Archbishop’s Lectures in Holy Week
Nice to have the “what is that something more” on prayer which I think carries over to the 50 days of Easter. wow . growing into Christian humanity .!
Why Was Jesus Crucified? A historical perspective.
"Crucified under Pontius Pilate" . it’s in the creed! I got an email with the word “subversive” in it (more in jest rather than being accusative!) But then we are in good historical company.
In fact, Jesus’ crucifixion posed a whole clutch of potential problems for early Christians. It meant that at the origin and heart of their faith was a state execution and that their revered savior had been tried and found guilty by the representative of Roman imperial authority. This likely made a good many people wonder if the Christians weren’t some seriously subversive movement. It was, at least, not the sort of group that readily appealed to those who cared about their social standing.
This year my appreciation of Lent expanded from the Triduum to the whole Holy Week.
12 stations meditation freebie – worship trick 61 [series 3]
The freebie is really good.
Good one Tony. Good one for Good Friday. So does it mean now it’s harder to call him a heretic (in the historical sense, but politically or rhetorically it’s still gonna be around)?
I firmly believe, in unity with the Council of Chalcedon, that Jesus of Nazareth was both fully human and fully divine. This belief is key to one’s understanding of the crucifixion. If Jesus was a little less than fully either, then his death means something different than what I think it means.
One key to my understanding of the crucifixion is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. At about the age of 30, Jesus arrives at the Jordan River and is baptized by his cousin, John. He then retreats into the wilderness where, after a 40-day fast, he’s tempted. Really tempted. That is, the result of Jesus’ interaction with "the tempter" was not foreordained. Nor did Jesus know that he was divine in such a way that he wouldn’t cave in to the temptations before him. Had Jesus been cognizant of his divinity, he would not have been truly tempted.
Another key to my understanding of the end of Jesus’ life is what he did with the three previous years of his life. It seems to me that he did just a few things: 1) He taught about the Kingdom of God; 2) He performed miracles; 3) He developed a following that included 12 close followers and, by the end, hundreds of others.
