Chapter 25 - Amen

Seeing the sights of the Holy Land through the eyes of another, I have enjoyed this journey, a journey that I believe has brought me closer to Jesus.

In the concluding chapter, Father Martin summarizes the paradox of pilgrimage:  some of the sites are clearly authentic (Capernaum, the Pool of Bethesda, Golgotha, Gethsemane) while others are less certain (like some of the stations along the Via Dolorosa).  Still others sites are legendary, like the Upper Room,  which very likely is below ground.

The mix of authentic and legendary typifies the Holy Land.  Pilgrimage to the places where Jesus stood brings elation and occasional disappointment.

As a Christian on his pilgrimage, I daily seek to find my way through the paganism, superstition and atheism which pervades the society in which I live.  Through the morass of stimuli in this entertainment and media driven culture, I seek to find Jesus and try to keep the faith.

It's not always easy.

I am grateful to writers like Father Martin who, in the spirit of the Lord, invites us to take a closer look, to "come and see."

Having finished this book, I'm considering re-reading the Gospels, with a fresh memory of Father Martin's experiences to enrich the experience.

As we say our "Amen" I say thanks to my colleagues who have contributed their reflections:


Connie Cannella
Bill Casey
Sharon Erkman
Deacon Mike McKenna
Lucy Premus








To Ponder and Discuss:

Looking back on our pilgrimage--with the Gospels, in the Holy Land and through the spiritual life--what was your most meaningful discovery about Jesus?  Now that you know Jesus in a new way, how might you respond to the question, "Who do you say that I am?"


Steven Olson

Chapter 24 - Tiberias

This chapter is about one of Jesus’ post resurrection appearances and for that reason one of my favorite scenes from the New Testament.  It is certainly one of the most joyful encounters between Jesus and his disciples.  Both because it is so reassuring to see and hear from Jesus after the crucifixion and because of his human nature on display as he fixes a breakfast on the beach for his friends, frustrated by an unprofitable night of hard work.    Fr. Martin points out that the story starts out with the disciples, returning to their old ways.  They are out fishing but have caught nothing.  Conclusion, they can’t accomplish anything on their own.

Fr. Martin then moves us into the heart of this story form his point of view, that is, its focus on the necessity of forgiveness.  We are reminded of Peter’s denial of Jesus.  Three times Peter swore that he didn’t even know the Lord.  This is as serious a sin as it gets.  By human standards probably unforgivable.  There is a lesson here for all of us as we work our way through the last few weeks of Lent.

Jesus knows what Peter needs and he seeks him out to make him whole again, to set things right.  Jesus want to restore him to ministry.  Fr. Martin makes note of the fact that with God forgiveness comes painlessly, no humiliation, no revenge.  God’s mercy proceeds from his love and bound up in it.  Unlike human beings who struggle to forgive and never seem to forget, God does both.

The Lord’s final words to Peter are the same ones he started with three years before “follow me”.  The evangelist John wants the readers of his Gospel, ourselves, to be drawn into the mystical work of the Holy Spirit, acting through Jesus, the work of moving through forgiveness to restoration onto mission.

This is what it means to be a Christian, being drawn to Jesus as the source of the Father’s love acting in our world, drawn to him in spite of our sinfulness,  like Peter jumping off the boat to greet the very one he had betrayed.  We are drawn to Jesus as he calls us ashore to join him in his work of making the Kingdom of God present in our lives and those we meet.  “It is the Lord” says John at first sight, calling us to “follow me.”

Questions to Ponder

1. When was the last time we felt the presence of Jesus close at hand offering his unlimited mercy?

2. Are we able to approach the Lord as a wronged friend seeking his forgiveness or is something blocking our way?

3. When faced with a difficult time feeling alone and abandoned with our problems did we finally take notice that the Lord was there all the time just waiting for us to see him? 

Deacon Mike McKenna

Chapter 23 - Emmaus

In the first few pages of the chapter, Father Martin describes the frustration he and his friend George experienced in trying to locate and visit sites related to the Gospel story of Emmaus.  He ends the description of their abortive efforts by relating them to the Gospel story itself, saying “It too is a story about confusion and suffering.”

