Elise and I went to see the new movie, Jesus Revolution, a couple weeks ago. It stars Kelsey Grammar and Jonathan Roumie (Jesus, in The Chosen). For those of you who may not have heard of this film, it centers on Pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammar) who ran a small church in Southern California in the 70s. The story line involves a “hippie” named Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie) who meets Pastor Smith and they strike up a friendship. Frisbee brings his fellow “Jesus Freaks” to Smith’s church leading to a drastic uptick in attendance and a predictable ruffling of feathers of some of the established members of the church.
There is a scene in the film where some of these older members confront Smith over the attendance of these “less than sanitary” young people in “their” church. They object to how they dress, how they fail to wear shoes and stain the carpet, their music, etc. But what Pastor Smith has realized is the real love these young people have for Jesus. How they allowed Jesus to take control of their lives and pushed out things like promiscuous sex, drinking and drugs. In fact, it energizes Smith as he rediscovers the excitement he had had when he first began ministry. In Smith’s eyes it is nothing short of…well…amazing. He sees in the new Christians true devotion and love. The elders of the congregation? Well, they see trouble, threatening the status quo. Their own positions in the hierarchy of the church.
When I hear the word amazing, I can’t help but recall the New York Mets baseball team that won the 1969 World Series over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles. The Mets were a young team, founded in 1962 and had done more than their share of losing since their inception. But the 1969 season saw them going on a tear at the end of the regular season to capture the Eastern Division of the National League then won the National League pennant before facing the Orioles. They won the series 4 games to 1 completing one of the most improbable seasons in baseball history. Their first manager, Casey Stengel, coined the term the Amazin’ Mets.
Thank you for enduring my waltz into my childhood. Now, back to our regularly scheduled reflection:
Today’s Gospel follows up on this past Sunday’s Gospel of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. BTW. I learned that this should not be called a resurrection because Lazarus rose with the same body he had before he died. More of a resuscitation than a resurrection. But I digress.
In today’s Gospel we see the Pharisees and the scribes trying to decide what to do about Jesus. He is gaining much notoriety they are afraid he will be stealing their thunder and also risk having the Romans come in and shut them down completely. Now remember, Jesus just raised Lazarus from the dead. You know? Stinking, in the tomb for 4 days dead, Lazarus. This was, after all, A MIRACLE with a capital “M”. And the members of the Sanhedrin knew all about it. Never once did they deny that it occurred.
So, how can someone view something as AMAZING as raising someone from the dead, and fail to understand the significance of the one who did the raising?! Like the elders in Chuck Smith’s church, they centered on how this affected THEM and not the wider implication that they have a church full of excited new Christians. And the Pharisees and scribes have in their midst the actual Son of God. The Messiah they had been waiting for for centuries.
What about us. Do we miss the Amazing? I mean, are there things that occur in our day to day lives that are incredible and we just sort of take it as just part of everyday life and nothing all that special? I think so.
Let’s start with the fact that the earth spins on its access to give us day and night. That the sun showers us with heat and energy. That the oceans and the land are filled with life. That a man and a woman can cooperate with God to create life.
That every day we go to mass, Jesus Christ Himself is offered to us in the form of bread and wine. That he actually enters our bodies and makes a home there. Have we forgotten how to bow or kneel to that presence when we receive. Have we forgotten that we are to receive him without the stain of mortal sin. Or how about that God forgives us no matter what in the Sacrament of Reconciliation? That because Christ died on the cross, rose from the dead and began a Church, we no longer have to live with sin on our souls.
There is only one word that can describe all this adequately…Simply AMAZING!
