I always find the similarities and differences which the four Gospel writers bring to the Passion narratives interesting. On Palm Sunday it was from Luke, which is my favorite. It is lengthy, but rich in details, some of which are missing from the other three accounts.
In the agony in the garden scene, the disciples fell asleep, and an angel came to comfort Jesus. We have all seen the picture of the angel holding Jesus, who is fainting and ghastly pale. Small-t tradition has it that the angel of the agony is Gabriel, who was present at the beginning of Jesus' earthly life, and is there at the end. Luke writes, "When he rose from prayer and returned to the disciples, he found them sleeping from grief." Which gives them a little more credit than some commentaries do, saying that they were drunk or uncaring. As it is, the disciples do not come off looking very well in the passion accounts
Then there is the account of Peter whacking off the high priest's servant's ear. Luke is the only account which has Jesus healing the ear. The servant is named as Malchus in John's gospel. But he is not named in Luke. I think the healing is in character with Jesus, and hope that was really how it happened.
All of the Gospels mention that Jesus was crucified between two criminals. But Luke's is the only one who has one of them being repentant, and Jesus telling him, "This day you shall be with me in paradise." I have read commentaries which said that Jesus knew the man was only repenting from fear, and would never be a disciple, but forgave him anyway, and promised him salvation. Another small-t tradition thing has the man's name as Dismas, and is named as the patron saint of incarcerated people and those faced with capital punishment.
Veronica is not in the scriptural accounts, but is considered one of the daughters of Jerusalem, which are mentioned.
One mysterious passage is this one, "...if these things are done when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" I don't quite understand that, but what it makes me think of is wild fire. Which California and Colorado had so much of last year, and our state is experiencing lately, from the extremely dry grass. Maybe someone has seen an explanation of this passage.
I think the centurion who said, "This man was truly the son of God" only speaks in Luke.
With Joseph of Arimathea claiming the body of Christ, I think of Caravaggio's famous painting of the Entombment. Nicodemus is in the painting, but is not in Luke's account, he only appears in John.
Green tree/dry tree:
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting. I'm sure there's a historical analysis somewhere. But just from a literary standpoint, I always took it to mean that if Jesus (the green wood, full of eternal life and salvation) is given to torture and death, imagine what will befall the rest of you mortals (dry wood).
Fire sure does seem to be implied. So maybe the idea is that Christ has ushered in a time of renewal and salvation (green wood) which is being destroyed and consumed. When he is gone, the world will become as dry wood, and the conflagration will be even worse.
I don't think this imagery is in Revelation, but it has an apocalyptic ring: bad times are coming, even for the followers of Christ (the green wood), fed by the dry tinder of those who opposed him.
Just my two cents. Thanks for pointing that passage out.
In John chapter 9, which is the story of the Man Born Blind, Jesus says,
ReplyDelete"We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
I understand the Luke passage about green wood and dry wood to be making a somewhat similar point. Here is that verse in a bit more context:
"A large crowd of people followed Jesus,
including many women who mourned and lamented him.
Jesus turned to them and said,
“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me;
weep instead for yourselves and for your children
for indeed, the days are coming when people will say,
‘Blessed are the barren,
the wombs that never bore
and the breasts that never nursed.’
At that time people will say to the mountains,
‘Fall upon us!’
and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’
for if these things are done when the wood is green
what will happen when it is dry?”"
This time in which Jesus is among them is the time when the wood is green. The apocalyptic time to come, the time of dry wood, could easily be understood to be a reference to the disastrous Jewish rebellion resulting in the destruction of the temple. I believe this is one of the passages which has led scholars to date Luke's Gospel as having been compiled after those events.
"I have read commentaries which said that Jesus knew the man was only repenting from fear, and would never be a disciple, but forgave him anyway, and promised him salvation."
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't buy into a view that minimizes the repentant thief's declaration of faith. I'm open to the idea that an encounter with Jesus, even at the moment of death, can change a person. A deathbed confession of faith is just as good as a lifelong commitment; the parable of the Prodigal Son makes a somewhat similar point.