Father Martin then begins to analyze the interaction of the Risen Christ with two of his disciples (“Cleopas and his friend”) by noting the sadness the disciples feel when Jesus first approaches and questions them concerning their conversation.  Unaware of who has addressed them, they reveal their own confusion and frustration over what has so recently transpired concerning Jesus.  Father Martin relates the disciples’ words “We had hoped…” to the sorrow all of us experience when our expectations are dashed and we fail to see our loss and disappointment in the context of God’s plan for our lives.

The Gospel story then recounts the disciples’ invitation to Jesus to stay with them and Jesus’s revelation of himself in the breaking of bread, after which “he vanished from their sight.” Notably, Father Martin suggests that “the disciples came to understand the Resurrection not only through direct experience but also by reflecting on it together, as a community.”

As Father Martin goes on to consider the mystery of why the two disciples could not recognize Jesus, he quickly and reasonably dismisses the “natural” explanations: “that Jesus might have purposely hid his face” or “the dazzling sun prevented them from seeing him,” and he presents a more “supernatural” explanation, while also explaining the shortcomings of the idea of “a shared memory” to explain the disciples’ experiences of the Risen Jesus.  Simply remembering Jesus is not likely to have enabled the disciples to overcome the terror that they felt in the wake of Jesus’s crucifixion.  “The appearance of the Risen Christ,” he suggests, “was so dramatic, so unmistakable, so obvious—in a word, so real—that it transformed the formerly terrified disciples into courageous proclaimers of the message of Jesus.”

“And what they saw was Jesus, raised from the dead.”

Father Martin goes on to discuss the puzzling question of what the Resurrected Jesus looked like, or “the difficulty of describing the most profound of all spiritual experiences.”  In dealing with this question, he refers to the theological idea of a “glorified body,” one that is “created anew by God” and “will never die.” He also makes the following observation: “The Resurrection shows us there is always hope.  Whether or not we see it, it is there. Or, more precisely, he is there.”

Father Martin then recalls his own prayerful meditation about this passage when he was facing a difficult time in his ministry.  He related his own failure “ to look for God even amid the sadnesses of life,” to the inability of Cleopas and his friend to look beyond their current disappointment to see God at work.  These two disciples “seem on the brink of walking away…from all they have experienced with Jesus.”  However, as Father Martin observes, “Perhaps in their ‘talking with each other about all these things that had happened,’ they tried to make sense of things,” and in so doing were opening themselves up to Jesus’s revelation of himself; and then when they offer hospitality to a stranger by inviting him to stay with them, they recognized him.

Returning to his and George’s inability to find Emmaus, Father Martin concludes by noting “that even in our confusion God is with us.”

Points to Ponder

1. The disciples on their way to Emmaus hear Jesus reveal the truth about himself in his word, and experience the presence of Jesus in the breaking of bread.  Are we open to God’s word and presence in the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist?
2. Despite the sadness and disappointment all of us must sometimes face, can we embrace the truth that the Resurrection gives us hope in any circumstance.

Bill Casey

Chapter 22 - Risen

Good Friday – the Crucifixion – Jesus is dead – He is placed in a tomb – fact. Three days later, the tomb is empty – fact.  Jesus is alive! How can a finite mind comprehend such a supernatural, not of this world, event. How can human witnesses to this event describe it to others, along with descriptions of a “glorified body?” No one can do it adequately – not even the gospel writers or Jesus’ closest friends who spent 40 days with Him after his resurrection.

Yet, in their own limited way, they all attempted to give witness to this event.  We have Mary, who mistook Jesus for a gardener, but when He said her name, she knew deep in her heart that this was Jesus because she knew His voice so well. Thomas asked for more proof than just the words of his friends about Jesus being alive – and for Thomas, a physical touch would be proof enough.  The disciples on the road to Emmaus were “dazed and confused” and actually had a stranger (they, too, did not initially recognize Jesus) guide them through all the events leading to His resurrection, and then they recognized Him when He broke bread and ate with them, something they had done together many times before.   

