Piano Man and Pope

Appreciating the role and responsibility of the pope

02/22/2021

Matthew 16:13-19 When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

One Sunday morning a mother went in to wake up her son and tell him it was time to get ready for church. The son grumbled in reply: “I am not going.” The mother asked, “Why not?” He answered, “I’ll give you two good reasons: (1) they don’t like me, and (2) I don’t like them.” His mother calmly responded: “I’ll give you two good reasons why you should go: (1) you are 59 years old, and (2) you are the pastor.” I am sure many Sunday mornings a very similar exchange unfolds between countless Catholic priests and their mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Mother Mary urges us pastors to get out of bed and go celebrate Mass and it does not matter if the people like us, or we like the people. But don’t worry, I like most of you.

And yet, wanting to be liked is a very human desire and even a natural need. It’s like that line in Billy Joel’s song “Piano Man,” “It’s a pretty good crowd for a Saturday / And the manager gives me a smile / ‘Cause he knows it’s me they’ve been coming to see / To forget about life for a while.” That natural need for people’s praise, though, can easily turn into a cult of personality. Any profession in which public speaking is a premium job qualification – like the priesthood – is always susceptible to a cult of personality. It is hard to love the message if we do not care for the messenger. Therefore, it can be hard to get out of bed on Sunday and say Mass if we don’t like the people and the people don’t like us.

This perennial problem about personality is precisely why we celebrate today’s feast of the Chair of St. Peter. How strange to have a feast day for furniture! Why do we focus on furniture today? Because the chair of St. Peter reminds us that the “message” is more important that the “messenger.” In fact, that chair does not really belong to St. Peter as if it were his personal property. That is not what it means to call it the "Chair of St. Peter." Rather, it belongs to Jesus and to whomever Jesus seats in it. So far, Jesus has brought 266 men to be seated in that chair, starting with St. Peter, and down to our day with Pope Francis.

Being the pope should not devolve into a cult of personality, however. The pope should not sing like the Piano Man, “Cause Jesus knows it’s me they’ve been coming to see to forget about life for a while.” If a pope – indeed, any pastor – forgets that the message is really about the Messiah and not about the messenger, then this feast about furniture gently reminds us that being a pastor is not about being liked or praised.

St. Paul insisted to Timothy in his second letter: “Proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient, convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching (2 Tm. 4:2). In other words, get out of bed and go say Mass and stop worrying about whether the people like you or you like the people. Go sit in the presider’s chair at Mass that belonged to another pastor long before you came along, and will be occupied by another pastor long after you are gone. That is the beauty of the Chair of St. Peter.

My friends, do you like the current pope? Are you fond of the Holy Father, Pope Francis? Some Catholics are wildly crazy about Pope Francis while others are wildly critical of him. Some praise his message of mercy to the marginalized as a breath of fresh air; others feel he has pushed the Church away from doctrinal purity and precision. There may be some truth in both perspectives. But I believe they miss the larger point, namely, the Chair of St. Peter. How so? When we take our eyes off the Chair of St. Peter, and focus too much on the fisherman from Galilee (or the archbishop from Argentina), we end up in a cult of personality. We want a piano man rather than the pope.

When we come to Mass do we want to hear a piano or stare at a chair? Do we seek entertainment or eternal life? Today, we pray for Pope Francis, the 266th occupant of the Chair of St. Peter. We pray he will get out of bed every morning and shepherd the Church, regardless of whether we like him or he likes us.

Praised be Jesus Christ!