FWIW - I know of one instance, a parent of one of our friends, who sort of did an un-Dismas: on his deathbed, he said that he didn't believe in God or Jesus. This was after a lifetime of being a "good Catholic", going to mass every Sunday, sending his child to Catholic schools, etc. The man was suffering tremendously from the medical conditions (and probably the treatment!) that brought about his death, and he surely was distraught that death was approaching. So I'd hope that God would take these mitigating circumstances into consideration. I hope God would let this confession of lack of faith pass, but would accept the repentant thief's confession of faith at full value.
I suspect that God does not judge anyone on their faith - nor on a lack of faith. I suspect that God looks at how people live, and is not a bit concerned about their religious beliefs. Orthopraxy not orthodoxy.
DeleteAnd if God is not like that, then an eternity in God’s presence would not be heaven, it would be hell.
P.s. I also assume that if someone who is dying truly repented for not living a good life - had failed to love, to be compassionate, to be kind, or even to be honest (by stealing) God would show loving mercy for the deathbed repentance , whether the repentant person “ believed” a long list of religious ideas or not.
DeleteI am very attached to the Good Thief story. I was listening to an African American preacher while driving one Good Friday decades ago. He pretty much summed up what Christianity was supposed to be about: Jesus stopped dying long enough to help a dying man.
DeleteWe are all dying. We all have something to give even in our last and weakest moments--comfort, forgiveness, repentance, validation.
I suggested the parable of the Good Samaritan as an imperfect parallel. The parable of the workers in the vineyard probably is a lot closer: whether we're hired at dawn or at the end of the afternoon, we receive the same wage.
DeleteMany years ago, a friend who had shared an apartment with me before we both married died of leukemia. She was 33 and had been fighting her illness for 7 years at the time of her death. Her husband, family and friends were devastated of course. At the funeral mass the priest gave the worst funeral homily ever. This was the first Catholic funeral my Protestant husband had ever gone to. He truly was shocked - absolutely couldn’t believe that this priest would compare this beautiful, kind and loving young woman to the Good Thief - emphasizing that although she was a sinner, like the Good Thief, God would forgive her and let her into heaven. This “homily” simply added to the burden of grief. Unfortunately that memory from her funeral has stayed with me ever since, and pretty much ruined the story for me. Every now and then, more than 40 years later, something reminds my husband of that funeral homily and he gets angry all over again.
DeleteSigning off for the remainder of Holy Week, but I have heard that "wages of sin is death" sermon at many Protestant funerals--Baptist, Lutheran. The Amish love it.
DeleteI think there is a type of clergy person who believes that people need a wake-up call more than comfort, and that they might pay attention if the message is given as their loved one lies dead in front of them. Maybe they feel the shame-and-scare tactics are justified if they lead to an eternity of bliss.
I can certainly dream up quite a lot of satisfying scenarios in Purgatory for clergy like that.
Anne - what we're talking about here touches closely on baptism and purgatory. This person I mentioned who renounced his faith on his deathbed: he was baptized. I hope that is something that God chooses not to "undo". But it's possible that he, like I, would need to go through a process of purification in order to be ready to be in God's presence.
DeleteJim, if there actually is a purgatory, if purification after bodily death is “required”, then every single human being ever born is headed there. Including all the daily communicants, the scrupulous folk at confession every week, the”adorerers” ( new descriptor I’ve seen a few times lately) as well as the doubters and even those who lose, or never had “faith”. And somehow I seriously doubt that God is so petty that anyone’s baptism would be undone. Perhaps God would be pleased by the man’s deathbed honesty. A good God would certainly not punish him for it.
DeleteAnd finally I really do pray that someday those who envision God as being “little”, stingy, petty, bound by the limitations of human minds and imagination, will come to understand that christian baptism isn’t required for admission into the club of “eternal life” anyway. I hope that someday people who think that God is little, that God is vindictive, that God is a gotcha judge, that God is more a like a petty human being than God, will encounter the God of love.
