Praying for popes.

As most of you have probably heard by now, Pope Francis passed away yesterday morning.

 

I almost sent this out yesterday, but wanted a little time to think about how I'd write this. I'm not a Roman Catholic. Why would I be so concerned, and interested, in the passing of one pope and the succession of another?

 

First, I think it has to be said to my Catholic brothers and sisters, condolences on the loss of the leader of the Roman Catholic church.

 

Second, though, even though I'm not Roman Catholic, I think it's important to pray for the Catholic Church as they mourn the pope's passing, and to pray that the next pope be a leader who represents the heart and mind of Christ.

 

I don't think it's offensive, even to Catholics, to recognize there have been differences among the popes. It's not even that controversial to recognize that there've even been popes who might not have been Christian at all.

 

Still, no matter what you think about the Catholic Church, much of the world looks to the pope as a representative of Jesus. Is that where they should look? I don't know that I'd say that. It's just reality, though. As the leader of the largest group of Christians worldwide, a lot of people who want to know who Jesus is, will look to the pope, first.

 

My prayers is that the Lord raises someone up to be the next pope who will represent Jesus well. My hope it it will be someone who proclaims the Gospel to the world. I ask God to raise up a leader who will not be corrupted by the whims of the day, but will speak truth against the power and principalities of the world, the forces that seek to do violence and conduct war, those that exploit the poor and cater to the rich, and the forces of evil. I pray for a pope who will use his platform to amplify not his own person, nor even the office he holds, or the church... but to point people to Jesus.

 

I don't want to minimize important theological distinctives. There are big differences behind many of the divisions in Christendom. Yet, we cannot ignore that Jesus still prayed in his High Priestly prayer as follows:

 

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." (John 17:20-23 NIV)  

In this passage, Jesus is praying not only for his current disciples but also for all those who would believe in him through their teaching. His central desire is for their unity, mirroring the unity between the Father and the Son, so that the world might believe in him.

 

The truth is, I have great friends who belong to the Catholic Church who are seeking Jesus as Lord, who are concerned more with following Jesus than anything else. I know Lutherans, and Baptists, and (insert denomination here) who are doing the same. There are certainly important theological distinctives there, and I'm not saying we should water them down.

We should, however, recognize if we intend to mirror the heart and mind of Jesus that it was His fervent desire that we should be one. That means, at the very least, we pray that everyone who purports to follow Jesus actually follows Jesus. It means that we pray that those who bear Christ's name in the world, even if they belong to different churches, would be faithful reflections of Jesus' sacrificial love in the world.

 

So, I mourn with my Catholic brothers and sisters as they mourn. I rejoice when they rejoice. For insofar as any are following Christ in faith, we follow Christ as one body. I pray these sad divisions might someday cease, but in the meantime, I recognize that there's only one Jesus, and those of us who are following Him with a whole heart aren't defines so much by our "membership" in earthly institutions as we are defined by our Lord's promise.

 

So I also join with my Catholic brothers and sisters that the next pope might be a powerful vessel to speak the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. I pray that whoever is chosen will speak the truth in love, equally committed to both truth and love.

 

In Jesus' name,

Judah