Jesus according to the
Nicene Creed and Pope Francis
Alleluia,
alleluia.
A reading
from the holy Gospel according to Luke
Glory to you, Lord.
One day when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with Him, He
asked them, “Who do the people say that I am?” They said in reply, “Some say
John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others say that you are one of
the ancient prophets who has come back to life.’” Then He asked them, “Who do
you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are God’s Messiah.”
Then Jesus gave them strict orders
not to tell this to anyone, and added,
“The Son of Man must suffer much and be
rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law, be put
to death, and be raised up on the third day.” And He said to all, “If anyone
wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and
follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses
his life for my sake will save it.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
Many real
answers
When Jesus asked his disciples who do the people say that I am, He wasn’t looking
for one right answer. He was simply
looking for real answers from
real people. In the gospel today Jesus received three real answers. "Some
say you are John the Baptist; others say you are Elijah; still others say you
are one of the ancient prophets." Three real answers from real people, and
none
of them is wrong and none is right.
They’re all simply real answers, and as such they’re all true.
There are many real answers to the Jesus
question. If you ask a good Lutheran who do you say Jesus is, he will answer:
“He is the one who saves us not through works but through grace.” If you ask a good Catholic who do you say
Jesus is, he will answer: “He now is his mystical body, the Church, whose head
is Peter.” If you ask a social activist who do you say Jesus is, he will answer
with Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “He is a man for other people.”If you ask a woman or
a gay person or an African American who do you say Jesus is, he will answer: “He
is liberator and freedom fighter.”
Simon’s very right answer
After
asking “Who do people say that I am?”
Jesus looked at the apostles and asked, “Who do you say that I am?” He was still looking for real answers from
real people. Speaking for the others, Simon answered, "You are God’s
Messiah." (Lk. 9:20) Now that was not only a very real answer
coming from a hard-working fisherman, it was also a very right answer. And because of it Jesus changed
Simon’s name to Peter (meaning `Rock’),
and made him the rock-foundation and first pope upon whom Jesus would
build his Church. (Mt. 16: 17-18)
An even `more right’ answer
Three
hundred years later in the Council of Nicea (325), the Church formulated an
even `more right’ answer to the
Jesus question. We recite it in the
Nicene Creed: Jesus is “true God from
true God.” He is “Light from Light.”
He is “begotten not made.” He is “consubstantial with the Father.” You
can’t get a `more right’ answer than that. But whether we sing it in Latin or
recite it in English, at the end of the day most of us really do not know what
the words mean. At best we suspect they claim a very extraordinary uniqueness
for Jesus the Son born of Mary.
“The
only right answer”
When Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) was Prefect of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he issued a 36-page document
entitled Dominus Iesus ( Jesus the Lord). It warned Catholics
not to water down the very extraordinary uniqueness of Jesus when dealing with Buddhism and Hinduism. In dialoguing
with non-Catholic Christian
churches, the document also warned us not to water down the extraordinary
uniqueness of the Catholic Church.
The document was heavy
with ponderous theology. It was disheartening for ecumenists who for thirty
years were laboriously building bridges. At times it seemed arrogant and
condescending in remarks like, “Though non-Catholic churches suffer from
defects, they by no means have been deprived of significance and importance in
the mystery of salvation.” One Catholic
gentleman responded very positively to Ratzinger’s lengthy document; he wrote:
“With Dominus Iesus the cafeteria is
closed! No more picking and choosing. All religions are not created equal. Period! “
But another Catholic gentleman responded very negatively to the same
Vatican document; he wrote: “As an American Catholic, I want to apologize to my
non-Catholic friends and acquaintances for the arrogance of my Church toward
them.”
The answer given
by Ratzinger’s document to the question
who is Jesus of Nazareth and where is his true Church might well be the one
only right answer. But what’s the use of having the one only right answer, if
it is too ponderous to understand, or if it tears down bridges laboriously
built, or if it angers people with its
arrogance and condescension?
