12 Random Thoughts on the Passion

I had fun last month posting my random thoughts, so I thought I would do the same again this week.

Without further ado, here are twelve more after hearing Luke's Passion this Palm Sunday.

1. Despite knowing what awaited Him that night, our Lord had the patience and courage to keep teaching His apostles.  Even as they argued over who was greatest.  
2. Jesus tells Peter he must strengthen his brothers.  I believe that duty is passed onto us as well.
3. Jesus heads out to the Mount of Olives.  I often wonder why he liked it there so much.  Did He like the backdrop of Jerusalem?  Was it peaceful?  Or just convenient?  No matter what, it is poetic that the place He delivered Himself over to His enemies is the same place He ascended into Heaven from.
4. How far is a stone's throw?  Are we talking a Peyton Manning throw?  Or a soft underhand toss?  Could they hear Him?  See Him? 
5. Jesus prays fervently and drips sweat "like drops of blood".  The apostles sleep.  These inharmonious images haunt me.
6. In my mind, Peter never denies Jesus from his heart.  For me it was always a passing comment ... one meant to shoo off these people and keep himself alive. Kind of like when we tell white lies.  We don't really feel like we are lying in the moment. Similarly, I really don't imagine Peter felt like he was truly denying Christ.  Until that cock crowed.  
7. Herod and Pilate became friends that day even though they had been enemies formerly.  Even in the face of death, Jesus removed hatred from sinners.
8. The Jewish people choose Barabbas, yes.  And the Romans executed Christ.  But it was our sins that killed Jesus.
9. "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves."  Here was a Man headed off to be brutally murdered.  And he is telling those on hand that they should cry for their future?  Yikes.
10. "Today you will be with me in Paradise."  I hope we all hear that when we are lying on our death beds. (Also, it would be a good inspirational line for a blog ;)
11. Our Lord's acquaintances stood at a distance and watched.  I often picture them right under the cross the whole time.  I forget how scared they still must have been.  
12. He breathed His last.  It must have been devastating to those who followed Him.   That moment when their teacher was no longer with them. They must have been so confused; this "ending" must have been so different than they imagined.  Little did they know...

Extra Credit Thought:  I believe the centurion that praised God after Jesus breathed His last was the first convert based on our Lord's death.

I hope you are having a Blessed Holy Week.

Preparation

Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober.

Paul's words today remind me of a homily I heard the other day about death and heaven.

The priest talked about our fear of death and asked for perspective.

Our lives here on Earth are gifts, of course.  But this world is full of pain, sorrow, and sin.   

Heaven, on the other hand, is perfection.  It is love.  It is beautiful.  It is Paradise.

And yet most of us have one foot, if not both feet, planted firmly here.  Worrying.  Scared of leaving.  Afraid of death.

Why?

Because we are human, yes.  But mainly because deep down we know we have not followed Paul's reminder to its fullest.   

We prepare for presentations at work.  We prepare our meals for the week.  We spend countless hours preparing for parties and celebrations.

But we are often remiss when it comes to being fully prepared for our Lord.  We are half sleeping. Otherwise we would all be talking about how we couldn't wait to move on.

I paraphrased most of that, of course.  The priest was much more eloquent.  

I just wish it didn't feel like he was looking at me the whole time he spoke ...


God Bless.
  

Thanks, Luke

Today, I simply thank Luke for writing my one of my favorite exchanges in the entire Bible.  (Which just so happens to be today's Gospel reading.)

"Jesus, remember me when you come into my kingdom."
 He replied to him,
"Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

I pray that we all hear that phrase someday.

God Bless.

Outside Looking In

Then you will stand outside knocking and saying 

"Lord open the door for us"  (Luke 13:25)

Imagine that day.

You are standing up there at the pearly gates to Paradise.

You can see St. Peter and those legendary keys.  You can see your family members and friends standing on the other side, anxiously awaiting your arrival.  You can see the splendor and glory of Heaven.  

It is even more beautiful than your wildest dreams.

It is beyond perfect.

This is what you lived for.  This is what you hoped for.  And this is what you prayed for.

You are right there.  Ready to be happy for eternity.

But what if it all wasn't enough?

What if you aren't invited in?

What if you hear those horrific words from today's Gospel - "Depart from me all you evildoers"?

What regrets would go through your mind?

What would you wish you'd have done differently?

What would you change, starting today?

Life Is Beautiful

I recently watched the movie Life is Beautiful for the first time in about 10 years.

