Esta tarde esbozo en 20 minutos la presentación de Jesús en los evangelios desde el punto de vista de su recorrido de la Palestina. espero suscitar temas para compartir y meditar. Voy a alternar en cada diapositiva entre el inglés y el español: cuando hable en inglés, la diapositiva estará en español, y vice versa;
This evening I will sketch in about 20 minutes the Gospels’ presentation of Jesus Ministry in terms of travels. I hope to stir up some ideas for discussion and meditation; I will switch languages from one slide to the other: whenever I speak in English, the slide will be in Spanish, and vice versa.
En la pantalla se puede ver el mapa de Palestina, la tierra de Jesús. Él vivía en Galilea, al norte, donde se ve el lago de Galilea. En el mapa se ven dos pueblos letrados en blanco: Nazaret y Cafarnaúm. Jericó y la capital, Jerusalén, se encuentran en el sur, en la región de Judea. Norte y sur están ligados por el río Jordán, donde Juan Bautista predicaba la conversión de vida y ofrecía el rito de purificación y renovación que seguimos llamando bautismo. El Jordán baja de norte a sur, desembocando en el Mar Muerto, pero Juan Bautista asentó su ministerio en el sur. La gente sabía dónde ir para verlo. No así Jesús, quien se desplazaba constantemente de Nazaret a Cafarnaúm a Betsaida y a los demás pueblos del norte. La gente lo buscaba y no sabía a dónde iría después. Esta diferencia es notable. Mientras que Juan Bautista se retiró al desierto de Judea, el ministerio de Jesús lo llevó a visitar a la gente donde ella vivía. Jesús entendió que su misión era de salir, de ir al encuentro de la gente y hablar con ella, y atenderla en sus necesidades. Claro que rezaba el sábado en las sinagogas con su gente, pero no se quedaba allí. Jesús no era un predicador o curandero local, más bien un profeta itinerante.
On screen is a well-known map of Jesus’ homeland. Jesus was a Galilean, from the North, where we can see the Sea of Galilee. Nazareth and Capernaum are the two villages we can spot in white letters. The capital, Jerusalem, and Jericho, are both in the Southern region of Judea. North and South are linked by the Jordan river, where John the Baptist preached repentance and performed a ritual of cleansing and renewal we still call baptism. Although the Jordan river runs down from North to South all the way to the Dead Sea, John the Baptist kept his ministry pretty stable in the Southern riverbanks. People knew where to find him. Not so Jesus, who kept moving from Nazareth to Capernaum, Bethsaida and the other Northern villages. People had to look for him and never knew where he was headed next. This is not inconsequential. Contrary to John the Baptist, who retreated into the Judean desert, Jesus’ ministry took him everywhere ordinary people lived. Jesus perceived his mission to be to go out, to reach out, to meet with people and talk with them and tend to their needs. He certainly prayed in the synagogues on the Sabbath with the people, but he was definitely not a resident preacher or healer, rather a wandering prophet.
Esto da qué pensar. Como el Papa Francisco nos lo recuerda, los discípulos de Cristo tenemos que estar en salida, como nuestro maestro. Si la Iglesia pretende ser fiel a Jesús no puede quedarse sentada en el templo. Tiene que salir al encuentro de las personas, donde se le necesita. ¿Hemos estado saliendo últimamente en el nombre de Jesús? ¿Haciendo qué y diciendo qué?
This is food for thought. As Pope Francis pleads today, we Christians, disciples of Jesus, we need to be going out more often, like our Master did. A Church that pretends to be faithful to Jesus has to be dynamic and mobile, out there where it matters most. Have we been going out lately in Jesus’ name? Saying what and doing what?
The Gospels focus on one final journey to Jerusalem, in the South, where Jesus is arrested and executed. The popular prophet from the North met with the resistance from the wealthy, the powerful and the religious authorities. Empire always knows how to quench criticism and thwart any attempt at upheaval: just humiliate, punish and eliminate troublemakers, take them out in the scariest of ways. Hanging up troublemakers in crosses on the road is a pretty efficient deterrent to dissent. Jesus knew what he was up against when he decided nevertheless to travel to Jerusalem. This is also food for thought. As disciples of Jesus, where do we choose to go? Do we leave our comfort zone? Or do we avoid trouble by rehearsing the Gospel where it is safe to proclaim?
Jesus himself has a very direct way to show us what awaits us if we follow on his wake. “Take up your cross and follow me.” This is not just a call to face our personal challenges or to put up with the daily inconveniences in our lives. This is a stern warning on the cost of discipleship. You want to be my disciple? Befriend then the very weapon that the Empire is going to use against you to inflict pain on you and to push you to quit. Again, this is food for thought. Have we not tamed the cross into a comforting religious symbol? What instrument of repression from today’s powerful would be the gruesome equivalent of the cross back then in Jesus’ time?