Pope Francis kisses a paralytic
On his first Easter Sunday Pope Francis was moving through an enthusiastic
crowd of more than 250,000 people in St. Peter's Square following Mass. In
a very poignant moment, Francis stopped the `pope mobile’ in order to cradle
and kiss a paralytic boy passed to him from the crowd. The child worked hard to
hug the Pope. When he succeeded, a great smile of satisfaction suffused the
little boy’s face. The boy’s name is Dominic Gondreau. He is eight
years old and has cerebral palsy. He is the son of Christiana and Dr. Paul
Gondreau. That poignant moment of Pope Francis kissing little Dominic went
viral: many of the major television news outlets in America
showed the video images in their news reports.
Pope Francis
recites the Nicene Creed which declares that Jesus is “true God from true God, Light
from Light, begotten not made and consubstantial with the Father.” Though
he is a very educated Jesuit and a very smart man, Francis like most of us probably
does not really know what those impressive words of the Nicene Creed mean. But
he does indeed know who Jesus is: He is the One who was
so eager to heal a paralytic man in a very crowded house that He had to let himself
down into the house through an opening in the tiles of the roof to get to the paralytic.
(Lk. 5:17-26)
Pope Francis breaks bread with a
Swiss Guard
One
evening (not too long into his papacy) Pope Francis felt sorry for the poor
Swiss Guard who stood at attention every night until dawn at the door of his simple
and very `unpapal' apartment in the Casa Santa Marta. So he went and got
the poor man a chair, and told him: “At
least sit down and rest." The guard rolled his eyes and answered: “Santo
Padre, forgive me, but I may not sit down! The regulations don’t allow
that." The Pope smiled, "Oh, really? Well, I'm the Pope and I tell
you to sit down." Then Francis went back to his apartment, and minutes
later returned to the Swiss Guard who was still obediently seated in the chair. Pope Francis was carrying a `panino con
marmallata’ (a little Italian bread roll spread with jam) which the Pope had
prepared for the hungry guard. Before the guard could say anything, the Holy
Father, exhibiting his Argentinean smile, wished the Swiss Guard "Buon
appetito."
Again,
Francis like the rest of us recites the Nicene Creed which declares that Jesus
is “true God from true God, Light from Light, begotten not made and
consubstantial with the Father.” Like the rest of us Francis might not know
just what the words really mean. But he does indeed know who Jesus is: He is
the one who multiplied 5 loaves and 2 fishes to feed 5000 hungry people. (Lk.
9:10-17).
Pope Francis washes the feet of inmates
Just over two weeks after his election, on
Holy Thursday Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of twelve inmates of the Casa del
Marmo - a juvenile detention center. Many were shocked that two of the twelve
young people were women. Even more egregious was the fact that one of them was
a Muslim and others were gypsies and North African immigrants.
The Gospel tells us that one day a Pharisee
named Simon invited Jesus to have dinner with him. And a woman who had a bad
reputation in town came to Jesus, bent down before Him, washed his feet with
her tears, dried them with her hair, and poured perfume on them. This startled
the Pharisee who said to himself: “If this man Jesus were a prophet, he would
know what kind of a woman is touching him.” (Lk. 7:36-39) Today’s Pharisee would say, “If this man Pope
Francis were a prophet, he would know what kind of people he consorts with:
inmates, loose women, Muslims, gypsies and immigrants.”
Conclusion
Pope Francis sheds more light.
At
the end of the day, it’s not the recitation of the Nicene Creed that really matters.
What really matters is a Pope who, in the name of Jesus, kisses a paralytic,
breaks bread with a Swiss Guard, and washes the feet of inmates. By so doing Pope
Francis quietly, subtly and wordlessly sheds more light on who Jesus of
Nazareth is than does the incomprehensible formula of the Nicene Creed that proclaims
Jesus to be “true God from true God,
Light from Light, begotten not made and consubstantial with the Father.” 
