Saying Three: Others
When Jesus saw his mother and his favourite disciple with her, he said to his mother, "This man is now your son." Then he said to the disciple, "She is now your mother."
John 19:26-27
What was his mother thinking? Watching her son dying, slowly, by degrees.
"I wish it had never come to this"?
"I wish I could wake from this nightmare"?
"I wish I'd never had him"?
And what about the favourite follower? What’s the point of being a disciple when there’s no master? So much for being in the inner circle, when the circle is being bent and broken before you. So much for being special when all your hopes and dreams are being drained of life in front of your very eyes.
And what were the onlookers thinking? The ones whose curiosity had slowed them down to a halt, to check out this first century car-crash? Event-seekers, intrigued by what the small crowd were looking at over there on Skull Hill, what was going through their minds? Interesting piece of action by the looks of it, always good to get the news firsthand. Nothing like fresh gossip to add a bit of kudos.
Which of us knows what any of the rest of us is really thinking? We can barely read our own minds, let alone those of others. None of us can predict the significance of any of our moments. None of us knows the role we are playing in the invisible grand narrative.
Take the squaddies, dicing for a dying man's clothes, salivating at the market resale value. Ringside seats for the cosmic drama... but too busy living to notice.
We only know for sure what Jesus was thinking of. He was thinking of others. As usual.
To see the flash animation of this, go here.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
The Lookout
I don't get a chance to see too many movies - at least movies on the big screen, so I have to pick and choose carefully. Unless I'm with the "brotherhood of the four" (Chad, Seth, Jeff when he's in town, Dave, Mike), when we tend to watch really silly movies together.
I'm excited about a movie coming out today, called The Lookout. It stars Joseph Gorden-Leavett, who is probably best known as the kid on Third Rock From The Sun - but he's actually a very talented young actor. The last movie I saw him in was one of my favorites from last year, Brick.
Anyway, this movie is about a former hockey player who has an accident and has trouble remembering things (sounds kind of like another favorite movie of mine, Memento). He gets recruited to be The Lookout (hence the name) of a bank heist. I'm sure things go wrong, they tend to do so in movies. Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber) and Isla Fischer (Wedding Crashers and right now the girlfriend of Borat, also known as Sacha Baron Cohen) also star. It looks really good.
To see more information, and the theatrical trailer, go here.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Just an observation from Sunday, and I don't really...
have a theory about it, and I'm not even sure if I can come up with anything more than a brief paragraph about it, but I thought it was very interesting Sunday morning when the senior minister of the church I work at had all the guys who were firstborn sons stand up, and a huge majority of the guys in the congregation stood up.
Interesting.
Interesting.
Saying #2: Remember
Saying Two: Remember
Then the criminal said to Jesus, "Remember me when you come into power!" Jesus replied, "I promise that today you will be with me in paradise."
Luke 23:43
Talk about a death-bed conversion! What a chancer! Hanging, said Dr Johnson, wonderfully concentrates the mind and this is one concentrated criminal.
Life has come into focus.
Deep inside, something is finally understood.
He doesn't join the soldiers in humiliating the broken God on the cross next door. After a life spent trying to be noticed, to be someone, he knows he is about to be no one, to be forgotten for good. A dying fly, swatted onto the floor of history.
Yet some mysterious instinct tells him that maybe if this one life on the next cross will notice him, will remember him... he will never be forgotten again. How did he know that weakness and vulnerability are invisibly tied to strength, to another kind of power?
You will be with me today, in a place of unimaginable harmony, a place where this strange passage called life will be known for what it is, a place we sometimes called paradise. You will be with me today, says Jesus Christ, as if there was no doubt about it, as if we can take him at his word.
When we remember someone, we give them extra life. When Jesus Christ remembers us, we can never be forgotten again.
Go here to see the flash animation of this saying.
Then the criminal said to Jesus, "Remember me when you come into power!" Jesus replied, "I promise that today you will be with me in paradise."
Luke 23:43
Talk about a death-bed conversion! What a chancer! Hanging, said Dr Johnson, wonderfully concentrates the mind and this is one concentrated criminal.
