To Listen (audio): Season of Cross Purposes
March B – Season of Cross Purposes. This Living Seasons of Change show makes clear the purpose of the cross, the suffering and death of Christ. It takes us from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday, covering the first five liturgical weeks of Lent of Year B.
My child as you look upon the scriptures of the season of repentance, of preparation, of fasting and prayer—Lent—know that hearts turn toward these things through the grace of redemption. Each scripture leads to the same conclusion. Suffering can be overcome—Death precludes life—Sorrow will turn to joy. Take each gospel at face value, connect the readings from Paul (2nd reading) settling in on their specific message of the sacrifice. When the people heard the gospel the first time they did not understand the cross. When the people read what was written they were growing in understanding. Your assignment is to make clear to your listeners the purpose of the cross, the purpose of the suffering and death of Christ. The following show will bring the resurrection into the spotlight but the hope of the fulfillment of the sacrifice must be at the base of understanding of the course of the events that take place in the Gospels. With year A and year B gospels given, tract first the year B. As time allows you can return to year A readings to specifically correlate the differences in these baseline readings.
OTL 1-24-2009
LSC Season of Cross Purposes March B Lent Transcript
Patti Brunner: Welcome to Living Seasons of Change, today we shall discuss the liturgical readings of Lent to make clear to our listeners the purpose of the cross, the purpose of the suffering and death of Christ. I’m Patti Brunner and my co-host is Msgr. David LeSieur, a priest of the Diocese of Little Rock. Welcome, Monsignor, to the Season of Cross Purposes
Msgr. David LeSieur: Thank you, Patti. Today we’ll take each gospel at face value, and connect the readings from Paul settling in on their specific message of the sacrifice.
Patti Brunner: When the people first heard the gospel directly from Jesus they did not understand the cross. When the people read what was written in the Gospels and the letters of Paul they grew toward understanding. Our next show will bring the resurrection into the spotlight, but the hope of the fulfillment of the sacrifice must be at the base of understanding of the course of the events that take place in the Gospels.
Msgr. During Holy Week we venerate the cross. We accept its importance. Every Catholic church contains a crucifix which is a replica of the cross with the corpus or body of Christ. The importance of the cross is shown by all three scripture readings during the Lenten liturgies. During Lent the second reading is actually tied to the gospel rather a stand alone reading as in ordinary time.
Patti: Right! Usually only the first reading is directly connected to the Gospel. Ash Wednesday kicks off Lent with the highly recognizable distribution of ashes. We automatically think of a season of repentance, of preparation, of fasting and prayer—we know that hearts turn toward these things through the grace of redemption. Each scripture leads to the same conclusion. Suffering can be overcome—Death precludes life—Sorrow will turn to joy.
Msgr.: Ash Wednesday’s Gospel from Matthew Chapter 6 is the ‘comb your hair and wash your face’ gospel so no one knows you are fasting, and also ‘pray to your Heavenly Father in secret’. Secretive prayer, secretive fasting and secretive almsgiving are the three basic themes of that gospel from Matthew. When you give alms, don’t blow your trumpet.
Patti: Giving alms quietly shows that you are giving because of your relationship with the Lord. God knows what you are doing; so it is like it is an agreement between you and the Lord.
Msgr.: Nobody else needs to know. The first reading from the prophet Joel talks about rendering your hearts, not your garments; it’s not a public thing. Rendering or tearing your garment tells everybody there is something wrong. “He must be fasting”.
Patti: The effect that we hope to gain by prayer, fasting and almsgiving is internal, the private, the personal change.
Msgr.: Fasting is a discipline; your full purpose is to discipline yourself, fight the devil, honor God, or perhaps eat less because you appreciate what you’ve got without pigging out. There are lots of reasons to fast.
Patti: Think about Christ’s sacrifice and fasting –the purpose behind that was very personal. He didn’t do it for show.
Msgr.: True, especially when He was in the desert. Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and no one else was there but the devil. He was faithful to His purpose and faithful to His father. By extension, He was faithful to us. He didn’t cave in to that very, very common temptation of getting something you want for yourself when no one else knows.
Patti: In the second reading on Ash Wednesday from 2 Corinthians chapter 5, we have that remarkable scripture, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who did not know sin.”[i]
Msgr.: How do you understand that “made Him to be sin?”
Patti: Well, the best explanation I have is that in the agony in the garden He drew us all into Himself, and our sin came with us. Sin had separated us from God but as Jesus headed to the cross He took us within him.
