I woke up on Easter Monday, April 1st, to an article in the New York Times titled The Church of Trump: How He’s Infusing Christianity into his Movement. (I am providing the link, although I am not sure if you can open it without a subscription.) I was hopeful that it was an April Fool’s article, but apparently not. Article Here
The current political campaign has become increasingly disturbing because of its use and misuse of Christian language and symbols. Ordinarily I would be more cautious about raising the presidential campaign directly in a reflection about the Sunday readings, but there is something very odd going on in our country and I believe it is in the best interest of those who are believers to pay close attention. I am startled that any person, or their followers, can cast themself as persecuted and compare themselves to Christ, and have such blasphemous claims broadcast by the media. It serves to further denigrate the followers of Jesus even as it gives the candidate’s ideas and his followers’ claims more opportunity to spread.
Sunday April 7 is Divine Mercy Sunday. Followers of Jesus everywhere need to stop and take stock of what is happening to our faith and pray for God’s mercy. Jesus the healer, the peacemaker, and faithful Jew who stood up to the powers that oppressed was not a moneymaker who used faith to promote himself. Does this need to be said aloud? If so, what has happened to Christianity? I am waiting for the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops to speak up. They don’t need to take sides, but it would be good if they could speak clearly about the danger of using explicitly Christian religious language for a person other than Jesus.
There has never been a political party that perfectly fit Christian beliefs. There has never been a perfect president of the United States, but Americans should not be looking for a Savior. They are looking for a wise politician, and I do believe that we can find such people – not perfect ones - but ones who are educated in the ways of governance and are decent, moral people doing their best.
Jesus was born into a socioeconomic culture that was filled with political divisiveness. It was a time when Roman Emperors were routinely declared divine upon their death. Some even claimed divinity and were revered as “gods” while living. In order to survive, the Jewish religious establishment made too many compromises and fostered an elite community of its own. Jesus came to show people another way, an alternative to the dominating, greedy, violent, and power-hungry empire that was in place.
The hours after Jesus was put to death were a scary time for the disciples who had shown their allegiance to Jesus. Jesus was executed for standing up to the powers that opposed his vision of a world where all people had what they needed to thrive, where people were included, taken care of, and respected. John’s Gospel which we read this Sunday (20:19-31), reminds us of the disciples’ fear when it tells us that “the doors were locked for fear of the Jews.” At this point let it be clear that the author of the Gospel of John added the phrase “for fear of the Jews” to reflect circumstances that existed after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. Jesus and his disciples were Jews. But in the later part of the first century, divisions had become clear, as the Jewish followers of Jesus as well as their Jewish kinspeople were all feeling the weight of Roman oppression and persecution. “For fear of the Jews” has been inappropriately used to fuel antisemitism down through the centuries. It is a tragedy because the Jewish people are our ancestors in faith. The disciples were afraid of the Roman power to crucify and destroy. However, in unsettling times, fears both real and imagined can create or worsen divisions among family, friends, and community. Fear, as it plays out in our own time as well as in bygone eras, is a potent and powerful force.
There can be no peace when people are afraid. There is no clear thinking when people are afraid. Everyone and anything can become a perceived threat when fear dominates the minds of individuals, families, communities or nations. Fear paralyses. It is love that empowers.
Into the fear-filled room where the disciples had locked themselves, Jesus came to reassure them, to give them peace. “Peace be with you!” Jesus said, and he breathed on them saying, “receive the Holy Spirit.” The process through which the fear-filled disciples shed their chains of fear and became the bold, joyful, and peace-filled agents of a new way of living in the world was not easy. It required enough faith to trust what Jesus had taught them and to give it a try. Peace came through the recognition that Jesus was still with them and had given them the Holy Spirit as a guide. It was not an instantaneous process.
The newly baptized and confirmed may recognize within themselves something new, but it will take days, months, a lifetime perhaps to process what it means for their lives. Gathering with others in a community of faithful people who are also taking steps to imitate Christ is of paramount importance. But finding the freedom and courage necessary to live in opposition to the dominating culture takes time. Do not give up if Easter didn’t change you overnight! Christians have always been a people in process, working at following Jesus in each new era, sometimes going astray, always in need of reconciliation and reform, but still holding on to the Good News.
Fr. Jose Pagola, commenting on this week’s Gospel laments that: “Frequently, the idea of the resurrection of Jesus and his presence in our midst is more of a theoretical doctrine that is preached than a lived experience. The Risen Christ is at the center of the church, but his living presence has not taken root in us: it is not of the essence of our communities; it does not ordinarily nurture our activities. After twenty centuries the original Jesus is not known or understood. He is not loved and followed as he was by his disciples, men and women.”
He goes on to say: “One can tell immediately when a Christian community feels there is an invisible but real and active presence of the Risen Christ with them, because it is not content to routinely follow the directives that control church existence. It has a special sensitivity for listening to, seeking, remembering, and applying the gospel of Jesus.” (Following in the Footsteps of Jesus: Meditations on the Gospel for Year B. Pgs. 63-64)
Some Christians have had the experience of taking part in a community where the living presence has taken root at least some of the time. In such communities, joy, love, compassion, inclusion, justice, and service are primary, not secondary, realities of the community. If those qualities are not overtly present where Christians are gathering, then it is likely that the community is operating in a place where the spiritual doors are locked in fear of something outside of themselves.
Jesus is Risen! If you seek him, you will find him, but do not be deceived! Manipulative personalities, power-hungry false messiahs, and want-to-be gods have always tried to use the Good News for their own benefit or worked to destroy the faith of others for their own purposes.
Jesus is the bringer of love, reconciliation, and peace. Profit, power, and fear have never been part of his message.