It's a good thing, too, because I almost forgot how powerful a movie it is.

For those of you that haven't seen the movie, it's a heart-tugging story about a Jewish man who is so positive, and so uplifting, that he even makes the most of a Nazi-era Concentration Camp.

That movie, coupled with today's Gospel reading and the Easter season, led me to reflect on how beautiful our lives really are.

Sure, we all have our issues, our struggles, and our crosses to endure.

But they all pale in comparison to what life would be like if Jesus did not make the ultimate sacrifice for us, and if God wasn't eternally willing to forgive us.

Imagine, for just one minute, that there was nothing to look forward to. That, after taking our last breath, our souls would languish in emptiness for eternity.

Picture emptiness.

Forever.


(go on, I'll wait)


Kinda scary, huh?

Life would be pointless! Like a relatively short distraction on our way to perpetual gloom.

But thanks to Christ, we have Hope.

Hope that our lives are leading us to an eternity surrounded by God's love and joy in Paradise. That our future is a place where there is no sadness, no pain, and no emptiness.

Just our Father's never ending beauty.

Unfortunately, in the movie, Roberto Benigni's character is forced to make life beautiful for his son and everyone around him.

Luckily, in the real world, Jesus has already done that for us.

God Bless.

My Script about Choices

(Narrator)

Jesus is among us every day.

What choices do you make?

----------------

(Michael reads his post)

In today's Passion reading, Luke recounts one of my favorite moments in the New Testament.

While Matthew, Mark and John mention that two thieves are crucified with Jesus, only Luke tells us about Dismas' (the good thief) request.

Dismas led a life of sin, and as such, was sentenced to die in one of the cruelest ways possible. But as fortune would have it, he just happened to be crucified right next to the Savior of the world. He had a few hours - a tiny fraction of his life - to make a decision that would last for eternity.

He chose to repent. To believe. To follow Jesus.

And in doing so, he saved his soul.

Gestas, the other thief, makes no such request of Christ.

He had the same chance.

He was right there next to Jesus.

All he had to do was ask.

But he didn't. He made a terrible decision.

Every time I read this passage I want to shout out to him ..."Are you nuts? Don't you know that is the Son of God right next to you! Please, just ask Him to remember you!"

(confidently) I mean, if I was right next to Jesus I would certainly know it. I would make the right choice every time.

(slightly less confidently) Yup, I would.

(much quieter and much less confidently) I would, right?

(scene fades with Michael looking in mirror)

Ptooie

"Then some began to spit on Him" - Mark 14:65

"Again and again they struck Him on the head with a staff and spit on Him." - Mark 15:19

"They spit on Him, and took the staff and struck Him on the head again and again." - Matthew 27:30

---------------------------

The ten-year-old me stood confidently at the plate.

It was the last inning, two outs, and we were beating the last place team by 15 runs.

As I took my stance, I noticed the pitcher glaring in at me with a look of disgust. After all, he was getting creamed.

His first pitch headed straight over my head - no doubt a sign of frustration.

His second pitch was right over the plate, and I blasted it into right center field. As it rolled to the fence, I tore around the bases like a ... well, like a ten-year-old.

As I rounded third, I saw that the second baseman had the ball and was throwing it home.

I raced towards the plate ... and slid into a wave of sand and dirt ....

"Yerrrrrrr outttta there!" I heard the umpire shout as the ball and I arrived at the same time.

The catcher jumped up, took off his mask, looked down ....

... and spit on me.

Have you ever been spit on? There are few things more humiliating, trust me.

And there are even fewer things that are more condescending.

So how did I handle such an embarrassment, you ask?

I did what any other ten-year-old would have done. I got up, tackled the catcher, and rained tiny blows on his chest protector until the coaches separated us.

------------------------------------------------------------

Lord Jesus, at this time of year I usually focus on the physical torture you went through to gain our freedom. But sometimes I forget the humiliation you were forced to suffer as well. Even though you were without sin, you endured one of the most degrading acts of human nature.

Unlike the ten-year-old version of me, you stood there and took it. Even more amazingly, you forgave them.

I keep asking myself who would ever spit on the face of God. And I pray that my sins are not the equivalent of such a disrespectful thing, even though in my heart I know they probably are.

I'm so sorry.

Fatherly Pride

"Knock it off ... now! You are embarrassing us!"

If I only had a dollar for every time I heard that as a child...

