A Multiplying Priesthood

For the last several days, Roman Catholics from around the world have filed into their churches and the Vatican City to pray for their pontiff, Pope John Paul II.  This morning, on the verge of a coma, he struggles to breathe and filter toxins from his body. 

He is dying.

As a Protestant, I am intrigued by this outpouring of worldwide prayer, not quite sure if the people of Catholicism are praying for a peaceful passage for him to heaven or for a reprieve of death for a little while longer.  Maybe both. 

I wonder if the irony of this rare moment is lost on the concerned parishioners.  They are interceding for their chief intercessor.  They are bypassing the man between them and God, asking for God’s perfect will for the one who is supposed to tell them what that will is.  They have become their own popes—their own priests—to request aid for someone who in his death becomes their equal.

Suddenly this week, Catholics embrace the New Testament that tells us that individual believers each share in a royal priesthood.  God’s inspired writers told us that Jesus is the only mediator, the sole intercessor, between God and mankind.  Through Paul He told us to come boldly before the throne of Grace (not shamefully to the closet of confessionals).  He told us to ask, and seek, and find—for ourselves, not through saints or clergy.

Today, thousands and maybe millions in the Pope’s faith have displaced at least part of their doctrine and traditional hierarchy—to break the rules for one who helps set the rules.  They know where the power is.  They’ve probably always known it—known that elected church officials and collared counselors cannot themselves distribute the power of the Almighty any more than the altar boys or choir members.  Crisis often reveals true character, emotions, and perspectives.  Pope John Paul II’s eminent passing unfurls the distrust that the laymen have in other men, in anyone but the True Father.

I pray they recognize this moment for what it is and Christ for who He is.  I hope they see the insufficiency of tradition and the peace of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  And I wish the Polish-born leader a painless passing, whether that be soon or prolonged.

For the rest of Christianity, I hope we take from this as a lesson in equality.  While we do not pray through men or to saints, we often worship the words of teachers and preachers and writers.  We have no right to condemn rosary-laden friends when we replace the Bible with books in our morning devotions, when we make doctrines out of Bible versions or percussion counts, when we fellowship in castes. 

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