On Horsley’s Jesus and the Politics of Roman Palestine, Part 3 Richard A. Horsley brings the political situation of first-century Palestine out of the background and into focus as an important part of understanding Jesus. The resulting picture of Jesus stays true to the Gospels while making sense of Jesus’ career, especially its ending. Jesus’ politics can be ignored no longer or we’re not taking the incarnation seriously. Politics, economics, as well as some attitude toward the Ultimate are... Read more

The apostles’ experiences of the Resurrection were confusing. Were they true? I think there’s good evidence to believe that because the apostles themselves seem to have gotten truer as a result. Admittedly, that’s an odd kind of evidence. Typically one argues for the Christian belief in Jesus’ Resurrection by saying, “Look how much braver the apostles got after seeing Jesus risen from the dead.” It is true. They acted like a bunch of cowards up to Jesus’ death and willingly... Read more

Participating in the reading of Jesus’ passion in yesterday’s Good Friday service and coming to the crowd’s part, I read out loud, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” It’s been like that every Good Friday. That emotionally disturbing part of Good Friday highlights my guilt, my role in Jesus’ crucifixion. But there’s another reason why this part of the passion story is disturbing. It’s the image of the people, “the Jews,” shouting for Jesus’ death. In the story from John’s Gospel, they... Read more

Was Jesus thinking about “Real Presence” during that first Holy thursday supper, or was his mind on what Passover had always meant — or should have meant — for Israel’s people. My guess will depend on a phrase in both Jesus’ own Scriptures and a modern Jewish celebration of Passover. Both of these sources call the unleavened bread of Passover the “Bread of Affliction.” Scripture and justice for the afflicted Modern Bible scholars locate Jesus right in the midst of... Read more

It’s Tuesday in the first Holy Week. A little band is walking with Jesus up to Jerusalem again, quite a bit more somber than yesterday. The disciples are thinking how their leader almost got them all arrested yesterday. And what was the point? They come upon a dead fig tree, which yesterday was alive. Jesus had cursed it for no good reason, and today it’s all shriveled up, never to bear fruit again. Well, that’s only for Mark’s readers because... Read more

Monday of the First Holy Week in Mark’s Gospel After Sunday’s (the first Palm Sunday’s) street theater, Jesus retired to nearby Bethany, but not before checking out the Temple. Probably he got no further than the outer courtyard, where he envisioned the civil disobedience he was planning for the coming day, Monday of the first Holy Week. Now it is Monday and Jesus and friends are walking back to Bethany. They spy a fig tree a little way off the... Read more

On Richard A. Horsley’s Jesus and the Politics of Roman Palestine, Part 2         Whatever else Jesus was, he was also a leader of a peasant movement for the renewal of Israel in opposition to both Roman occupation and the Temple cooperation with the conquerors. First-century Palestine was ripe for some such leader. This is the second post on Richard A. Horsley’s Jesus and the Politics of Roman Palestine. It looks at the political and economic conditions facing the little people of... Read more

How carefully must the Church guard the doctrine of bodily resurrection with rules regarding Catholic burial practices? The recent death of my wife’s mother is the occasion for this question. As her urn was sitting in our living room, the bill from the funeral home arrived. We puzzled over one item: hundreds of dollars for a “vault” to surround the urn in its eventual burial place. Why a vault? We questioned the funeral home director about the need for a... Read more