I didn’t watch the Super Bowl and I haven’t been to the premiere of season four of “The Chosen,” yet I have heard some of the conversations surrounding the “He Gets Us” ad during the Super Bowl and the depiction of Jesus in “The Chosen.” I’m not going to weigh on those discussions, but I will say that we still ask a question that was asked in the first century when Jesus, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity walked the face of the earth: WHO IS THIS?
Every morning I read the Mass readings for the Novus Ordo and the Traditional Latin Mass. Today’s reading in the TLM comes from Matthew 21:10–17.
And when he was come into Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying: Who is this?
And the people said: This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth of Galilee.
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the chairs of them that sold doves:
And he saith to them: It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.
And there came to him the blind and the lame in the temple; and he healed them.
And the chief priests and scribes, seeing the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying: Hosanna to the son of David; were moved with indignation.
Just prior to this passage we have the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem which we celebrate on Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday. After seeing this incredible reception given to Jesus, the whole city is asking the question, “Who is this?” The people who have cheered him into the city respond, “This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth of Galilee.
So what does Jesus the prophet do following this declaration. He goes into the temple and casts out those who were buying and selling and he overthrows the tables of the money changers. He shakes things up to put it mildly. Then the blind and the lame come to him in the temple and he heals them.
We might repeat the question: “Who is this?” Is he the Jesus who shakes things up and who is described in Revelation 19:11–16—from whose mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, ruling them with a rod of iron—on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
Or is this Jesus “meek and mild” described in Matthew 12:20—“a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench….”
Jesus is both/and. We can say with the gospel song, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” But we also must say, Jesus is “King of kings and Lord of lords,” and “he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.”
The bottom line is that Jesus extends his love and grace, his mercy and forgiveness to us in this day of salvation, but if we reject him, resist him, and ignore him, we will know the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty, because he leaves the choice up to us.
Like St. Dimas on the cross, I say, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Lord, have mercy!