Research indicates that newborn infants can recognize the voice of their mother from other voices.  That bond already is so strong (from the time spent in utero) that the awareness of the relationship exists.  Is my relationship with Jesus that strong that I would recognize His voice or mannerisms, despite not recognizing Him in a “glorified” body. So, in some way, Jesus reached out to each of these people in the way that each would understand that He was the Jesus they knew, and that He was alive. He still does that with each of us, and He will meet us right where we are, when we are ready, and He will make sure that we recognize who He is.

Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus once a year by going to Church on Easter Sunday.  Jesus wants me to celebrate the fact that He is alive in my life every day. I am to look for Him in the faces of the sick and suffering, in children, in the elderly, the hungry, the homeless, the oppressed and the imprisoned.   Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed is he who has not seen (that is, seen Him personally), yet has believed (that He is alive, because I see Him in others).” (John 20:29).

He Is Risen! Alleluia!



To Ponder and Discuss:

1.  Why do  you think Mary was at first unable to recognize the Risen Christ?

2.  In your own words, what does it mean to "accept our crosses?"  Have you experienced the "paschal mystery" of death and rebirth in your own life?

Connie Cannella

Chapter 21 - Golgotha

Throughout his “look at Jesus,” as Father Martin defines the book in the Introduction, he points to the emotional connection one can make with a site that is “very probably” authentic.  In the case of Golgotha, not only is the “site compatible with the topographical data supplied by the Gospels,” but “the consistent and uncontested tradition of the Jerusalem community, which held liturgical celebrations at the site until AD 66,” attests to its probable authenticity.  As he has shown in each of the chapters thus far, the opportunity afforded by a pilgrimage to connect physically with the details and events recorded in the Gospels crystalizes the realities of Jesus’s life for the pilgrim.  Epitomizing this type of experience is Father Martin’s account of reaching down into a cavity under an elaborate altar and touching the cold rock of Golgotha.

Concerning the Via Dolorosa, Father Martin notes that he found himself “largely unmoved” by the Stations of the Cross, although he had “experienced more powerful emotions when praying with the stations in local parishes.” Still, he acknowledges that the same path has “moved some of … [his] friends to tears.”  He points out with humility that “Grace is mysterious.  So is pilgrimage.”

Father Martin devotes a couple of pages of the chapter to the implications of Jesus’s “scream” of “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” Comparing Jesus’s situation with that of Mother Teresa, and by implication with what spiritual writers call a “dark night,” he points out the important difference between feeling abandoned by God and succumbing to despair.  The idea that God could feel abandoned by God, a Son by his Father, with whom he has experienced the fullest union possible, while very troubling (perhaps even shocking), can also offer hope to anyone who has felt completely alone and deserted.

Father Martin mentions the women who witnessed Jesus’s death and notes the importance of remaining with someone who is suffering even when we can do nothing to alleviate the suffering.

While “[m]any meditations on the Cross tend to focus on Jesus’s physical suffering,” Father Martin asks us to consider the other kinds of pain Jesus suffered:

Abandonment: His disciples flee—they cannot go where Jesus is going.

Loneliness: Jesus has no one other than the Father to whom he can turn.

Betrayal: Judas Iscariot, one of his closest friends, betrays Jesus.  Father Martin explores the possible motives for this betrayal, but acknowledges the mystery of sin—“Why do we do what we know is wrong?”

Humiliation and contempt: This, the humblest of men, still had to bear the humiliation of of being treated as a criminal and the contempt of neighbors and religious authorities for
his message of God’s love.

Seeing others suffer because of your suffering: We can probably all relate to the pain Jesus felt  at seeing his mother suffer over his suffering.

Seeing His great work ended: Father Martin considers the possibility that Jesus may have wondered, given the behavior of his disciples, of whether his work would continue; however, he also suggests that “Jesus’s clear establishment of a church…with Peter as its head” argues against this possibility.

The important conclusion to a consideration of all the physical and emotional sufferings of Jesus is that “Jesus did not waver.  It must have been an enormous temptation to vacillate in the face of this mountain of suffering.  But out of obedience to what the father is asking he does not.”

