Jesus’s Favorite Kind of Guy?
Does Pope Francis make a fetish out of some academic, ideological notion of ‘the people?’
The capacity to recognize ourselves as sinners opens us to the astonishment at the encounter with Jesus: that was the message of Pope Francis Thursday morning during Mass for the feast of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church.
Pope Francis’ homily focused on the day’s Gospel reading which tells the story of the miraculous catch of fish. After working throughout the night without catching anything, Peter, trusting in Jesus, cast his nets into the sea. The Holy Father used this story to speak about faith as an encounter with the Lord. First of all, he said, it pleases me to consider the fact that Jesus spent the greater part of His time in the street, with the people; then, later in evening, He went away by Himself to pray – but He encountered the people, He sought the people.”
I have never gotten this message from the Gospel myself. From what I’ve read, Jesus was just as likely to be at a beautiful wedding, with the doctors in the Temple, or at the home of an important person as among the sick and lame in the street. How did he ‘recline at table’ if he was huddling in the road all the time?
Sinners are everywhere and Jesus is a King. He wasn’t a stranger to power and responsibility. He could relate to it. He was of course a leader Himself. I don’t believe Pope Francis or his contemporaries in the hierarchy when they try to paste this ‘preferential option for the poor’ onto Christ.
Wealth is a great temptation, but Jesus didn’t avoid the wealthy, and if they were hardened and proud, he didn’t reject them either. He scolded the Pharisees because it was for their own good, not because he loved them less.
Christ prefers the repentant faithful. That’s who he prefers. He’s not a Communist.