Msgr.: So, in His suffering and death, we were suffering and dying with Him– baptism is our connection with that.
Patti: So, although Jesus never sinned, He became sin because He became one with us while we were still sinners, until the sacrifice was complete.
Msgr.: He took all that guilt and all that filth and remained faithful. When Jesus prayed, “Why have you forsaken me?” He probably felt forsaken because of the burden of that sin. When we sin, we are the ones that are forsaking God. He never forsakes us. But God was very quiet at that moment. Although Jesus wasn’t alone, sin makes you feel separated from God.
Patti: You can’t have light and dark together.
Msgr.: Light always overcomes darkness. Also, in II Corinthians, Paul quotes Isaiah. “in an acceptable time. I heard you and on the day of salvation I helped you.” He quotes Isaiah and then says in His own words, “Behold now is a very acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.”
Patti: Paul is teaching us that the purpose of the cross is to fulfill that promise. “Thus says the Lord: … to the prisoners: Come out! To those in darkness: Show yourselves!” The purpose of the cross is to fulfill God’s promise to save us and open the gate of heaven.
Msgr.: And here earlier in the passage from II Corinthians Paul says “we are ambassadors for Christ as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ to reconcile to God.” God appeals through us to others. It’s like those who have acknowledged their need for the Lord, or their own sinfulness like Paul did, they become the ambassadors because they know what they are talking about. They have been there and they have experienced this death to sin. In other words, they died with Christ, when Christ took our sins on the cross they died with Him. Paul died to an old way of life. Now, having done that, he can be an ambassador for that experience. He isn’t just talking theoretically.
Patti: Once we receive the grace of salvation, God’s righteousness, we’re not to receive the grace in vain; don’t just sit there like a lump on a log, and certainly don’t turn away from it. Accept what’s offered. Accept the gift of salvation. The Corinthians were struggling to stay on course. They were backsliding.
Msgr.: They were living pretty wild. Of course, Corinth was a pretty wild city and they lived in the midst of all that.
Patti: So, the purpose of the cross is not to just open up the gates of heaven to us, it is also to allow us to accept the grace and move forward with it and share it with others.
Msgr.: The grace of God does so much more than just open heaven to us. It helps us to get there. The gate is open but we have to enter into the death of Christ; we have to accept the cross ourselves—that’s part of the process of getting there. Sometimes we ride on the cross to get to the gates of heaven. And sometimes we carry the cross to get there. It’s a long journey.
Patti: In year B, we hear the story of Jesus’ fasting in Mark’s gospel. On the first Sunday in Lent we get a very simple story of Jesus going into the desert.
Msgr.: Real bare story! Mark doesn’t even tell us what the temptations were. Mark says Jesus was with the wild animals and the angels came and waited on him. After 40 days He was hungry – a huge understatement.
Patti: After that long fast, He comes back and the gospel says He makes the announcement that the “kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is the time of fulfillment.” His first public announcement is his statement of purpose.
Msgr.: Repent and believe. “The kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.” That’s His message. We know that it takes the cross for the kingdom to be completely released. The rest of His ministry is showing the people what the kingdom could be and should be.
Patti: Jesus faced the temptation and He was obedient to God. He did not fall to sin. Just like Abraham who was tested with the sacrifice of his son. Abraham passed the test and moved forward to the blessing.
Msgr.: And became our father in faith!
Patti: So, here this testing, the sacrifice of fasting, the sacrifice of being around the wild beasts and saying “no” to oneself and saying “no” to the temptations, that released a fulfillment in God’s promises.
Msgr.: It also equipped Him to bear the message. If He had given in, He would have been like Adam, but He didn’t. The devil probably had a pretty tempting case for Jesus; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been a temptation.
Patti: And it tested the fullness of His humanity, too.
Msgr.: His hunger, thirst, loneliness: That equipped Him to say “repent”. In Mark’s gospel Jesus had great authority; the authority of having come eye to eye with the devil, resist the temptations and then be able to cast demons out. I don’t think if He had given in to the devil and his temptations, He would have had any power over the demons. The demons knew they were dealing with somebody that you don’t fool with.
Patti: The 2nd reading on the first Sunday from 1st Peter seconds that idea.
Msgr.: Peter tells us that Jesus now sits at the right hand of God with the angels, powers and authorities subjected to Him. The reading begins talking about Christ suffering, “He suffered for sins once –the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous that he might lead you to God”[ii] “Put to death in the flesh, He was brought to life in the spirit”.
Patti: Peter is telling us the effect of the cross, the effect of death on the cross. It was to bring life in the spirit. Peter also reminds us of the story of Noah.
Msgr.: That’s interesting that they would connect Noah with the temptations in the desert.
Patti: The reading from Genesis says “This is the sign I am giving you for all ages to come, of the covenant between me and you and every living creature with you, I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.[iii]” It’s almost like it’s the sovereignty over nature. We get Noah as an example. He was a faithful man so the Lord allowed him to escape the consequences of the flood and then God showed him that he would never destroy it again with the sign of the rainbow.
Msgr.: At least He wouldn’t do it by water.
Patti: There you go. Noah’s flood is shown as a prefiguring of baptism: Redemption by water of the evil in the world. The world was redeemed through the flood.
Msgr.: Notice Peter says, “God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved from the water.” Did you know that is why our baptismal pools have eight sides?
Patti: Our baptismal pools have eight sides?
Msgr.: Yes, because there were eight people saved. A lot of the baptismal pools in the ancient churches were eight-sided. St. Vincent de Paul’s baptismal font is eight-sided.
Patti:
I didn’t know that. How rich we are with symbolism! During the Second Sunday of Lent, we have the Transfiguration. On the hilltop Jesus becomes dazzling white and Elijah and Moses appears conversing with him.
Msgr.: The Second Sunday of Lent is always the Transfiguration. This year we hear Mark’s version.
Patti: The Transfiguration points to eternal life because it pulls Moses and Elijah from way in the past to be made present with Jesus. Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets.
Msgr.: Jesus came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. It’s only a glimpse, you know. It is only a fleeting image. But it’s real. The voice of God says – “This is my Beloved Son, listen to Him.”
Patti: Its like, “If you only knew what I’m doing for you.” Since Jesus is a priest, prophet, and a king, this is an act of prophecy, a vision to let them know about the coming resurrection. Jesus says, “Don’t relate to anyone what you have seen, except when the Son of Man has risen from the dead.” “Risen from the dead” is another word of prophecy. The Transfiguration is showing us death can be conquered. In the natural, Moses and Elijah had been dead a long, long time
Msgr.: Right after that, Jesus tells them clearly, “I am going to be put to death and I will conquer death, too.”
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Patti Brunner: Welcome back, I’m Patti Brunner and I’m talking with Msgr. David LeSieur about the “Season of Cross Purposes. In the letter to the Romans on the 2nd Sunday of Lent, Paul writes He “did not spare His only son but handed Him over for all of us.” “It is Christ, who died, rather, was raised.” Paul is pointing out the sacrifice, the death, and the cross, but in the same breath, the resurrection and how it all fits together. And, “He handed Him over for all of us.” So, there was a purpose. The redemption was a purpose.
Msgr.: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” [iv] It’s like Jesus becoming sin – will God, the Father, not give us everything else along with Jesus? He didn’t spare His own son. So, how could He not give us everything along with Jesus?
Patti: He is showing us His absolute love for us. That He loves us so much that not only did He give us His son, He will give us the grace we need to choose Him, the grace to overcome temptation, the grace to get through whatever trials and suffering and desert time that this life has for us.
Msgr.: Yes, because Jesus went through all that Himself, a lot desert time. If we are in Him, baptized in Him, we go through it with Him and Paul says we will receive everything else along with Him, too. If we take part in His sufferings, we will also receive the blessings, too, if we are faithful to that. Jesus intercedes for us. So, God is for us, so nothing, apparently, can be against us.
Patti: So, even if we are in the midst of difficult times, as we recognize God’s love, we can say “this too shall pass” kind of thing; that hope, that trust, that understanding of God’s love makes all the difference.
Msgr.: Yes. People go through difficult things – lose their jobs, whatever. I think in order to keep their hope and to keep their trust; they somehow have to have an experience of God’s love. Now, we can say to people, “God is with you ” but if they don’t know that; if they don’t feel it, it is going to be hollow sounding to them. It’s true, God is with them but they need to somehow get it on an experiential level.
Patti: I think what God is calling us to, in our suffering, our fasting and our sacrificing, is to complete them through love and accept His love to hold up us during it, whatever we go through. Look at Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. On the outside, it looks like “Oh my gosh, why would He have ever submit to that? How could He have stood it?” Yet, when He was in the midst of it, it was so much His purpose to be there; it was an act of love. He was teaching us in the midst of it how to endure suffering.
Msgr.: What was it that Hebrews said? “For the joy that lay before Him, He endured the suffering.” You can endure a lot if you are doing something for the love of it or the joy of it. I know football players, for instance, that love the game, put up with a lot of suffering, practice and getting beat up on the field, but they play for the love of the game.
Patti: It’s like when the plane crashed recently on a house. The mother heard her child cry in the other part of the house; the mother had a way out but she heard her child. So she went back through the burning house to get her child.
Msgr.: Did she save the child?
Patti: Yes. The mother had a broken collar bone and the child only had scratches. Her husband died instantly. Again, it’s ‘what are you willing to do out of love?’
Msgr.: The terrible question is: what if the husband was trapped in one room and the daughter in another. Who would she save first if she could only save one? That is the ultimate question.
Patti: But, God, the Father, had to make that choice. He could have spared His own son – but he chose to save us. Just like Paul tells us in Romans, He, who did not spare His own son, handed Him over for all of us.
Msgr.: That goes right along with the sacrifice of Abraham and Isaac in the first reading on the 2nd Sunday of Lent. God put him to the test.
Patti: I love the story of Abraham and the testing with Isaac. It took me a long time to “get it”. I used to think it was horrible that God would ask the sacrifice of Abraham’s son. But I’ve come to understand how it relates to what God himself would sacrifice, his own son, Jesus.
Msgr.: I was reading the other day in the breviary. They have Early Church Fathers sometimes commenting on parts of scripture. Origen is a third-century writer and he was commenting on how Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice, like Jesus carried the cross.
Patti: He carried it up the hill, right. We get the Gospel of John on the Third Sunday of Lent.
Msgr.: Cleaning out the temple; it wasn’t worshippers that He was casting out; it was the moneychangers outside of the temple.
Patti: The Pharisees were keeping the letter of the law but not the heart of the law. Jesus doesn’t want to do away with worship but He wants to clean it out.
Msgr.: You don’t need the cow or the dove to worship. It is the heart that He wants. It is the heart of worship.
Patti: Jesus shows us that one of the purposes of the cross was to return worship to “right order” and to show that Jesus is the true dwelling place and temple of God. He says, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.” And the Gospel says, “Therefore, when He was raised from the dead, the disciples remembered what He said.” Again, we are getting a little hint here in Chapter 2; John is already telling us Jesus is going to be raised from the dead.
Msgr.: In 1st Corinthians chapter 1, on the Third Sunday of Lent, Paul tells us about the cross and the crucifixion. He calls it “A stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles that we proclaim Christ crucified[v].” To be crucified was an ignominious death. It was a criminal’s death.
Patti: It was a shameful way to die.
Msgr.: ‘Cursed is He who is hung upon a tree.[vi]’ So, there, again, He becomes sin. He dies this shameful death which to anyone else would look like foolishness. He died a sinner’s death. He died a criminal and, yet, we know He chose that. It is interesting.
Patti Brunner: If we go beyond our reading in 1st Corinthians it says, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world … so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” [vii] So, the cross also reveals the power and wisdom of God. And that it is not necessarily what you would think.
Msgr.: The wisdom of God is not necessarily the wisdom of the world. What the world looks at as wise, God looks at as foolishness and vice versa.
Patti: He was able to trick the devil this way, too. You know, the devil thought he was winning by subjecting Jesus to the shameful death on the cross, but that’s exactly how he brought salvation to the world. Jesus triumphed by the cross!
Msgr.: The first reading on the 3rd Sunday of Lent is the Ten Commandments given to Moses in Exodus. Man has broken all those Ten Commandments.
Patti Brunner: We need the cross because we broke them all. The Fourth Sunday has the famous chapter of John where Jesus is talking to Nicodemus. John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.” It’s that reconnection of God and man. When Jesus is teaching Nicodemus, He says, “light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light.” One of the purposes of the cross is light so as to expose the evil, to expose the wicked works.
Msgr.: “This is the verdict, “The light came into the world.” In the first chapter of John, it says, “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”[viii] “The people preferred darkness to light.” It is like you said; light and darkness cannot exist together. If there is the least bit of light it will overcome the darkness. A small match in a totally dark room will light the room up. But you have to make the choice. The verdict will be based upon how you choose. You can either choose the light or choose the darkness.
Patti: And Nicodemus, we identify with him. He has fear but he comes and talks to Jesus to find out more about Him. The more Jesus tells him, the more the light is opened up in Nicodemus and certainly in us, too. When we approach Jesus, even if we have been in the midst of darkness, He will bring us into the light of salvation.
Msgr.: Nicodemus came in the night. That is symbolic. He was in the dark. And it is night when we hear of Judas at the Last Supper. John uses that play of light. Powerful symbolism!
Patti: Our 2nd reading on the 4th Sunday of Lent is from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians[ix]. Here he is telling us that God’s bringing those dead in sin to life with Christ. By grace you have been saved.
Msgr.: He writes, ‘That in the ages to come He might show the immeasurable richness of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus’.[x]
Patti Brunner: So, we are not just hearing the cross is bringing life and salvation, and that the cross is raising us up, we are also hearing that the purpose of the cross is to show the immeasurable richness of God’s grace and kindness. It is the part of that abundant life that John talks about in Chapter 10 verse 10. There is a lot more than just getting by.
Msgr.: The first reading from II Chronicles[xi] is talking about the restoration of Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity and how the king of Persia, Cyrus, certainly a gentile, is the one that God used to rebuild Jerusalem. God calls Cyrus ‘His servant’.
Patti: That gives us such hope in today’s world that no matter what is going on, no matter what political leaders you have around you, God can use ‘whoever’ to bring His plan into place. It is part of His handiworks.
Msgr.: It doesn’t have to be an obvious choice. Who would have thought Cyrus would be the one to redeem Jerusalem from Babylon?
Patti: When you look at the pro-life stand of various politicians and who is in charge and you might think, “Well, if God was in charge then He would get the pro-life people in there.” Well, not necessarily. God uses whoever He wills.
Msgr.: He has a way of working it out. It might be easier some other way but that doesn’t matter to God.
Patti: Right! You think, “Why didn’t God just allow the Israelites to overcome the Babylonians or the Persians and be in charge?” Well, no, that wasn’t His plan. His plan was to keep them humble.
Msgr.: In fact, He told them to surrender to Babylon and not to resist. When they did resist, they were destroyed.
Patti: That’s right. And that story relates to Jesus. Jesus humbled Himself. He did not resist.
Msgr.: “Like a lamb to the slaughter He humbled Himself, obediently accepting even death.”
Patti: We have one more Sunday in Lent, the fifth week. We have the gospel story of the grain of wheat falling and dying.
Msgr.: I love that passage. I use it quite often at funerals if they ask me to choose the readings. I love Romans 6:3-9, “baptized into Christ, baptized into His death.”[xii]
Patti: Jesus says “it was for this purpose I came into this hour.” So, in this fifth Sunday, right before we are leading into Holy Week, it is packed full of helping us understand the need for the cross, the need for the total submission to suffering and death by Christ.
Msgr.: It is out of suffering and death that new life comes. Unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies and undergoes the suffering of death, it remains just what it was. It is not intended to remain what it was. It has all this life potential to become fruitful and to bear more seed, to be eaten or used in whatever way. So, death helps us to fulfill our purpose. So can suffering.
Patti: It’s a means for transformation.
Msgr.: Yes. We are transformed into our inner deeper purpose, which is to bear the fruit of love. Fruit is always born in pain, I think. It requires change. Like a blossom changing to a piece of fruit on the tree. The flower is so beautiful and lovely. But its petals fall away. It has to die.
Patti: The bloom has to die for the fruit to come forth.
Msgr.: Yes, before it can swell into a piece of fruit.
Patti: That’s good. John writes, “Now is the time for the judgment on this world. Now the ruler of this world will be driven out.” He is laying it out there pretty heavy. Jesus asks, “Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?”
Msgr.: Jesus answers “It is for this purpose I came.”[xiii] He is so much in charge. He is so much self-directed in John’s Gospel that when in the garden Jesus says, “Who are you looking for?” They say, “Jesus the Nazorean”, He says, “I AM” and they fall to the ground.[xiv] He is so powerful and self-directed. You know, Pilate is on trial more than Jesus in John’s gospel.
Patti: In the Hebrews reading, on the 5th Sunday of Lent, we hear that Jesus prayed to the Father; He learned obedience; and that He is the source of salvation. It’s very short reading.
Msgr.: Three verses. “He learned obedience from what He suffered and when He was made perfect He became the source of eternal salvation for all.”
Patti: So, there was something in the testing that Jesus had to go through the test of obedience, just like Abraham was tested with the obedience to God in his willingness to sacrifice His son. Adam was disobedient and then suffered. Jesus was perfected by His obedience in the midst of suffering and acceptance of death on a cross.