The chapter concludes with the observation that “Jesus is resolute.  Like his mother at the Annunciation, he says—perhaps not knowing fully what it will mean—yes.”

Questions to Ponder

1. Like the women at the cross, can we stay with someone who is suffering, even when we can offer nothing other than our presence and our acknowledgement of what he or she is enduring?
2. Have we experienced a level of loneliness and abandonment in our lives that leaves room only for a faith in God’s love that saves us from despair?  Have we been, or can we be, sensitive to a neighbor who might be experiencing such a dark night?

Bill Casey

 

Chapter 20 - Gethsemane

In this chapter Fr. Martin takes us with him to the Garden of Gethsemane which is within walking distance of Jerusalem on the way to the Mount of Olives.  He uses Mark’s Gospel for his meditation on the Agony in the Garden.  He shares with us a detailed analysis of the Greek words used by Mark in his account.  Our Lord was “greatly distraught” which is “expressed physically before a terrifying event”.  And it is in Jesus’ agony that we are reminded of the vulnerability of his human nature. Fr. Martin tells us that it is “in the garden that Jesus shows both his utter humanity and his complete divinity.”

Our Lord’s human nature asks if this cup cannot just pass him by, while his divinity gives him the strength to say to the Father your will not mine.  It is here that Jesus shows us the way we are called to live, we are to place complete trust in God as he does and to strive to be united with the divine will.

Fr. Martin makes another point when he notes the nature of Jesus’ prayer which involves complete honesty stating, “an intimate relationship with the Father means transparency at all times, especially in times of distress”.

We are reminded that even as we are petitioning God in our prayers we must share our fears, doubts, hurts and yes even anger with God.  This is true of any intimate loving relationship.  It requires complete honesty as we share our true feelings

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus leads us by example to not only show us how to pray from the heart but more importantly to trust in God’s plan for our own life so that we are truly able to say Father as you will.

Questions to Ponder

1. When was the last time we faced a crisis be it physical, spiritual or emotional?  What was my attitude in prayer over this event?  Did I ask God to spare me suffering?  Were we able to eventually be at peace in God’s decision in the matter?  Were we angry with God for causing or allowing or misfortune?  Angry for his slow response?

2. Jesus confided in his three friends Peter, John, and Andrew.  He told them of his distress and fears.  Do we have the courage to share our fears and hurts with an intimate friend?  Do we keep our hurts to ourselves, do we even bring them to God at all?   When we do, is our prayer more along the lines of God please get me out of this or is it like Jesus, your will be done”? 

Deacon Mike McKenna

Chapter 19 - Jerusalem

Toward the end of this chapter, discussing the events of Holy Thursday, Father Martin writes:

I never fail to think how different Christian churches would be if, in addition to our weekly celebrations of the Eucharist, we celebrated the Foot Washing.  It may sound crazy, and it would be terribly complicated to arrange every Sunday—all those basins of water and towels and shoes and socks!  But imagine the symbolism if every week the presider laid aside his vestments and got down on his hands and knees to scrub the feet of his parishioners.  What a reminder it would be to all of us—priests included—that this is what Christ asked us to do in addition to the celebration of the Eucharist. . . .Seen every Sunday, over and over, the washing of the feet might help us see how power is more intimately linked with service (page 351).

I can already hear the loud objections people would have to such a proposal—the discomfort it would cause!  Indeed, not unlike Peter’s discomfort at having his feet washed by Jesus.

Yet I welcome this idea and would suggest that we need to take it to heart, for it is one thing to receive the Body of Christ, but it is another thing to become the Body of Christ in the world. 

As a person who works with paid staff and volunteers, it has been painfully clear for some time now that there has been a steady decline in people willing to serve as volunteers in the various ministries of our parish churches.  With every passing year, it has become more and more difficult to find people willing to serve in any number of capacities.

How powerful it was, early in Pope Francis’s pontificate, when he decided to spend one Holy Thursday, not in St. Peter’s Basilica or in the grand St. John Lateran, as was his custom, but at a juvenile detention center.  People were shocked when Francis, the apostle of humility, got down on his hands and knees to minister to poor and troubled youth.  Pope Francis didn’t need to preach a homily that day—his actions were the homily.  He didn’t need to catechize—his actions were the catechesis.  With one simple gesture, our pope reminded us that we are to serve one another in the spirit of the Lord, who washed the disciples feet.