Cuando Jesús llega a Jericó, cerca de Jerusalén, él sana al ciego Bartimeo. En cuanto ve de nuevo, Bartimeo deja su manto detrás y sigue a Jesús por el camino… que lo lleva a Jerusalén y a la pasión. A través de este relato de sanación particular y a estas alturas del Evangelio, San Marcos claramente nos está tratando de intimar cuál es la respuesta que Dios espera de nosotros al llamado de Jesús. Una vez más, hay materia para reflexionar. Pensando en Bartimeo, ¿Qué estará bloqueando nuestra vista de lo que hay por hacer en nuestro vecindario? ¿Cuál sería el manto al que nos sentimos pegados y que no queremos dejar para seguir a Jesús? ¿De dónde sacar coraje para pedir a Jesús que nos abra los ojos, a pesar de los reproches y las malas miradas de otros, a fin de sanar de nuestra indiferencia o complacencia con la manera en que se conducen las cosas alrededor nuestro?
When Jesus reaches Jericho, nearby Jerusalem, he heals Bartimaeus the blind. As Bartimaeus recovers his sight, he leaves his cloak behind and follows Jesus on the way… to Jerusalem! Through this particular healing story at this particular stage in the Gospel, Saint Mark the Evangelist clearly wishes to convey what is the appropriate and expected response to Jesus’ call. Once more, here is food for thought. What might be blocking our sight from what needs to be done, here in our neighborhood? What kind of cloak might we be fond of and reluctant to let go of? How could we summon the courage to ask Jesus, in spite of others rebuking us or shushing us, to heal from our indifference or complacency with the way things are around us?
La cruz romana no impidió volver a caminar a Jesús, pero de otra manera, misteriosa. Dios lo resucitó para que fuese al encuentro de sus discípulos decepcionados, desilusionados, descorazonados. Ellos ya no creían en la misión, huyendo de Jerusalén. No entendían el sentido de los trágicos eventos. Jesús les da el alcance y camina con ellos, los escucha y les ayuda a entender mejor, gracias a las Escrituras. Nosotros también tendremos la oportunidad en unos minutos, gracias al Pr. Todd Hanneken, de entender de manera muy original e inédita las estaciones de la cruz a la luz del caminar de Abrahán en el Antiguo Testamento.
The Roman cross never stopped Jesus from walking again, with us, although not for our eyes of flesh to see and recognize. That is our faith in the Resurrection of Christ, beautifully told by St. Luke in the Emmaus Road story. Two disciples walk away from Jerusalem: disappointed, disillusioned, disheartened. They thought the mission was over with Jesus’ passing away, they could not grasp the meaning of it all. Notice how they walk away from Jerusalem, instead of walking towards it like Bartimaeus. Jesus joins them and walks along with them, listens to them, and invites them to think again, with the help of the Scriptures of old.
In a few minutes we too will have the chance to rethink the stations of the cross in light of Abraham’s experience, thanks to Pr. Todd Hanneken of St. Mary’s University. The Holy Scriptures are to help us in our discernment of God’s will for our world today; they trigger new understandings of our reality, they shed God’s light into our predicament. Abraham’s story in the book of Genesis, although apparently unrelated to the Passion of Jesus Christ, may help us walk the stations of the cross with a renewed, deeper understanding. If we care to open the Scriptures and listen, everything comes into place, just like it did for those two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Welcoming the stranger to stay and share our bread completes the journey. Jesus’ presence is truly felt and with renewed enthusiasm, we can set out again to fulfill our calling as disciples of the wandering Galilean.
Si el ministerio de Jesús consistió en salir al encuentro de la gente y caminar con ella, la Iglesia que se reúne en su nombre reconoce luego un viaje más increíble y trascendente hecho por Jesús fuera de nuestra vista. Al confesar que Jesús no es sólo el Mesías judío tan esperado, sino el Hijo Único que Dios envía al mundo para salvarnos, la Iglesia dice algo mucho más profundo del caminar de Jesús. La semana próxima nos adentraremos más en este caminar de Jesús, del Padre hasta nosotros para luego regresar al Padre y ofrecernos la posibilidad de seguirlo hasta allí.
