Our blog is inspired by The Holy Spirit.
Jesus passed through towns and villages,
teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.
Someone asked him,
“Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
He answered them,
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter
but will not be strong enough.
After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door,
then will you stand outside knocking and saying,
‘Lord, open the door for us.’
He will say to you in reply,
‘I do not know where you are from.’
And you will say,
‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’
Then he will say to you,
‘I do not know where you are from.
Depart from me, all you evildoers!’
And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth
when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God
and you yourselves cast out.
And people will come from the east and the west
and from the north and the south
and will recline at table in the Kingdom of God.
For behold, some are last who will be first,
and some are first who will be last.” Emphasis mine Luke 13: 22-30
I, not we, have found this reading very difficult.
Back in my youth, if you received a telegram, it meant someone died, and if you got a notice from the IRS, it meant you were in trouble tax-wise and were being audited.
I, sadly, look at the above reading and have a similar reaction.
Take the lines,
‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’
Then he will say to you,
‘I do not know where you are from.
Depart from me, all you evildoers!’
Wow!
But maybe you think this is about the Jews two thousand years ago?
When you receive the Eucharist, are you not participating in the meal established two thousand years ago?
Over the years, I was taught by many priests and religious people that Jesus had to grow into His knowledge of being the Son of God.
At first, I had a hard time believing this, and that was because of the miracles He performed.
Jesus had to know He was different.
I finally began to think He knew He was different but didn’t fully realize until the Last Supper He was the Son of God the Father, and God, His Father, turned everything over to Him.
So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, John 13: 3
So, now you’re thinking, “Why is this important?”
The Cross!
And this is why I put so much Faith and emphasis on the Cross of Jesus.
We will do a timeline I was unaware of until I recently watched Tim Gray of The Formed. We are also going to expand on what Tim talked about.
Step one: Jesus has been Crucified and is hanging on His Cross.
Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, if you are the Son of God, [and] come down from the cross!” Likewise the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him and said, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. So he is the king of Israel! Let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” The revolutionaries who were crucified with him also kept abusing him in the same way. Emphasis mine Matthew 27: 39-44
Notice, EVERYONE reviled and abused HIM!
Next, we go to St. Luke, which is how Tim helped me; he linked the two Gospels.
Let me explain.
Each year we read one Gospel on Good Friday, but never all of the Gospels at the same time, so I never linked them.
After Jesus was Crucified, “Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Emphasis mine Luke 23: 34
Jesus is taking on satan directly,
How?
Outrageous Love!
and,
Mercy!
Jesus just defeated satan with Their Love and Mercy.
Next, Jesus shows Their, never forget all Three Persons were on the Cross, Mercy to a criminal.
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23: 30-43
Notice they are ALL abusing Him, in Matthew, and then something happens. Jesus doesn’t react to their abuse,
Jesus is hanging on the Cross, not held by the nails that were driven through His Precious Hands and Feet, but by the Love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
for who?
His Father and for You and me,
and therefore, Jesus is Hanging, as we reported in a previous blog in Freedom filled with JOY. Not my words, Bishop Barron’s words.
The criminal on the right notices this, changes his attitude toward Jesus, and asks to be remembered.
Now is when Jesus speaks some of His last words, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God; I believe these last words are some of the most important words that Jesus will say.
Jesus says, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”
And,
“Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Wow!
The criminal was a criminal!
According to Matthew, you can’t sugarcoat that fact, and this criminal was part of the crowd abusing Jesus.
I repeat, Tim Gray pointed out the linkage between the two Gospels, and this was the piece of the puzzle I was missing, and now armed with the knowledge of linking different Gospels, we have also linked the Gospel of John for the beginning of this timeline and lastly Mark.
Wow, we will have used all four Gospels.
The criminal is the first we know of after the death of Jesus to be with Jesus in Paradise.
But that’s not all,
And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” Mark 15: 39
We pointed out in a previous blog that the son of god for the Roman Centurion was the current Ceaser. The Roman Centurion, with this statement, is throwing Ceaser under the bus and proclaiming JESUS as the TRUE Son of God!
There is one last piece we also would love to interject.
When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. Luke 23: 48
Why did we include this passage?
Go back and look at the picture at the top of the page.
I believe, and I have no proof, the sunset that First Good Friday was Blood Red to remind the people, and you and I today, of the price paid by Jesus for our salvation.
Wow!
I have never looked at a Blood Red sunset in this manner before, and I pray I will continue to view a Blood Red Sunset as a reminder from God the Father of the price paid Loveningly by His Son for us on that First Good Friday.
Is there a Hell?
I believe there is.
But I also believe God’s Mercy is far greater than we dare hope for, and the criminal on the right tells us this.
The criminal on the right is in Paradise!
So what do we do?
Love God with your whole heart, mind, and soul, and Love your neighbor as yourself. If you are trying to be the person God wants you to be, that is all you can do. The criminal on the right was a criminal until the last moment; he also abused Jesus until the criminal saw the light.
See the light by celebrating the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus as Good News.
We know we have been Justified (Romans 5:9) by a God of Outrageous Love.
“The nine” We pray you will grow in the Love, Joy, and Peace of the Holy Spirit by growing in Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
Sidebar:
Weee will be very brief.
The fascinating part about this blog is that I put the picture at the top of the page BEFORE reading the readings. When I read the readings, I knew God was inspiring this blog.
We have said earlier that your participation makes our blog even stronger.
The picture sent by Jim proves this.
Therisa’s picture last week had the same kind of linkage; Sadly, I didn’t see it until we wrote this blog.
Picture:
This is a picture from our front deck overlooking Swan Pond in Lyman, Maine. The photo was taken on 10/3/22. James Boisvert
Jim took this with his iPhone; as we said, easy!
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, no people, please, because we have to get permission from that person to use their photograph; in the comments section, tell me you want to submit a picture, and I will send you my email address in our reply on Thursday.
Pull out those phones, and let’s start snapping.