Father Martin reminds us in this chapter how shocking the events of Holy Week were:  from the Cleansing of the Temple to the Foot Washing.  And how dangerous for Jesus were these provocative actions, including the raising of Lazarus.

  

To Ponder and Discuss:


1.  Gerard O'Collins, SJ, notes that Jesus understood the Cleansing of the Temple to be a "dangerously provocative act."  Other scholars suggest that Jesus also knew his entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday would have been seen as a threat.  Does his recognition of the inherent danger of these actions, and what may have been an intentional use of symbolic gestures, influence your understanding of Jesus?

2.  Do you agree with the idea that the Foot Washing was more about establishing a "community of equals" than about "humble service?"  Could the two ideas coexist among a group of friends?

3.  Would Christian churches be any different if they performed the Foot Washing as often as they celebrate the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper?


Steven Olson

Chapter 18 - Bethany

Fr. Martin travels to Bethany, now called by its Arabic name, El-Azariyeh, “the place of Lazarus”.  It is a place he tells us “that he has long prayed about”.  The story of Lazarus being raised from the dead is a familiar one, but until I read this chapter, I never realized how rich in meaning it is. I can only touch on a few points here.

We see both natures of Jesus in this story. There is his humanity shown by his deep love for his friends, Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha.  He also shows his great compassion when he weeps.  Fr. Martin says, “He may be weeping both for the loss of Lazarus and for the pain that his death has caused for Mary and Martha” Jesus understands what it means to be human.

Of course, the great miracle performed in Bethany shows Jesus’ divine nature.  In the gospel of John this is the last miracle that Jesus performs before his passion. Lazarus’ death and resurrection foreshadows Jesus own coming death and resurrection.  In fact, the act of raising Lazarus from the dead has the Jewish leaders talking about putting Jesus to death, (see John 11:45-53).  Many people who were with Mary at the tomb have come to believe in him and this did not sit well with Caiphas.  There was even talk of putting Lazarus to death (John 12:10).  Jesus knew what was awaiting him, but “he sets his sights on Jerusalem”.  He knows He will die, but He will rise again and make death irrelevant.  Jesus is more powerful than death.

Fr. Martin makes another point about this story.  He wonders, “Why does Jesus shout?”  “John’s Gospel says that Jesus spoke in a phonē megalē, a great voice.” We are used to hearing that God speaks to us quietly and that we need silence to hear Him, but Jesus shouts to Lazarus to “come forth”.  Fr. Martin says, “Sometimes, however, God needs to speak more loudly” and that “God may need to get our attention… so that the dead parts of us can hear”.  For Fr. Martin, “Lazarus’s tomb became the place to leave behind whatever I no longer needed, whatever kept me from new life”. 

Jesus last words in the story of Lazarus are “unbind him and let him go”.  Jesus wants us to be unbound, and freed from our sins and our past.  Our sins bring us to a spiritual death and Jesus wants to bring us back, he wants us to be fully alive.  Fr. Martin says “Unbind him, and let him go is an invitation to all of us who are freed from old patterns and unhealthy behaviors.  Untie him and let him be who he is meant to be.”  To become the person we are meant to be we may have to overcome our “stuckness” and our fear of change.  At the end of the chapter Fr. Martin tells us “I asked God to take away everything that kept me from becoming the person God wanted me to be. And I asked God for new life.”  Then he left the tomb.

To Ponder and Discuss:

How do you view death? Do you see it as ending at the tomb or as a “coming forth” to new life?

What do you have to leave in the tomb?  What “kinds of unhealthy patterns” do you have in your life?  The ones that seem “ unendurable yet seemingly ineradicable”.

Are you afraid of change? What is keeping you from becoming the person you are meant to be, the person God wants you to be? 

How many times do we remain stuck were we are not praying, despairing and thinking that we can’t change.  Not relying on God and asking for his help?