If Jesus’ Galilean ministry was all about going out and reaching out to people, the Church that gathers in his name has deepened its understanding of a wider, global and far-reaching mission beyond what anyone would have thought possible at first. By confessing Jesus not only as the long-awaited Jewish Messiah, but also as God’s Son, the ultimate revelation of God’s will for us, the Church says something more and something bold about this wandering and humble Galilean. The Apostle Paul captures this in a nutshell, when he writes to the Galatians that “when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to ransom those under the Law, so that we might receive adoption” (Gal 4:4-5.) We thus confess as Christians that Jesus not only walked the roads of Palestine, but that he actually set off from even farther – from heaven – all the way to meet us on earth. We confess that Jesus is not only a wandering Galilean prophet, but the Son of God sent into the world to redeem all of us within it. What a Journey that is! Next week we will go deeper into this unseen part of Jesus’ travels, from the Father to us and then back to the Father.
Ahora a intercambiar unos minutos gracias a las preguntas que aparecen en las separatas, con las personas a su alrededor. Regresamos luego con la ponencia del Pr. Hanneken sobre la Via Dolorosa de Abrahán.
For now, let’s reflect and discuss on what we have seen so far, with the help of the questions in your handouts. We have 10 minutes for this, no need to go through all of them, just pick the ones that speak to you and share your thoughts with the people next to you. We will then proceed to the second half of our evening talks with Dr. Hanneken and Abraham.
Buenas tardes a todos y a todas. El equipo de La Biblia y su Tradición se complace en continuar nuestra reflexión cuaresmal sobre La jornada del amor hacia la cruz. La semana pasada exploramos el ministerio de Jesús desde el punto de vista de su desplazamiento constante por los pueblos de Palestina y a Jerusalén. Vimos el contraste entre Juan Bautista arraigado en el desierto de Judea y Jesús viajando por los pueblos de Galilea. Prestamos atención al llamado a seguir a Jesús por el camino que lo lleva a Jerusalén, a la confrontación con las autoridades y al martirio. Jesús no abandona a sus discípulos, sino que camina misteriosamente con ellos aún después de su pasión y resurrección. Ello indica cuán importante es el caminar en la vida de la Iglesia. Hoy veremos con mayor profundidad el significado de la cruz en el caminar de Jesús, desde el evangelio y la primera carta de San Juan.
Good evening once again. The Bible and Its Tradition team is honored to pursue our Lenten reflection on Love’s Journey to the Cross with you. Last week we sketched Jesus’ ministry as that of a wandering prophet, reaching out to the people where they lived and worked. We paid close attention to the courage Jesus summoned to face opposition in Jerusalem and how a true disciple in the gospels is called to follow on her/his masters wake to the end. But we also reflected on the Risen Jesus walking along with his disheartened disciples and inspiring them to continue the journey after his departure. Today we read the event of the cross in light of St. John’s Gospel and his first letter.
Aside from St. Paul, St. John is the New Testament writer who explicitly develops this idea of Jesus’ ministry as that of a son doing his father’s will while on a mission that involves travel. I recall that when I was a kid, my father would send me with money to the bakery to get warm bread for late breakfast on the weekend. I was entrusted with a bag made of cloth, the approximate sum of money I needed for the purchase and a verbal account of the sorts of bread that were preferable, as well as how many were required. I had discretionary power at the bakery, depending on what might be available or not. But it was crisp clear that I was not to return with pastry I would love, only bread. This anecdote illustrates the human experience we use to talk about Jesus’ relationship to God and the value of what he accomplished on earth. When we say God sent his Son to save the world, we mean Jesus did for us what God intended but couldn’t accomplish in person. Jesus came to us as a Son sent by God the Father with an errand. Only, the errand was not to purchase bread for the Father to eat, rather to offer himself as bread for all of God’s children to be nourished. St. John uses bread, water and light as symbolical goods that Jesus brings to us to share in God’s life-giving power. But Jesus says in St. John’s Gospel that he is the light, the spring of fresh water and the bread that has come down from heaven. So what Jesus has to offer is himself! That is nothing less than self-sacrifice. Hence the cross is the hour of Jesus completing his mission by giving us even his very life, flesh, blood and spirit as a God-sent gift. Thus the sacrifice at the cross becomes the ultimate expression of Christ’s and God’s love for us.
Cristo nos ofrece su vida: en cuerpo, sangre y espíritu, para que vivamos de la vida misma de Dios, la vida divina. El Hijo obedece al Padre y viene hasta nosotros para darnos su luz, su paz y su amor. Cristo nos enseña pues cuánto nos aman él y el Padre al ofrecer su vida por nosotros, al alejarse del Padre para estar con nosotros y vivir con nosotros y morir por nosotros. Ahora bien, Jesús se acerca pero nos llama también para que nos acerquemos nosotros mismos. “Vengan y verán” nos dice en Juan 1:39. Si queremos tener noticias del Padre, si queremos oír su voz y aprender de él (Juan 6:45), nos toca hacer lo que podemos: es decir acercarnos a Cristo, luz de Dios venida al mundo (Juan 1:9). Al caminar de Jesús hasta nosotros en su encarnación corresponde nuestro caminar hacia él en nuestras vidas.
