Who do you like more, Pope Francis or Christ?

Homily for 3^rd Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A 2014

IS 8:23-9:3, PS 27:1, 4, 13-14, 1 COR 1:10-13, 17, MT 4:12-23

Introduction

Soon after Pope Francis was elected, one of the most common questions people asked of Catholics “How do you like the new pope?”  Although I should have known better, I too jumped on the bandwagon, and whenever I had exhausted material for conversation, I would ask friends: “How do you like the new pope?”

I was talking to a friend in Uganda on the phone and asked her the same question: “So how do you like the new pope?”  My friend Agnes immediately responded: “Father, how can you ask such a question?  Do I have a choice?  He is the Pope, the man whom God has given me, to be my spiritual father at this moment.  Of course I have to like him, not necessarily for who is in himself or what he does, but simply because he is the Pope.”

With that answer, Agnes set me straight and I stopped asking that question.

Scripture and Theology

But I need not have waited for Agnes to remind me, how foolish my question about liking the pope was.  St. Paul, in today’s reading from the Letter to the Corinthians, had already said something about that.  He had heard that some Corinthians were going about saying: “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” similar to our saying: “I like Pope John Paul II,” “I like Pope Benedict,” “I like Pope Francis.”

But Paul responds by saying that this is nonsense.  The only person we should like in this way is Christ; the only person about whom we can claim to belong is Christ.  To make his point, Paul asks these questions:

·        “Is Christ divided?” – Of course not!  Christ is one!

·        “Was Paul crucified for you?” – Of course not!  It was not Paul that was crucified, but Christ, and him alone should be worshipped.

·        “Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” – Of course not!  You were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

With these questions Paul asks the Corinthians to put their focus on Jesus and not on his messengers such as Peter, Apollos or even Paul himself.  The apostles are simply vessels, channels, vehicles through which Jesus is preached and his Body and Blood shared among God’s people.

·        The apostles are like the bottle of wine, not the wine itself; rather than focus on the elegant bottle we should focus on the quality of the wine.

·        We could also think of the apostles as the wrapping of a Christmas or birthday gift.  As important as the wrapping is, at the end of the day, you and I want the gift inside.  As far I know, gift-wrap, even expensive gift-wrap has never changed a pair of socks into a pair of expensive earrings!

And so, Paul really wants the people of Corinth, not to focus on the wine bottle or the gift-wrap, but on the wine and the gift itself, which is Jesus Christ.

Christian Life

This message is as important for us today, as it was for the Corinthians.  We too have the tendency to latch upon the messenger rather than the message.

·        “I really like Pope Francis – he is a man of the people,” we might say.

·        Of if you are of a different leaning, you have probably said, “I really miss Pope Benedict – he was such a learned man.”

Even among priests and bishops, we have our favourites.

·        “I like Father so-and-so, because he comes down the aisle and greets the people at the sign of peace.”

·        “I like Bishop so-and-so, because he stopped and spoke with me.”

But St. Paul is reminding us that our fondness for this or other minister should have little or nothing to do with their personalities or their idiosyncrasies, but rather with how well they preach the saving message of Christ.  For all ministers are called upon to use whatever gifts God has given them, to do this work. And because they have different gifts and personalities, they will probably do things a little differently, but always the same goal – bringing people to God.

·        St. Paul, a Pharisee was probably a man who could read and write, and was a good speaker.

·        Peter, on the other hand, was a fisherman and perhaps did not have the same writing or speaking skills as Paul, perhaps had wisdom and patience.

But both of them used their skills, to proclaim the same gospel of Jesus Christ.  And that is why the Corinthians should not choose Paul or Peter, but rather the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Today’s church leaders try to do the same thing.

·        Pope Francis might not have the theological precision of Pope Benedict; but he more than makes up for this gap, by his earthiness, simplicity and wisdom acquired from many years of being a pastor.

·        Pope Francis might not have the charisma and philosophical mind of Pope John Paul II; but he more than makes up for this deficit, by his humility and willingness to try to new things.

All three popes, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis, have put their gifts at Jesus’ disposal, so that he can use them to proclaim God’s saving message.

Even here at home, the only thing we should expect of all our bishops and priests is that they preach the gospel message, albeit in their different ways.

·        You have priests who can sing the whole Mass in an angelic voice, something I cannot do, even to save my own life.

·        I also know a priest, who is very shy and you have to poke him to get two words out of him.  But I know him to be a great confessor and counsellor, one to whom people often turn when they have problems.

But I hope that all three of us, my musical priest-friend, my shy priest-friend and myself, in our different ways, continue to preach Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world.

Perhaps one reason we might be tempted to say, “I like this pope or this bishop or this priest,” is because we think of them as political leaders.  For when it comes to political leaders, we have to choose between the Republican manifesto and the Democratic manifesto, and sometimes a third-party manifesto.  The leader we eventually elect, will usually represent and effect the vision of his party.

That is not the case with the Church.  The church has only one manifesto, the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Yes, there might be slight differences of emphasis or delivery, but the core message is one.  When Pope John Paul II took the reins, he could not make changes willy-nilly, like a politician could; nor could Pope Benedict, nor can Pope Francis make changes to the essential message of the gospel.  His job is to continue steering the ship of Peter to its final destination of heaven, in the best possible way.  He might make a few personnel changes; he might streamline some procedures; he might even improve the ways things are done.  But manifesto he puts into action is the same one Jesus gave to Peter; the syllabus was written by the Teacher himself and has to be taught as it is.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, much of the reporting about the Pope and the Church, treats them like politics.  And so, those who like Pope Francis will twist his words to fit their agenda; and those who don’t, will do the same thing, and may deceive us to fall into one camp or the other.

If we want to know what the Pope is teaching, let us go to the horse’s mouth.  We live in an internet age, where you can go to the Vatican website (I believe there is a link to it on your parish website), and read for yourself the authentic teaching of the Pope: not the New York Times, not Fox News and certainly not on various blogs you find on the internet.  And when you do, you will find the gospel of Christ and hopefully, you will get to like Christ and belong to him, not to Paul, not to Peter, not to Apollos, and certainly not to Father Deo!