When we are children, we don't realize that our behavior in public can have such a huge effect on our parents.

As we grow older, or become parents ourselves, we start to realize how true that is.

When a child misbehaves in public, his or her parents feel embarrassed, disappointed, angry and sad all at the same time. Likewise, when a child shines in public, his or her parents feel pleased, happy, proud, etc.

How pleased, then, must God have felt when He watched Jesus defy temptation over and over again here on Earth?

How happy must He have been when He watched our Savior teaching the way to Paradise?

And, how proud must God have been when His Son triumphantly conquered sin, despite the horrific road He had to take to do so?

If they have bumper stickers in Heaven, God's surely says "My Son is an A+".

But what about us? After all, we are His children, too.

What does He feel when He watches us every day?

Do we act the way He wants us to act, and make Him a proud Father?

Or is He trying to tell us that, sometimes, we are just embarrassing Him?

Mountain or Plain, It's Pretty Much The Same

I would be remiss if I didn't write about Luke's Gospel reading today (Sermon on the Plain). After all, just two weeks ago I mentioned it was one of the top three hours of Jesus' life I would like to go back and witness.

I thought it would be fun to look at a few of the differences between Luke's and Matthew's account of the Sermon and possible reasons for each.

• Matthew has the sermon taking place on a mount, or mountain. Luke has it taking place on a plain. One explanation might be that Matthew's Gospel was intended for a mainly Jewish audience. By placing Jesus on a mountain for this sermon, he is drawing parallels to Moses and showing that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah. Since Luke was writing to a broader audience than just the Jewish people, the parallel to Moses may have been less important. Another explanation might be that they could both be referring to a mountainous area, which would have both mounts and plains. In fact, I believe Luke's Gospel translated literally from Greek means "level area" which could be a flat part on a mountain.
  

• In Matthew, Jesus is with his Disciples. In Luke, he is preaching to a crowd as well. Again, this may be attributed to the audience each was writing to. Matthew's audience is Jesus' closest followers - all Jewish. Luke's audience includes people from Tyre and Sidon, which may mean there were Gentiles there as well (especially when paired the way they are with "Judea and Jerusalem"). It could also mean that Jesus first delivered this sermon to His Disciples, then walked down the mountain and delivered it again to the crowds.
  

• Matthew 's account seems to be more spiritual (poor in spirit, thirst for righteousness, etc), while Luke's appears to be more physical (poor, hungry, etc). I've read a lot of different explanations of this. I've always thought they were one in the same, with Matthew offering a more exact spiritual description and Luke being more symbolic and vague. But some say that Luke specifically writes about more physical conditions because (a) he tended to write about the "today" and (b) they allowed him to connect with his larger audience who were of differing spiritual beliefs. Others say that one of Luke's agendas was to portray a God that was for the poor and oppressed.

• Matthew lists 8 Beatitudes while Luke lists 4 plus 4 "woes". There could be many reasons for this. If Matthew and Luke are indeed writing about two different sermons, perhaps Jesus used two different "lesson plans". (Just like a teacher today would use two lectures depending on his/her audience) It's also possible that Luke left out some of the Beatitudes to either shorten his chapter while keeping the "overall gist" or to omit those that did not fit as well with his agenda of the "now". Finally, it is possible that Matthew (or Luke for that matter) are adding other common teachings of Jesus into this sermon to make it easier for the reader to link the common theme.
  

Despite the differences, I've always believed that it is the overall theme that is important - not the individual thoughts themselves. It is the collection of them that teaches us how God wants us to act.

But the most fascinating thing about the Beatitudes, to me, is that they are beautiful and scary at the same time.

They are beautiful because they represent a lesson from our Savior. One that flies in the face of the ruling class during His time and society today. (How wonderful must it have been for the "lower class" of His time to learn that they could get to Paradise?)

They are scary because, despite their almost poetic tone, they represent very real warnings for us. Especially today. We must constantly strive to live for Heaven, not for Earth. To ensure we are doing all we can with what God has given us to do His will. And to remember that God is everywhere, especially in the "least of His people."

And lets face it, sometimes that is more like climbing a mountain than walking on a plain.

God Bless.

What Are We So Afraid Of?

Just about every survey result on people's greatest fears will list "death" in the top three. Usually, its numero uno.

I thought about that a lot this week, especially coming off last weekend's Gospel (Mk 13:24-32). Death, and the End of Time, are always described so ominously. It's no wonder just the thought of it worries us.

But should it?

