Not politicians, not Batman — Jesus is the only Messiah

Fifth Sunday of Easter, 2011
Fr. Anthony Brankin
Gospel: John 14:1-12 “I am in the Father and the Father in me”

Full homily text: If you want to know why they put Jesus up on a cross—just look at today’s gospel. There it is plain as day. Jesus is equating Himself with God the Father. He says the Father is in Him, and He is in the Father—and He means this in a far deeper and more meaningful way than you and I might talk about grace. “Yes I have God in my soul, and that inspires me to do good things.”

The twin apostolates of prayer and the education of young women are pursued by the Visitation Sisters of Georgetown. Are you searching for God’s calling? Consider a life with the Washington, DC.

No. Jesus here is claiming a special relationship that is way beyond what we have with God. He is in fact claiming He is God—that He and the Father are one. If you look at Jesus, you are looking at the Father—though it is obvious that they are two distinct Persons.

This is–in a nutshell—what we mean by the Trinity—three Persons in One God. We believe that in some Divine fashion, Jesus, even though He is a distinct person, is no less God than the Father is God—and the same with the Holy Spirit. There are not three gods—but one. They share the same Being.

Jesus is One-in-Being with the Father

That in fact is what we proclaim we believe every Sunday in the Profession of Faith. We say that we believe that Jesus is One-in-Being with the Father.

Now I said that this is precisely why they put Jesus up on a cross. Because if Jesus and the Father were not One—if Jesus were not God, and yet He claimed it to be so, then that would be the worst of blasphemies.

Now in a certain sense, the Cross upon which Jesus hung is the very proof of His divinity—and therefore His being Messiah. If He claimed that He was God, and therefore the Messiah, then there are only three possibilities about Him and they all show up on the Cross.

Was He crazy? Well, no one in the three years He was preaching and teaching ever accused Him of not being sane. No one ever thought that about Him. He was more in touch with reality than even His enemies, and they all knew it. So He wasn’t crazy.

He was not a liar

Was He a liar? Was He some sort of faker, charlatan—snake oil salesman—“Look to me and I’ll set you free?” Was Jesus a false Messiah lying His way into the hearts of the people and just looking for an army and power and riches? Well, that would be a possibility except for the fact that as He hung on the Cross—if He were a liar—He would have said to His executioners, “Hey, Get me down, I was just kidding.” He would have to be crazy to die for a lie—but then we have already seen that He wasn’t crazy. So that leaves the final possibility that He actually was Who He said He was—God—and therefore the Messiah.

The reaction of the Jews—the ones who refused to believe in Him—was to kill Him and put Him on a cross. “If this was the one who was going to save Israel, then let Him save Himself. Let us see if He comes down from there.”

Of course He did not come down from there. His being Messiah was about God suffering, dying, rising for us—all for the sake of love; and then lead us by a good and Godly life to heaven. He was going to save us from Hell by teaching us to look forward to heaven.

Looking for  the wrong kind of messiah

Of course, His enemies were looking for a different kind of Messiah. They wanted a strongman—a superhero—a benevolent Giant or Robot—a general or King—some typical kind of leader—a politician even—who would kick Rome out. A Messiah who would take over the world and usher in an earthly Paradise. They were looking for regime change—not life change.

And as we see, the True Messiah, Jesus, did eventually get rid of Rome. It took three centuries, but little by little people came to believe in Jesus—that He was God and that He was going to save them from Satan and Hell. And once they came to believe that, then the world itself began to change.

Christians changed the world

Christian Catholic people began to take care of each other as no one had ever done before. They started to build hospitals and orphanages and schools for young people. They forbade violence and cruelty. Actually the people themselves began to understand that certain ways of behavior were just not right if you believed in Jesus.

Look at the gladiator games. They ended one day, when a monk walked out into the arena—held his arms out and challenged the people to kill him. They realized right then and there—that this is not what we do if we are Christians.

The people, the Church, trying to promote healthy family life even outlawed certain social practices that made it hard to raise families. Did you know at one time the Church—the ones who believe Jesus is the Messiah—taught very strongly that it was a serious sin to take interest on a loan?

Can you imagine if you didn’t have to pay a mortgage on your house, how much easier it would be for you to raise your family and feed them and protect them? Can you imagine how the pressure would finally be lifted?

Catholic moral code

And that moral law forbidding taking interest is still in the books. Our Catholic moral code is one of the beautiful implications of believing Jesus is Messiah.

But we moderns have come to expect and accept a thousand other Messiahs than the Real One and we are waiting for a million other paradises to come—and all in this world.

Look at our fascination with Superheroes. Where does all that come from? The notion of creatures that are stronger than we are—and who fly and who can do weird things and somehow help us, who are like us but somehow different. Thor, Spiderman, Superman, Batman.

And we each sit there and watch these movies or games and think, “Wouldn’t it be cool if there were such things as superheroes—But that is the point. There is no such thing as Superheroes. But for those who do not believe in Jesus as the Messiah, we will satisfy our need for a savior with imaginary Messiahs.

Obsession with politics

The more mundane version of this (and for discerning adults) is our sometime obsession with politics and politicians. Politicians all say, “If you vote for me, your life will be better. I will save you from those bad people in the other party.”

And when it comes to pass after two or three years after the election that our lives have not improved—but have only gotten worse, should we not conclude that these politicians and their parties are not the messiahs they would like us to think they are. They are false messiahs.

Only Jesus is God and Messiah and Savior

The superhero thing. The politician thing—it is all for people who do not have a true Messiah. There is deep within all of us a yearning for a Messiah—for someone who will come to save us from evil. But if we haven’t understood Jesus as the true Messiah, then it is Ironman to the rescue! Or Obama to the Rescue!

But we do believe in Jesus—and we believe that He is God and Savior and Messiah and no one else is. And we believe in Heaven which is where He will take us after a holy life here. And that belief has to make a difference in our lives; and with the teachings of the Church as our guide, Jesus—and only Jesus—will make a difference in the life of the world.