The Great Missionary Pope

WHAT WE CAN ALL LEARN FROM A GREAT MISSIONARY POPE
By Bro Bill Bray

WHATEVER your Christian heritage or religious background is, there is a lot to be learned from the legacy and life of John Paul II.

During the coming weeks, it will be tempting to look away from his life as the media grows negative and reflects on the politics and sins of the Catholic Church but I urge you not lose sight of this incredible man who was such a remarkable disciple of Christ. He is the most relative, twenty-first model I know of for anyone with a missionary heart.

I urge you to use these days as a time to pause and contemplate what is being said about John Paul II, both by those who love him and those who hate him. All Christians, whether you consider yourself “missionary-minded” or not, can benefit by reflecting on his life and teachings. There is much in his example and legacy for all to apply in our personal lives and callings – whatever our vocations or callings.

FIRST, you cannot begin to understand the life of John Paul II without realizing that this man was a true disciple of Christ. He was a Mary, not a Martha. He loved to be with the Lord and follow him wherever that took him – and he was not afraid to follow Christ all the way. He loved to meditate on the ways and wisdom of God. Many times, he shocked and surprised us in the same way Christ shocks and surprises in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Where did he get that spiritual authority?

SECOND, he was a man of prayer who surrounded himself with people of prayer. He started every day with hours of prayer. His decisions and leadership were birthed out of prayer and he remained in touch with prayer movements and people of prayer around the world. He interceded for others and others interceded for him.

THIRD, he was above all a missionary prophet. He understood the peoples and nations of the world from a truly heavenly perspective. He is often mistaken as a pastor or evangelist, but there was very little pastoral about him except the office he filled. He preached to the world like Billy Graham but his message was apostolic in the best New Testament sense – it pricked and prodded and adapted the Gospel to the painful, urgent needs of the Lord’s chosen ones, the emerging church.

He traveled. He was a sent one. He spread the message to the people of God, the burgeoning church of Christ, and encouraged it to confront the world as he did. He loved Asia, Africa (four visits), India, Latin America (five visits) and the whole world. He made 104 pilgrimages to 129 countries. Only China, North Korea, the former USSR and Vietnam missed his visitations – and only because their liberty-hating political leaders were afraid to allow him entrance. He knocked on those doors again and again.

Though Polish, his viewpoint was not European and certainly not Anglo-American or paternalistic to developing nations. He was far more concerned with the global South than the global North. He went to the cutting edge of the church. Like Jesus, he felt pity on the masses of sheep without a shepherd and went to the spiritually hungry. He was not afraid to engage and reach out to Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Secular Humanists and youth. You simply cannot understand the life of John Paul II unless you understand that he was first and always a missionary.

FOURTH, he was courageously devoted to truth. He understood clearly the great apostasy and heresy of our time. That is why he was so hated by those, even in his own church, who wanted to “vote on the ten commandments” and revise the Bible and the received faith. He was no friend of “Cafeteria Christianity.” Evangelicals found in John Paul II a great ally and friend. He not only defended the great doctrines of the church but he also defended Christian behaviors and morality such as Christian marriage and sex, the sanctity of human life, and the divinely given roles of gender and authority. John Paul II was a man of moral authority who refused to compromise the truth. Merely because he stood firm in adversity, he is an inspiration to all who struggle to protect families, churches and missions.

FIFTH, he was willing to suffer for his beliefs. “Fear not” was his message, and he lived a life of risk-taking confrontation with institutional evil and political darkness. We applauded him when he faced down dictatorships, fascists, communists, terrorists and warmongers – but then our turn came when we Americans smarted as he visited friendly church leaders, politicians, and even President Bush with punishment paddle in hand! Everywhere he went during his entire leadership as the chief executive of the Catholic Church, he was not afraid to follow the passion of Christ and suffer rejection.

In fact, he was so confident that right would win over evil that he choose, like Christ, to denounce war and violence to extend the Kingdom of God. While John Paul II risked rejection, he was never overcome by it. In fact, we look back on this period as a time when the Catholic Church repented and purged its own ranks of false teachers and long-secret sin among the clergy. Under John Paul’s leadership, he gave protestant Christians courage to exercise their moral courage and voices – and to admit sin even when we found it in our pulpits and board rooms.

SIXTH, this man displayed the compassion of Christ. When you reflect on the life and mission of John Paul II, you can see that above all he loved as Christ loved. Like the Lord Jesus, he was attracted to where the oppressed and poor lived.

He was always concerned about the sick, the fatherless and the disadvantaged. At times, especially in the 1970’s and 80’s, he seemed out of step with the times, reminding us relentlessly that our affluence was not so much a blessing from God the fruit of our own greed and love of affluence.

SEVENTH, John Paul II was a teacher who used the mass media. He was fond of saying “If it’s not on TV, it didn’t happen.” He prodigiously wrote books, tracts, pamphlets and letters. He tireless revised and edited canon law. He was a communicator who loved ideas and understood the power of ideas.

Though one of the most powerful men on earth, John Paul choose like Christ to restrain himself and honor the free moral agency of humankind – relying almost totally on communication, loving service, and moral authority rather than the levers of human power politics to force his way on the church and the world. This Pope was a perfect gentleman.

However, like King David, another man who followed after God with all his heart, John Paul was not perfect. He has many detractors. However, there is a lot in his life that I need to imitate – and I suspect this is true for anyone who has a hunger to follow after Christ with all his or her heart. The road ahead is going to be hard. I suspect we are going to need this model missionary for the 21st Century.

© 2005, by Wm. Thomas Bray