Padre Pio
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Notre dame Seminary, NOLA
Why
would a king fear a prophet? How does a man like Herod, a man with
wealth, political and military power, and the loyalty of Imperial
Rome, become anxious about some backwoods preacher? At first glance,
prophets are nobodies. Disreputable, destitute, wandering madmen. No
family ties. No wealth, no power, no prestigious academic
credentials. They have no institutional affiliations, no grant money,
no access to the media. Their overwhelming stench drives even the
unwashed paparazzi away! So, who are these men who give kings
sleepless nights? If they are truly prophets of the Lord, then they
have one thing any king should fear: a mandate from God to speak the
truth. While God's prophets preach the Word, kings play the game of
politics, a game of influence in the acquisition of power. And the
fact that prophets have nothing lose—nothing to bargain with,
nothing to compromise—well, this makes them dangerous indeed. Herod
murdered John the Baptist on a whim. And that preacher from Nazareth
is quickly becoming a problem. Himself a priest, a prophet, and a
king, Jesus goes around claiming to be the Way, the Truth, and the
Life. With nothing to lose, nothing to compromise, he is an imminent
threat to the secular power of kings. And King Herod in particular.
As the Body of Christ—each one of us, baptized as priests,
prophets, and kings—as the Church, do we pose an imminent threat to
the powers of this world? If we don't, we aren't doing our jobs.
There
was a time when the Church could cause kings and queens to quake
under their royal bed covers. No monarch legitimately ruled without
the consent of the Church. Popes could foment a revolution by
relieving a monarch's subjects from their sacred duty to obey their
betters. The Church commanded armies, treasuries, orders of knights,
and, most frightening of all, the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Just
ask the Holy Roman Emperor, King Henry IV about those keys! But Herod
doesn't fear Jesus b/c Jesus can rouse the rabble and arm them, or
because he can buy a spot in the line of royal succession. Herod is
anxious about Jesus, perplexed by this itinerant preacher for the
same reason that most rulers fear those with nothing to lose: there's
nothing—short of death—to stop them from speaking the truth. And
in the case of Christ, death proved to be an international catalyst
for the spread of his Good News!
As
the Church, the Body of Christ, each of us baptized as priests,
prophets, and kings, do we keep the worldly powers awake at night
worrying about the truth we might unleashed upon the realm? Though
fear can be a powerful motivator for getting the right thing done, we
no longer rely on ecclesial knights and papal armies to threaten
kings with the violence of heaven. In all the ways that truly matter,
we have become more powerful by abdicating power, wealthier in
abandoning wealth, and holier in surrendering the pretenses of an
Imperial Church. But are we stripped bare enough to bring the
prophetic word to those who would threaten what we have left? Christ
warned his disciples that to be faithful to the end they could prefer
nothing and no one before him. Anything and anyone we choose before
we choose Christ is something or someone for us to lose when the king
gets anxious about our truth-telling. Then, we are forced to choose
again and again, each time we are called upon for the sake of unity,
or fashion, or convenience, each time we are harangued to compromise
or lie or cheat, we must choose. Christ or power? Christ or
influence? Christ or celebrity? Christ or popularity? Christ or the
family and friends?
The
preacher, Qoheleth, infamously laments: “All things are vanity!”
Futile, fleeting. For the Church, this is not a lament but an
expression of hope. The Good News of Christ Jesus is no thing.
Neither futile nor fleeting. And if we, his Body, are to be prophetic
in a time of corrupt and violent power, we cannot flinch from
speaking veritas in caritate, truth in love.
So,
let me ask you: how do you think your head will look on a silver
platter?
______________________
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