I don’t know what to think about people who did not live good lives. People who were deliberately cruel, who chose to hurt others. Perhaps purgatory is for them. IF there is a purgatory.
Most clergy do try to give comfort to grieving families. My husband is often called on to lead the vigil service on the evening before a funeral, and usually assist at the funeral itself, if his schedule allows. He and our priest always meet with the family to talk and find out their wishes prior.
DeleteFortunately I haven't heard any funeral homilies that struck the sour note of the one Anne mentions.
The good thief story more nearly fits in with jail ministry, which K. was also involved with. Of course Covid shut that down. They are in hopes of being able to resume that soon.
The word this is here translated as green is the Greek word “hydros” which has meanings of moist, pliant and green. This word is used nowhere else in the NT and only three places in the OT.
ReplyDeleteJudges 16:7 And Samson answered her: If I shall be bound with seven cords made of sinews not yet dry, but still moist, I shall be weak like other men. (Jdg 16:7 DRA)
Job 8:16 He seemeth to have moisture before the sun cometh, and at his rising his blossom shall shoot forth. (Job 8:16 DRA)
Sirach 39:17 By a voice he saith: Hear me, ye divine offspring, and bud forth as the rose planted by the brooks of waters (Sir 39:17 DRA)
Luke is very much the wordsmith. You often find words like this which are rarely found elsewhere in Scripture. Usually Luke’s intentions are clear; however, in this case I am not quite sure. Samson died in the course of saving his people. In Job moisture is associated with rightness and vindication. And Sirach is a hymn of praise to incarnated Divine Wisdom in wise men. A really great hymn to the positive side of the suffering servant of Isaiah. Maybe this is Luke's intention. We probably do not use it in the liturgy because is refers to men rather than one person.
DRA (This old Catholic translation is in the public domain) Sirach 39:1 The wise men will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients, and will be occupied in the prophets.
2 He will keep the sayings of renowned men, and will enter withal into the subtilties of parables.
3 He will search out the hidden meanings of proverbs, and will be conversant in the secrets of parables.
4 He shall serve among great men, and: appear before the governor.
5 He shall pass into strange countries: for he shall try good and evil among men.
6 He will give his heart to resort early to the Lord that made him, and he will pray in the sight of the most High.
7 He will open his mouth in prayer, and will make supplication for his sins.
8 For if it shall please the great Lord, he will fill him with the spirit of understanding:
9 And he will pour forth the words of his wisdom as showers, and in his prayer he will confess to the Lord.
10 And he shall direct his counsel, and his knowledge, and in his secrets shall he meditate.
11 He shall shew forth the discipline he hath learned, and shall glory in the law of the covenant of the Lord.
12 Many shall praise his wisdom, and it shall never be forgotten.
13 The memory of him shall not depart away, and his name shall be in request from generation to generation.
14 Nations shall declare his wisdom, and the church shall shew forth his praise.
15 If he continue, he shall leave a name above a thousand: and if he rest, it shall be to his advantage.
16 I will yet meditate that I may declare: for I am filled as with a holy transport.
17 By a voice he saith: Hear me, ye divine offspring, and bud forth as the rose planted by the brooks of waters.
18 Give ye a sweet odor as frankincense.
19 Send forth flowers, as the lily, and yield a smell, and bring forth leaves in grace, and praise with canticles, and bless the Lord in his works.
20 Magnify his name, and give glory to him with the voice of your lips, and with the canticles of your mouths, and with harps, and in praising him, you shall say in this manner:
21 All the works of the Lord are exceeding good.
The word that is here translated as dry is the Greek word “eremos” which is dry or dry land (desert) The only place beside this that Luke used it is to describe the man with a withered hand
DRA Luke 6:8 But he knew their thoughts; and said to the man who had the withered hand: Arise, and stand forth in the midst. And rising he stood forth. (Luk 6:8 DRA).