Pope Francis | Wayfarer

One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”
Luke 20:1-2 (NIV)

I’ve been fascinated of late reading about the intrigue at the Vatican. The Pope recently defrocked one of the powerful Vatican Cardinals of the Roman Catholic church and accused him of embezzlement. He also met with an American Cardinal and stripped him of his apartment and privileges. Just weeks ago, the Pope fired the entire leadership team of the church’s worldwide charity arm because of a toxic work environment. Sounds like the Pope has his hands full.

I’m not Roman Catholic, but as an amateur historian, I’ve always been fascinated with it. Think about it. The Roman Church is a nation. In fact, it is technically still an empire. The 177 million acres of land it owns around the globe is second only to the British Empire. The Vatican Bank has over 8 billion dollars in assets.

Today’s chapter got me thinking about the Roman Church. Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem was not unlike the Vatican for Roman Catholics. The Hebrew religious system was vast, politically powerful, and rich. Millions visited the temple each year from all over the known world to offer sacrifices and offerings. The temple had its own currency which drove the need for the money changers Jesus famously drove out. The sacrificial system was big business. And, just like the Pope and Cardinals, the temple system had a High Priest and Sanhedrin.

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He has operated outside of this system. Other than making a few dutiful pilgrimages to Jerusalem in His three years of ministry, His operations were far north of Jerusalem in the region of Galilee. Jesus has no earthly authority. He has no standing. He doesn’t hold a title, sit on any committees, or wear a funny hat. And while His ministry certainly gained popularity for performing miracles no one had ever seen, He was also popular for not being what the corporate religious system of His day had become.

There are three main characters at this point in the story of Jesus’ final week. There’s Jesus, the leadership of the Hebrew political and religious system, and the crowds. Twice in today’s chapter, Luke states that the power brokers of the temple and Hebrew religious system were afraid of the crowds. Their public approval ratings weren’t high, and Jesus’ constant criticism of them was a threat to them. If Jesus incited a riot it would unleash the wrath of Rome to quell the mob and keep the peace. That would cramp both their political power and their flow of revenue. When religion becomes big business, it becomes just another kingdom of this world with all the corruption and intrigue that comes with it. Just ask the Pope.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself attracted to the way Jesus’ model of living, teaching, and loving stands in such stark contrast to the corporate religious system that killed Him to protect itself. It was small, personal, and reflected the very things He taught. That’s what attracts me just as it attracted the crowds of everyday people who followed him. As a disciple of Jesus, I have this increasing desire to mold my own faith, life, and ministry in the same model. I want to carry out His mission in small and personal ways. The further I have progressed in my spiritual journey, the more comfortable I’ve become working outside of corporate religious systems.

I enter today with a heart’s desire to love the people I will interact with today well, and a heart full of gratitude that I’m not the Pope.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

…do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
Romans 11:18 (NIV)

Last week on my flight home from a business trip I encountered a group of Greek Orthodox students led by their priest. Their priest, with his impressively long black beard, was wearing traditional vestments including a long black robe, skullcap, and large wooden cross painted with the likeness of the crucified Jesus. Standing out like a sore thumb, the priest was joking in Greek with his students as they waited for the plane. They all seemed to be having a good time.

I remember thinking to myself how much I would enjoy sitting down and having a conversation with the priest. A follower of Jesus, his branch of Christianity is much different than the one in which I was raised and in which I live and worship. I don’t think that should not alienate us from one another. Quite the opposite, we have much to learn from one another and our differences.

I am transported in memory this morning to a class I attended at a conservative Bible college for one semester after high school. My professor boastfully played a video tape of a debate he’d participated in on local television with a scholar from another denomination. Much like the Presidential debates we’ve been subject to of late, my prof was proud and confident while spouting his views. He took snide, insulting jabs at his mainline “opponent” and the debate escalated until it nearly ended up in blows. The professor smiled and laughed as he watched. He wanted us to see how his theology had, at least in his mind, won the day against his denominational rival. I remember feeling sick. Is this how Jesus wants us to think, feel, and act with a person who is, himself, a sincere follower of Jesus?

In today’s chapter, Paul makes it clear to the followers of Jesus in Rome that they are not to consider themselves superior to other branches of God’s family tree. And, in this word picture he’s not referring to other branches of Christianity but to the Jewish branches rooted in the same trunk. I think the spirit of Paul’s teaching was embodied (coincidentally, in the city of Rome) this past week when Pope Francis paid a visit to the the main Jewish synagogue there much in the same way as he’s visited our Orthodox branch (see featured image). If we as followers of Jesus are to not to consider ourselves superior to the Jewish branches of God’s family tree, how could my old college professor justify his antagonizing treatment of our fellow Jesus follower, no matter what his theology?

I am thinking this morning of the diverse cross section of humanity I am privileged to know, to have known, and to consider friends. I am a a non-denominationalist at heart, but I know or have known friends who are Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, Methodist, Muslim, Quaker, Baptist, Episcopal, Sikh, Hindu, Athiest, Agnostic, Presbyterian, and those are just a few off the top of my head. Despite our differences, my life is better and more full having known each one of them. I am reminded of Paul’s command to the followers of Jesus in Philippi:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves…

“Others” is not qualified, by the way. It is universal.