Okay, I didn't say it here, but I did tell my students that it wouldn't be long before someone claimed that they have been healed by seeking the mediation of the late John Paul II. Reuters is reporting from Aix-En-Provence,

A French Catholic nun who said her Parkinson's disease disappeared after she prayed to the late Pope John Paul declined to call her restored health a miracle on Friday. But she insisted: "I was ill and now I am healed." ...Her recovery could be central to a drive to beatify John Paul, putting him one step away from sainthood. The Catholic Church demands proof of a medically unexplained healing to give that honor and a second such case to declare him a saint.

As Carl Trueman lamented the other day at Ref21, in the old days it used to take some time to become a saint but now Rome is "fast-tracking" John Paul and Mother Theresa. 

Two comments. I don't really care how long it takes to beatify Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II) since the point is to vindicate him as miracle worker post-mortem and to perpetuate the Roman cult of saints.

The language of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is more restrained than one might expect, but shocking enough:

1173 When the Church keeps the memorials of martyrs and other saints during the annual cycle, she proclaims the Paschal mystery in those "who have suffered and have been glorified with Christ. She proposes them to the faithful as examples who draw all men to the Father through Christ, and through their merits she begs for God's favors."

Notice that departed believers are said to perform two functions: 1) to serve as an example; 2) "through their merits" the church "begs God's favors." I don't see how anyone can object to the first. The stories of the martyrs are inspiring. I often think about Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley and the many French Calvinists slaughtered by maniacal papists in 1572. I guess the Roman catechism isn't thinking of those martyrs!

The second proposed function, however, is nothing less than blasphemy. The Reformed churches confess with one voice and heart that we have only one intercessor, one mediator, one object of devotion, adoration, and worship. We have only one Savior and Mediator. The Heidelberg Catechism says:

30. Do those also believe in the only Savior Jesus, who seek their salvation and welfare of saints, of themselves, or anywhere else?

No, although they make their boast of Him, yet in deeds they deny the only Savior Jesus, for either Jesus is not a complete Savior, or they who by true faith receive this Savior, must have in Him all that is necessary to their salvation.

We confess the communion of the saints, but that communion does not include asking glorified Christians to do anything. First, they can't hear us. Being dead doesn't make one omnipotent or omnipresent. Second, they are busy glorifying the Savior, which is their proper vocation. Third, no one who was a saint in this life would ever want us to ask him or her to do anything for us. They would be properly horrified by the very idea. Fourth, Jesus is a complete Savior. It's not enough to say, in this context, "Jesus and..." He is a complete, successful, Savior. He completed the work he set out to do. He didn't just make salvation possible for those who cooperate sufficiently with grace.

Bob Godfrey has said that the medieval church portrayed Jesus as such stern judge, that it drove Christians to seek a more accessible and sympathetic mediator (such as Mary). The book of Hebrews (4:15) tells us that we need look nowhere else but to Jesus for a Mediator who understands us, who has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. He sympathizes with our weaknesses. He is one of us. He is truly human. He has faced everything we've faced.

The second striking thing about this story is how similar the testimony of the nun is to that of the man born blind (John 9). His testimony was, "Once I was blind, now I can see." This is the testimony of all believers. The difference between the biblical account is that the man born blind testified that Jesus, not a deceased Christian, did it.

The great Protestant issue with Rome is the question of justification, but the question of intercession is closely related. It goes to the sufficiency of Christ as our Savior and intercessor with the Father. One of the things that has struck me over the years reading Reformed orthodox theology from the 16th and 17th centuries is how often they refer to Jesus as the Mediator. At first it was a little irritating - why do they keep repeating "the Mediator"? Well, this sort of thing is the reason why.

Jesus did it all. Jesus does it all. That's the biblical faith and that's our faith.