The Son’s journey towards us through the Incarnation calls for our meeting up with him in our lives. “Come and see” (John 1:39), says Jesus to each one of us in St. John’s Gospel, “taste and see” do we sing in our liturgical gatherings.
If St. John portrays the Incarnation as a daring journey from God’s bosom all the way to us in our earthly predicament, he then also suggests that Jesus’ crucifixion is the means by which Jesus ascends back to heaven and returns to the Father. The cross is portrayed by St. John as a new Jacob’s ladder (Genesis 28:12, alluded to in John 1:51) extending from earth all the way to heaven. Through the “lifting up” of Jesus on the cross, the Son of Man is at the very same time being “lifted up” to heaven and the Son is returning to his Father, once his mission is “accomplished” (see the very last words of Jesus in John 19:30.) So when we contemplate the cross with faith – says St. John – we see not a criminal being executed by the Roman empire, rather we see the return of the Son to the Father’s side after faithfully completing his mission.
Según San Juan, la crucifixión no es un momento trágico o deshonroso para Jesús. Aunque sea un momento extremadamente doloroso y difícil, es la hora en que cumple totalmente con su misión y la manera misma como él regresa al Padre. La cruz se vuelve una nueva escalera de Jacob (como en Génesis 28:12, aludida en Juan 1:51), que cubre la distancia entre cielo y tierra para que el Hijo pueda subir de regreso al Padre.
Ahora bien, esa visión de la fe implica también un llamado a corresponder nosotros. Así como al venir el Hijo de Dios nos llama a acercarnos a él, así también cuando el Hijo se va nos llama a seguirle después y nos indica el camino. Hermanas, hermanos, esto es lo más difícil por escuchar que tenga yo que decir esta noche: cuando Jesús nos dice en Juan 12:26 que quien quiera servirle deberá seguirle y cuando Jesús nos dice a nosotros sus discípulos que ya sabemos el camino de regreso, nos está indicando la cruz como vía de comunión con él. Ése es el camino.
Brothers and sisters, do you realize what this departure of the Son by his lifting up on the cross actually implies for all of us who would like to follow Jesus? If Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6), how could we avoid for ourselves the path that leads to the cross? The cross of Christ is the path of the Christian on one’s journey to God.
But there is yet more to it. I would like to end this presentation by looking closely at one very challenging and interesting verse of the First Letter of St. John. It reads: “this is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by water alone but by water and blood” (1 John 5:6). The First Letter has been considered from old to be arguing against Christians who denied the full importance and extent of the Incarnation. Here the verse is stressing the importance of blood over water for the coming of Jesus Christ. The Church Fathers relate these two symbols to the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. Yet we know the Eucharist evokes Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, the offering of his flesh and blood. Water is associated as a symbol for God’s word and spirit, as we see in Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4. So we could interpret this verse to mean Jesus ministered not only by teaching through his word, but also through his actions, here powerfully and cogently summarized as his giving up of his life and blood on the cross for us. Jesus was not merely a prophet or sage who taught, his self-sacrifice did make a difference. God’s life reached us not only by word, but also by deed. The wording is bold: Jesus came through water and blood. This may imply I suggest that the Incarnation was not fully accomplished until Jesus spent his very last drop of blood for our sake. He came fully to our humanity and world the moment he had no further life to forego. He was fully incarnate the moment he shared our fate to the death. And through this bold and generous gesture he taught us better than with any parable or discourse the breadth and intensity of God’s love for us. Again, St. John is relentless: we may only show we know God’s love by giving up our own lives for our brothers and sisters like Jesus did.
El hecho que Jesús vino mediante agua y sangre según San Juan nos muestra que a veces tenemos una visión un poco estrecha de lo que es el misterio de la encarnación. No se trata de un evento previo al nacimiento de Jesús, sino del esposar nuestra vida humana hasta el extremo de morir como nosotros y de morir por nosotros. Dios llega hasta nosotros plenamente cuando Jesús expira en la cruz. No puede haber mejor revelación del amor de Dios. Y así también, no puede haber mejor demostración de nuestro ser y entender cristiano que el de ofrecer nuestras vidas por nuestras hermanas y hermanos. Muchas gracias.