The Bland Philanthropist Jesus is a Phony

"Vade, et iam amplius noli peccare." Jn. 8:11

"Today in broad circles, even among believers, an image has prevailed of a Jesus who demands nothing, never scolds, who accepts everyone and everything, who no longer does anything but affirm us: the perfect opposite of the Church, to the extent that she still dares to make demands and regulations...the figure of Jesus...is transformed from the 'Lord' (a word that is avoided) into a man who is nothing more than the advocate of all men.

"The Jesus of the Gospels is quite different, demanding, bold. The Jesus who makes everything okay for everyone is a phantom, a dream, not a real figure. The Jesus of the Gospels is certainly not convenient for us. But it is precisely in this way that he answers the deepest question of our existence, which--whether we want to or not--keeps us on the lookout for God, for a gratification that is limitless, for the infinite. We must again set out on the way to this real Jesus...

"[T]he figure of Jesus in the Gospels cannot be reduced to that of a bland philanthropist--...precisely the Jesus of the Gospels...bursts open the framework of what is merely human, posing questions and demanding decisions that challenge man to the very depths of his soul."

2003 foreword to On the Way to Jesus Christ, Joseph Ratzinger, San Francisco: Ignatius, 2005, 7-8.


"Forgiveness is exacting and makes demands on both the person who forgives and the person who receives forgiveness in that person's whole being. A Jesus who approves of everything is a Jesus without the cross, because the tribulation of the cross would not then be needed to bring men and women to salvation...

Vade, voca virum tuum... Jn. 4:16

"[F]orgiveness has to do with the truth, and for that reason it requires the cross of the Son and it requires our conversion. Forgiveness is indeed the restoration of truth, the renewal of being, and the overcoming of the lie that lurks in every sin: of its nature sin is always a departure from the truth of one's own being and thus from the truth of the creator, God...

"A pastoral practice of appeasement, of 'understanding everything and forgiving everything' (in the superficial sense of this phrase) stands in glaring contrast to the biblical evidence. The correct pastoral practice leads to the truth, arouses love for the truth, and helps people accept the pain of the truth. It must itself be a form of accompanying people on the difficult but beautiful way to new life that is also the way to true and lasting joy."

The Yes of Jesus Christ, Joseph Ratzinger, New York: Crossroads, 1991, 95-97. Original title in German was To Look at Christ: an Exercise in Faith, Hope and Love, drawn mainly from a Summer 1986 retreat given by Cardinal Ratzinger to the priests of the movement Comunione e liberazione.