Monday.
1/21/13
The
readings today present us with two amazing characterizations of Jesus.
In
the Gospel he presents himself as the bridegroom, as a young man in full vigor
and comeliness. That picture of him has us asking who the bride might be, and my
guess is that it is the Church, or all of us collectively. His presence with us
calls for such joy that fasting or mourning are out of place.
Then,
today’s reading from the Letter to the Hebrews goes further then any Bible
passage in letting us see how fully human Jesus was. You might say that his
humanity came through with more force when he was dying on the cross, and he
called out, “My God, my God, why have you
abandoned me?” But those are
the opening words of Psalm Twenty-Two; and Jesus might have only been praying
that psalm, not voicing human grief over abandonment.
From
being a twenty-two year old seminarian I recall a Protestant Church movie
screened across the valley from us. Through the film a spotless Jesus floated
about giving blessings. Then, years later, across a valley in Korea, I watched
a religious movie with a similarly perfect Jesus floating from village to
village. The depiction of Jesus in today’s reading from Hebrew’s bears no
similarity to those ghostly floating Jesuses.
Seemingly
his being thwarted in his prayers was the cause for his loud cries and to tears. The Bible here
tells us that he became perfect only after “He learned obedience from what he
suffered.”
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