Reflection

Jesus was tried and convicted for being a “superstar” who was rocking the world with his vision of a new a world order where power and wealth no longer belonged only to those in authority but is shared. He championed the poor, the sick, the criminals, all who lived at bottom of society. The Son of God, his superstar status was a threat to the Jewish leaders as well as the Romans. Like many rebels who have fought the status quo, he paid the price with his earthly life. The hope of the Kingdom of God continues through all those who continue to do his work and continue to fight injustice. I really can relate to these readings and their message because I listen to music that questions society’s intransigent structures and calls for reform.

Cure on a Sabbath John 10:1-15

1) There was a feast and Jesus went through Jerusalem. 2) There are five porticoes at the pool at the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. 3) There were many ill, blind, lame and crippled there. 4) The Lord would send angels to heal them with water from the pool. 5) There was a man who was there for thirty-eight years. 6) Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be well. 7) He says there is no one to help him to the pool when it is stirred. 8) Jesus tells him to rise and take his mat. 9) It was the Sabbath, the man was healed and left. 10) A Jew said to the cured man it was the Sabbath and he can't carry the mat. 11) The cured man says his healer told him to. 12) They ask who the healer is. 13) The cured man did not know who the healer was. 14) Jesus found the cured man in the temple and told him to sin no more. 15) The cured man said Jesus healed him.

Those that are ill in Jerusalem go to the Sheep Gate pool to be healed by an angel of God. One man had been there for thirty-eight years because he had no one to help him there and when he managed to get there a person had taken his spot to be healed. Jesus heals him and tells him to sin no more. If people would be more considerate toward those who need assistance then the world would be a more compassionate place. It is written that Jesus would often preach about compassion toward others and how it would bring people into the Kingdom of God.

On Trial example: The Wall by Kansas

In the Book, Jesus Before Christianity in chapter 18, Albert Nolan, recounts Christianity as the history of those who came to believe in Jesus and who were inspired to take up the challenge of his death. The elements of this challenge are present in our everyday lives, in our thoughts, actions, written word, and music. A musical piece that inspires me to recount Jesus’ challenge is the song The Wall by Kansas. When I think of the challenge of Jesus’ death, I recount the sacrifice, courage and conviction a single man endured for others. Jesus’ chosen life path had lead him to a task or obstacle. This was his “wall” between what he was on Earth and all that he knew could be if he endured the pain and suffering of a trial and crucifixion. As Nolan discusses, Jesus as a man feared this test and prayed others would not be as severely tested as he was to be. Alone with his thoughts, and seemingly abandoned by his friends, he feared he was too weak to take up this challenge. However, when the time came, he did it. His actions in this trial stood to others as a symbol and a sum of what his life was; he knew in the end he must act to tear down this wall, sacrifice himself to bring the kingdom to earth. Through this act, all that he was, and all that he was ever meant to be would exist in harmony. It would be a kingdom open to all who wanted to live and believe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBMsulQMqm8