Our Journey into Christ

When you regard me

Your eyes imprint your grace in me,

in this you love me again,

And thus my eyes merited

to also love what you see in me...

Let us go forth together to see ourselves in Your beauty.

St. John of the Cross.

I wonder how often you read the Gospel stories? You may, or may not be aware that they also have an interesting history. William P. Herzog II, was a former Professor of New Testament Interpretation at the Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, New York. He wrote a rather challenging book titled,  “Parables as Subversive Speech”. I say challenging, because he first reminds us that in Jesus' day most the main form of communication would have been by word of mouth. We see evidence of this in the many stories that Jesus told to the crowds. They would have been easy to remember and would have been told and retold by the listeners, time and time again. The familiar Gospel stories we know were finally written down much later. For example: “Mark's Gospel” was written somewhere between AD 60-67

“Matthew's Gospel” was written somewhere between AD 65-85

“Luke's Gospel” was written somewhere between AD 65-95. 

And “John's Gospel” was written somewhere between AD 75-100

A second interesting thing about the “Gospel Stories” is that being short and to the point, they were easy to remember. More importantly, they invited the listener to question what they were hearing or reading.
As you read this blog you also may come with your questions. They might be questions about what I have written, or you may have questions about your faith – or lack of faith – or about the world in which you live – or the way you live your life?

If you do ask these sorts of questions you are not alone. Jesus also asked a lot  of questions – for example:

1)  “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15 and Luke 9:20)

2)  “What do you want me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:32)

3)  “Do you love me?” (John 21:17)

4) “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3).

5) Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26).

6) “Do you also want to leave me?” (John 6:27)

In fact, Jesus asked 307 questions in the Gospels! Some were easy to answer and others were more challenging! For example “Why do you call me Good?”(Luke 18:19).

Jesus also answered questions to drive home a point he was making (Luke 7:42) or to expose duplicity (Mark 12:14–15), or, simply to get people thinking.

I wonder what questions you carry? How will you find an answer? Will you be content with an answer?

During his life Jesus was physically present to his disciples and they could ask him all sorts of questions. After his death the disciples discovered that Jesus was still present, and was still able to share his peace, authority and power – but in a different way. We are reminded of this in a popular Taize Chant which you may have sung at some stage. It is based on the words of Jesus found in John's Gospel (Chapter 14v27):

My Peace I leave You My Peace I Give You Trouble not your heart.

My Peace Leave You, My Peace I Give You, Be Not Afraid.

The Good News of the Gospels is that Jesus still promises to be with us 

and share his peace, authority and power with us... especially dur  moments of

 uncertainty and darkness. The Benedictine Monk, F  Saux,  whose writing

 has been influential in my life, once wrote:

“How can we escape the divine Presence when fills our whole life? The

 Presence is always shining on us as the sun is shining on the earth from on

 high in the sky.

The mystery of God in its fullness is both inside and outside us, within and

 without, like the air which surrounds us and penetrates into the tiniest

 hollows of our lungs...

The Christian is indeed the one 'who knows', the one whose eyes have been

 opened to the divine Splendour, in whose heart has shined,“the light of the

 knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”^.1

That is also our good news – and one we celebrate during our Easter Season.

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and good will on your journey.

Phil

Footnotes:

1. Reflections on Prayer - Fr Henri Le Saux OSB

See also "Who Wrote the Gospels, and How Do We Know... Zondervan