fear.
Again, forgiveness does not deny that which is correct; it continues to teach what is correct. Forgiveness facilitates an environment in which learning can thrive and perfection can at last be attained.
Jesus, while setting high standards, offers forgiveness, not as a way of denying perfection but as a way to facilitate our advancement by grace and trust.
XIV. His equipping and authorizing of others – Good teachers train new teachers. Jesus trained the Twelve and, by extension, other disciples as well. He led and inspired them. And He also prepared them for a day when He would hand on the role of teacher to them. We who would teach need to train our successors and inspire new and greater insights.
Teach me, Lord, by your example, to teach as you taught and to preach as you would have me preach.
Today we welcome Pope Francis to the United States. In so doing, we welcome more than just a popular public figure. We welcome someone whom the Lord prays for in a very special manner. Simon Peter and his successors enjoy a special charism to unite us, by the Lord’s prayer and grace. Let’s look at the scriptural foundation of this prayer and charism and see how essential the office of the pope is for us.
