Deep Calls to Deep 4th of Easter – Voices of Strangers and Shepherds…
Jesus made another attempt to get the attention of the Pharisees at the start of chapter ten in John. Recall he had a dust-up with them over the man born blind and then told them they were blind. Here, he tells them they are idolaters (“stranger’s voice” = “strange” gods before me…) and essentially false shepherds. Ezekiel […]
Retrospect to 2nd of Easter – Lost Audio
Yeah, I just got this audio file this week. It’s about, as you may recall, Jesus’ appearance to the disciples in what came to be the ‘safe environment’ of the room with the locked doors. It’s only within such a safe environment that we can face how we use others to shore up our fragile self-esteem. […]
3rd of Easter – Emmaus & Heartburn (4)
How might heartburn (from Jesus opening the scriptures to them) and broken bread be related? Seems to me… Heartburn revealed their experience of purification from their idolatry – their demand that Jesus be the kind of redeemer they wanted. They were choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life and remained immature. Jesus […]
3rd of Easter – Emmaus & Heartburn
This is very important to answer: What did the disciples recognize? Obviously, they recognized him in the breaking of the bread. (Luke 24:35) What else? To come to know, perceive, recognize = ginosko They knew Jesus and the Father: Luke 10:22 […]
3rd of Easter – Emmaus & Heartburn (2)
Why think that the Emmaus story is about repentance/conversion? How is it our story, too? Here we see the need for their hearts to burn, our hearts to burn – purification! Here are a couple connections the Greek makes internally in Luke and with the Greek Old Testament: To go; proceed; travel = poreuomai HOW were they […]
3rd of Easter – Emmaus & Heartburn (1)
“Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” Whaaaa…? Christ’s gift of heartburn? What does the Greek, kaio, “to burn,” signify? Two things, the presence of God and purification. Check it out: Exodus 3:2 There the […]
2nd of Easter – Thomas and Safe Environments (4)
Rather than ‘retaining’ the sins of the disciples, especially Thomas, Jesus granted them eschatological peace, breathed the Holy Spirit upon them, sent them as the Father had sent Jesus, and gave them the mission of rebuilding and restoring all. So, Thomas shows up. Jesus granted peace and, in effect, welcomed Thomas’ inquiry. For what Thomas […]
2nd of Easter – Thomas and Safe Environments (3)
The way Jesus treated the disciples, including Thomas tells us something about how he treats us (in the midst of fears) and what “whose sins you retain are retained” means. Popular interpretation of this passage carries the image of the priest-confessor deciding the adequacy of a) confession of sins in kind and number and b) the person’s […]
2nd of Easter – Thomas & Safe Environments (2)
The doors were locked for “fear of the Jewish officials.” The inner room was fraught with (let’s guess) danger, terror, self-loathing, self-recrimination, differing senses of no exit, no future. Who would have blamed whom? Who would have attacked the others? Tempers flare? Tears of remorse? Breakdown of fellowship? Insecurity? Self-defense rules? Whatever conjectures we […]
2nd of Easter – Thomas & Safe Environments (1)
At Gesu this weekend, we remembered “Safe Environment Week” a week earlier than the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. (Parish schedules and all that.) And on this Sunday we contemplate Thomas, often called the Doubter. This week I wish to reflect on some ways they fit together. And the first is this: What we all have in common with […]
Deep Calls to Deep 