Life has come into focus.
Deep inside, something is finally understood.
He doesn't join the soldiers in humiliating the broken God on the cross next door. After a life spent trying to be noticed, to be someone, he knows he is about to be no one, to be forgotten for good. A dying fly, swatted onto the floor of history.
Yet some mysterious instinct tells him that maybe if this one life on the next cross will notice him, will remember him... he will never be forgotten again. How did he know that weakness and vulnerability are invisibly tied to strength, to another kind of power?
You will be with me today, in a place of unimaginable harmony, a place where this strange passage called life will be known for what it is, a place we sometimes called paradise. You will be with me today, says Jesus Christ, as if there was no doubt about it, as if we can take him at his word.
When we remember someone, we give them extra life. When Jesus Christ remembers us, we can never be forgotten again.
Go here to see the flash animation of this saying.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Saying #1: Forgive
Saying One: Forgive
When the soldiers came to the place called "The Skull" they nailed Jesus to a cross. They also nailed the two criminals to crosses, one on each side of Jesus. Jesus said, "Father, forgive these people! They don't know what they're doing."
Luke 23:34
Who decided on the order? Which of the soldiers thought Jesus would look best in the middle? Maybe the two criminals, caught red-handed on their last job, had fallen out with each other. Perhaps the only way to shut them up was to put the quiet guy with the messiah complex in between.
Soldiers, thieves, spectators, those hammering in the nails, those gasping at the visual spectacle: no one in this first Easter scene knows quite what they are doing. Forgive them, says Jesus, as the nails bite, forgive them. They don't get it.
Of all the low-life rogues to find the long arm of the law thumping down on their shoulders, these two nobodies get to hang right in the middle of history. They had never lived with Jesus, like Peter or Mary or Judas. Instead they get to die with him. No chance to give him their lives. Only their deaths.
Which of us aren't as thick as thieves until Jesus Christ enters our field of vision. All of us watching, gasping, averting our eyes, wishing these weren't real nails, that this had not been our shift, hoping we can put this behind us, can move on. Trying to find our words. Not quite sure what we are doing. Not knowing we could ask for forgiveness. Not knowing someone else has.
To see a nifty flash animation of this saying, go here.
When the soldiers came to the place called "The Skull" they nailed Jesus to a cross. They also nailed the two criminals to crosses, one on each side of Jesus. Jesus said, "Father, forgive these people! They don't know what they're doing."
Luke 23:34
Who decided on the order? Which of the soldiers thought Jesus would look best in the middle? Maybe the two criminals, caught red-handed on their last job, had fallen out with each other. Perhaps the only way to shut them up was to put the quiet guy with the messiah complex in between.
Soldiers, thieves, spectators, those hammering in the nails, those gasping at the visual spectacle: no one in this first Easter scene knows quite what they are doing. Forgive them, says Jesus, as the nails bite, forgive them. They don't get it.
Of all the low-life rogues to find the long arm of the law thumping down on their shoulders, these two nobodies get to hang right in the middle of history. They had never lived with Jesus, like Peter or Mary or Judas. Instead they get to die with him. No chance to give him their lives. Only their deaths.
Which of us aren't as thick as thieves until Jesus Christ enters our field of vision. All of us watching, gasping, averting our eyes, wishing these weren't real nails, that this had not been our shift, hoping we can put this behind us, can move on. Trying to find our words. Not quite sure what we are doing. Not knowing we could ask for forgiveness. Not knowing someone else has.
To see a nifty flash animation of this saying, go here.
Friday, March 09, 2007
The Seven Sayings Of Jesus On The Cross
So, I finally upgraded my blogger account to Google - I've been holding out for a long time, but today I thought "What the heck."
I found this really neat resource while I was looking for Element resources. It's very timely - since it deals with the death of Jesus on the cross. Over the next several posts, I'm going to share with you the text from this resource, as well as link you to a pretty neat flash file for each one.
Or you can go here and check it all out for yourself.
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