Sharon Erkman

Chapter 17 - Jericho

Heat and Desire

One of the things I most appreciate about this book is the author’s ability to put the reader “right there” where the events of our Lord’s ministry took place.  My mouth went dry, I felt parched, as I read his description of the intense heat that he and his traveling companion experienced as they visited the area around Jericho.  Heat so strong that you feel faint.

Father Martin in Galilee

Father Martin mused as to how it must have been for Jesus and his disciples, that itinerant band, walking the dusty roads of Galilee. 

I had never considered that the intense heat may have caused Jesus and The Twelve to travel at night.  But then I remembered that some of the main roads, like the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, were populated by robbers and thieves (the Parable of the Good Samaritan takes place on that road).  So, travel by night would have been a dangerous option.  And I remembered, too, the story of the Woman at the Well who was drawing water from the well at midday—an odd time to draw water, given the intense heat of the place.  Local women would draw water much earlier in the day.

Jesus and the Twelve must have looked weather-beaten from the intense sun and the desert sand beneath their feet.  Long before they were nailed to a cross, I imagine that the feet of Jesus were bruised, callused, leathery, from the miles of walking from town to town.  And as he nears Jericho, he crosses paths with Blind Bartimaeus and later, Zacchaeus.

How wonderful it is that Bartimaeus does not beg for money.  He begs for something much deeper, more profound.  He begs for mercy.  He asks Jesus to restore his sight!

In this chapter, Father Martin encourages us to look at our longings.  He encourages us to be honest with God:

Jesus sees something liberating in identifying and naming our desires.  Once we scrape off any surface selfishness, our deepest longings and holy desires are uncovered:  the desire for friendship, the desire for love, the desire for meaningful work, and often the desire for healing. . . .People often need to be encouraged to recognize these deep longings. . . .especially if they have been told to ignore or eradicate their desires. (Page 299).Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus ask for what they most deeply desire.  They do not give in to the pressures of the crowd to “shut up.” 

  

To Ponder or Discuss:

1.  Jesus again poses a seemingly obvious question when he asks Bartimaeus, who is blind, "What do you want?"  Why does he ask this?

2.  Gerhard Lohfink notes that besides those who followed Jesus on the road, there were "resident adherents" and "occasional helpers."  How does this influence your idea of discipleship?

3.  Jesus offers to visit Zacchaeus's house even before Zacchaeus has made his promise of restitution to anyone he has defrauded.  This would have been seen as a sign of Jesus' acceptance of the "chief sinner" in the region.  Why does Jesus do this?  What implications might it have in your life?


Steven Olson

Chapter 16 - Bethesda

Fr. Martin takes us to the site of the ancient Pool of Bethesda, a place he discovers by accident.  He shares his excitement telling the reader that the findings in recent archaeological excavations correspond nicely with the evangelist John’s account of the pool “which has five porticoes”, the site of a miraculous healing of a cripple.  The reason for his excitement?  As Fr. declares, here is a place he knows Jesus was actually present.

Fr. Martin gives us a good narrative of the layout and physical features of the site by way of a private tour of the subterranean areas.  But more importantly he leads us through the significance of Jesus’ encounter with the crippled man.  He focuses us in on the man’s likely personal situation.  He was alone with no one to help him into the mythical healing baths at Bethesda.

On my first reading of this short chapter I was drawn more to his narrative as a tour guide and his exegesis of the Gospel story of the miracle.  However some weeks later rereading this chapter after news of a personal health issue I found myself drawn into the description of the crippled man’s plight.  He describes himself as being alone in dealing with his ailment, a condition that had likely existed for decades.  While that was not my personal situation, I have had plenty of support, I did find myself thinking, that it is still the case for countless others around us, the old, the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill or those near death.  A difficult situation which can lead to despair.

I suspect we have all felt, at some time, a moment of despair or hopelessness in the face of adversity.  A crippling thought, that our problems are too big to deal with alone.  But our faith in God supports us at these moments and we are reminded that “God seeks out those in special need of care”.  Fr. Martin tells us that “this is how God comes to us-asking if we still want his healing, if we still believe, if we still have faith”.