Imagine if we got to interview someone who had passed away and gone to Heaven.

When asked what Heaven is like, I imagine they would tell us that Heaven is perfect. It is a place of beauty. A place of joy. There are no tears, no crying, no anxiety, and no pain. Angels rejoice. Love is abundant. Peace is overflowing. In short, it is Paradise.

But when asked what Earth was like, in retrospect, they might tell us it is a place of sin, anxiety, and sorrow. A place where there is little harmony, and even less peace. A place where there is far from enough prayer, love and honor. A place where people kill each other, born and unborn out of spite, fear, hatred, and greed. And a place where people worry about possessions more often than they worry about serving the Lord.

After those responses, we might be tempted to ask them one more question...

So, what exactly were you so afraid of again?

God Bless.

If You Got One Wish

Last week's Gospel reading (Mark 10:46-52) was the story about Bartimaeus, a blind man who's persistence led Jesus to restore his sight.

Just about every homily and sermon I have heard on this passage highlights what great faith Bartimaeus showed. This is true, of course. People all around him were shouting at him and telling him to keep quiet. But he persisted. He kept calling for Jesus.

That in itself is a beautiful lesson for all of us.

But the part that always gives me pause is what happened next.

Jesus asked Bartimaeus "What do you want me to do for you?"

His response?

Sight.

Oh how I wish he had been like that thief crucified next to Jesus, and asked for a ticket to Paradise instead! I always wondered why this poor man wasted his "one wish" on such a physical, worldly thing, when he could have asked for something so much greater! After all, his sight came with an expiration date. But a place in the Kingdom would have been forever!

Of course, every time I lament about his "wish", I realize that there have been plenty of times in my life where I did the exact same thing. Times where I asked for - or worried about - silly things. Meaningless things. Times I pestered God for things that He knew weren't important. Times I should have been "asking" God for a seat at His table instead.

And so, whenever I hear this passage, I stop and thank Bartimaeus for giving me a lesson in persistence.

And then I thank him for, inadvertently, giving me a good dose of perspective as well.

God Bless.

What If ....

Imagine your priest was killed right before your eyes at Mass.

Now imagine the murderer turned to the congregation and asked if anyone else would like to continue the mass ... and suffer the same fate?

What would you do?

----------------------------

I've been thinking a lot about Peter and the Apostles this week, and how scary Jesus' final days on Earth must have been for them.

And my stream of consciousness led me to the following question ....

What if they just went back to living life the way they did before Jesus?

After all, look at their choices.

Go forth into a hostile world that hates them, will most likely torture them, and will eventually kill them
OR
Spend their mornings on a fishing boat and evenings having dinner with their wife and kids.

Of course on paper 2000 years later it's an easy choice. But I really thought hard about the magnitude of that decision back then.

They had just seen Jesus publicly embarrassed, tortured beyond human comprehension, and left to die in a horrendous fashion. To follow in his footsteps would mean the same for them.

And yet they did.

It would have been so easy to just go back to the simple life they were leading. To leave the whole "promoting-the-Kingdom" thing for the next generation to worry about. To assume God would just send someone else to finish the job.

But they didn't.

Strengthened by the Holy Spirit, and without their Leader physically with them, they looked death straight in the eyes and changed history.

I am in such awe of them, and so very, very grateful to them. It is because of their strength that we have the Gospels and teachings that can get us to Paradise.

God Bless.

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As I write this post from the comfort of my home, I imagine what kind of strength it would take to give that up, walk into town, and start preaching the Word of God to a square full of people that did not want me there. As daunting as that sounds, I imagine what kind of strength it would take to walk to the next town of angry people and do the same. And the next town. And the next...

Reach Paradise

Curious as to how I came up with the name of my blog?

I thought you’d never ask.

In Luke’s version of the Passion, two criminals are crucified along side of Jesus. One criminal joins the Roman soldiers in mocking Jesus, while the other one asks Jesus to remember him when he enters Heaven.

Jesus replies with - in my opinion the most beautiful phrase in the entire bible - “Amen I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

That passage reminds me of two things:

One, Jesus will always forgive us. Even during our final moments and no matter what our sins. His love for us is never ending.

Two, we should all do whatever we can so that we hear those same words from Him during our final hours. Can you imagine how glorious is must be to hear those words from Christ? To know you will be joining him in Heaven?

And so this blog is one way that I am trying to grow closer to God. Its my own little way to try and reach paradise.

God Bless.