Catholics should declare 'Jesus is Lord,' says keynote speaker
In his Monday, Nov. 5 keynote address, Father Robert Barron spoke to over 600 individuals, stating right off, "It is a joy to be here with you and it is a joy to be talking about Jesus, my favorite topic."
In his talk, called "Declaring the Lordship of Jesus" Father Barron said Christianity is about a relationship to Jesus. "It is about falling more deeply in love with him," he said.
The heart of evangelization is to announce Jesus, said Father Barron, who has been called "one of the church's best messengers" by Chicago's Cardinal Francis George.
Father Barron, who turns 53 this month, has said he was a student who was raised in the "balloons and banners" years of the church. In the late 1960s and early 1970s Jesus was familiarized, he said. "To 'get' Jesus we have to de-familiarize Jesus," he said. "Jesus is more than a spiritual teacher.
"Here's the weird thing about Jesus; disquieting then and disquieting now," Father Barron said. "He spoke and acted in the very person of God. Jesus said, 'Either you are with me or you are against me.'"
The best way to understand Jesus is to appreciate him as the Jewish Messiah, according to Father Barron. This means he fulfilled four tasks: He gathered the nations, cleansed the temple, defeated the enemies of Israel and now he reigns as Lord of the nations.
"Jesus gathered the tribes," Father Barron said. "Remember wherever you find scattering you find evil power. Gathering the Israelites was a way to fight the evil." Jesus picked 12 Apostles to symbolize gathering 12 tribes, he said.
The tribes went to the temple to unite, said Father Barron, but the temple had become corrupt. "Jesus did the very things he came to do — and he did what was meant to be done in the temple. He prayed. He forgave sins. He cured people," he said. "Jesus was the new temple. He tore it down (died) and rebuilt it in three days (with the resurrection)."
In Jesus' time, Israel was experiencing one long sad story of being compromised, Father Barron said. "The first Christians saw Jesus finally dealing with enemies. Read Luke. Right from the beginning they are after him. Struggle happened because Jesus came as a warrior. At the climax of Jesus' life, he entered Jerusalem on a donkey. The donkey was a regal vehicle. So, he came into Jerusalem on a donkey as a king. Then he went right to the temple and caused a ruckus."
When Jesus was killed on the cross, people began to wonder whether he really was the Messiah. "We know Jesus is the Messiah," Father Barron said. "The power of sin killed him, but God raised him up. Jesus is the victorious warrior."
Catholics should be sure to evangelize, just as Paul did, declaring Jesus as Lord. They should be "with" Jesus. Christians know that Jesus reigns as Lord of the nations, Father Barron said. "We're here, in this room in Decatur, because Jesus rose from the dead," he said. "We are a fighting church. We do it the way Jesus did, swallowed up in divine mercy. Paul's task is our task. That's evangelization."