 In this chapter in addition to some good historical information Fr. Martin leads us into a reflection on what the presence of Jesus meant to this crippled man and by extension what our active presence, as Christians, means to the sick and broken in our midst.

Questions to Ponder

1. Reflecting on a time when illness left you feeling alone and abandoned what was your experience?  Who was there for you?  Who was not?  Where you able to experience the peace of God’s presence Fr. Martin describes?

2. When have you experienced Christian charity?  From whom?   Medical professionals? Family?, Co-workers?, Strangers?  

3. Did this chapter change your feelings toward those who are suffering from chronic illnesses?  Did it heighten your sensitivity to the feelings of sick individuals?  Motivate you to change in any way?

Deacon Mike McKenna

Chapter 15 - Tabga

On the floor in front of the altar of the ancient church in Tabgha is a brown and white mosaic depicting two fish flanking a wicker basket filled with a few loaves of bread, depicting the Miracle of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish—a miracle so important that it appears in all four gospels.

In this chapter, Father Martin takes on the skeptics who prefer to water down this miracle as well as the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead—the cornerstone of our faith.

This tendency to rationalize the miraculous, he writes, reflects a modern tendency to explain away things we moderns cannot understand.

He then goes on to explain the miracle in depth and to remind the reader that God takes our small gifts and through the power of the Spirit makes our gifts great.  “All we need to do,” he writes, “is bring what little we have, generously and unashamedly. . . .Jesus knew that wherever there is, God can make more of it.  But first we are asked to offer our loaves and fishes, no matter inadequate they may seem.  Only then can God accomplish the kind of true miracle that occurred at Tabgha” (page 272).

To Ponder and Discuss:


1.  Have you ever heard the "nice thought" interpretation of this Gospel story, which explains Jesus' miracle as one in which the crowd shares what they have?  Have you heard similar interpretations of the miracles?  What is your response to them?

2.  This is the only miracle--outside of the Resurrection--that appears in all four Gospels.  Why do you think the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes was so important for early Christian communities?

3.  In what ways has God "multiplied" the offerings you make in life?



Steven Olson

Chapter 14 - Gerasa

I have always been drawn to the story of the story of the Gerasene Demoniac.  It’s a rich story, at once eerie, bizarre and powerful.

These aspects of the story strike me the most:

1. It is the first time Jesus sets foot in pagan territory.  He draws the circle of healing wider and wider.  This serves to remind us that Jesus tends to include those whom others would seek to exclude.  His love and mission know no boundaries.
2. As a prelude to his healing of this man, Jesus engages the demon and asks its name.  Naming the demon gives Jesus power over the demon.  Sometimes, one of the most difficult steps in our own healing process is when we admit and name our demons.  It reminds me of the people who attend 12 Step Groups.  As they rise to share their stories, they give their first name and then they name their demon:  “. . . .I’m an alcoholic.”  Naming our demons does not ensure a cure, but it is an important first step.  Naming our demons breaks the cycle of denial.
3. As is the case with the demon in the synagog in Nazareth, these demons--who are Legion-- attest to the identity of Jesus.  Unlike the disciples, who struggle to come to terms with our Lord’s identity, the demons clearly confess “Jesus, the Son of the Most High God.”   There’s a certain twisted brilliance to the Evil One.
4. Jesus doesn’t just cast out the man’s demons.  He also, importantly, finds a way to restore this isolated person to community.  Which is why, when Jesus later heals the leper, he has the leper visit a priest, as a way to restore the man to the faith community.  
5. Having restored the man to community, he sends him on a mission to tell others about the love and mercy of the Father.  In this Year of Mercy, we Catholics, who have been saved and healed by our Lord, need to be about the business of telling others about the mercy of our God.

The Tombs at Kursi

To ponder and discuss:


1.  Is the Gerasene demoniac a terrifying figure, a pitiful figure, or both?  Why?

2.  After his exorcism, the former demoniac does not follow Jesus but instead is sent to tell his people what has happened to him.  How is this a form of discipleship?

3.  Do you see parallels in your life, or in  the lives of your family and friends, to the self-destructive behaviors of the demoniac?  What does the image of the man "bruising himself" say to you?


Steven Olson