Msgr. David LeSieur: I wanted to remind our listeners that today’s show is based on liturgical year B readings. Many Catholics will actually hear the gospel readings from year ‘A’, however, due to RCIA Scrutinies for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Sundays of Lent. The Scrutinies’ gospel on the Third Sunday is the Samaritan woman at the well. The Fourth Sunday is the man born blind and the healing of the blind man. On the Fifth Sunday is the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. All are beautiful, powerful stories.
Patti: They emphasize baptism, conversion and Christ, the Messiah. The Church made the decision to read these gospels each year for special benefit of the catechumens at the Sunday masses where the catechumens are invited for special prayer.
Msgr.: Remember the catechumens are those not yet baptized, who are studying the faith and will be baptized at the Easter Vigil. The Samaritan woman at the well thirsted for living water. The catechumens do too.
Patti: We invite our listeners to go online at Paduamedia.com, that’s P A D U A M E D I A.com and listen to the show from February year A in the Living Seasons of Change archives, the “Season of Hope”” Those Lenten Year A readings are very special. Of course, the B cycle liturgies that we discussed today are beautiful, too. That way you can get a “double dip” of the richness of the scripture readings during Lent! Monsignor, will you close our show with a blessing?
Msgr. David LeSieur: [Blessing]
Patti: Thank you Monsignor. To get a copy of the references in today’s show or to read the Liturgical readings please check the website patriarchMinistries.com and to listen to this show or previous broadcasts click paduamedia.com and Living Seasons of Change.
[i] 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 “for our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin”
[ii] 1 Peter 3: 18 For Christ also suffered * for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit.
[iii] Genesis 9:12-13 “This is the sign I am giving you for all ages to come, of the covenant between me and you and every living creature with you, I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth..
[iv] Romans 8:31 ““If God is for us, who can be against us?”
[v] 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 “we proclaim Christ crucified” a “stumbling block to Jews…foolish to Gentiles”
[vi] Galatians 3:13 Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree“.
[vii] 1 Cor 1:27* but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, 28* God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29* so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30* He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption; 31* therefore, as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord.”
[viii] John 1:5-9 “The light shines in the darkness and darkness has not overcome it. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony to testify to the light so that all might believe through Him. He was not light but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
[ix] Ephesians 2:4-10
[x] Ephesians 2:7 ‘That in the ages to come He might show the immeasurable richness of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus’.
[xi] 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23
[xii] Romans 6: 3 “Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”
[xiii] John 12: 27 “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.
[xiv] John 18: 4 Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him, went out and said to them, “Whom are you looking for?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus the Nazorean.” * He said to them, “I AM.” Judas his betrayer was also with them. 6 When he said to them, “I AM,” they turned away and fell to the ground.
Outline and References:
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 “for our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin”
“Rend your hearts not your garments” from prophet Joel
Fasting is not for “show”
The purpose of the cross is to fulfill God’s promise to hear us on the day of salvation
1 Peter 3: 18 “Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit.”
Genesis 9:12-13 “This is the sign I am giving you for all ages to come, of the covenant between me and you and every living creature with you, I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”
The purpose of the cross is so we can have an intimate relationship with God our Father
The purpose of the cross is to lead us to God; to bring life in the Spirit to all generations; for Jesus to sit at the right hand of God with angels, authorities and powers subject to him
Like Jesus we prepare by fasting, testing, and “quiet”
Comparison of Isaac with Jesus by Origen, an early church Father. Origen was born in 185 A.D, was ordained a priest in 231 and died in 252. Isaac was the son of Abraham.
The purpose of the cross is absolute love
The purpose of the cross is intercession
The purpose of the cross is eternal life, conquering death
Romans 8:31 ““If God is for us, who can be against us?”
The purpose of the cross is to reveal the power and the wisdom of God;
The cross allows us to let go of our human need to take control of everything
1 Corinthians 1:22-25 “we proclaim Christ crucified” a “stumbling block to Jews…foolish to Gentiles”
The purpose of the cross is to return worship to right order
Galatians 3:13 Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree“.
1 Corinthians 1 “27 but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”
The purpose of the cross is light to expose evil.
John 1:5-9 “The light shines in the darkness and darkness has not overcome it. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony to testify to the light so that all might believe through Him. He was not light but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
The purpose of the cross is to show God’s resurrection power over death and life
The purpose of the cross is to show Jesus as the true dwelling place and temple of God
The purpose of the cross is bring life to those dead in transgression, to provide salvation by grace through the gift of faith
The purpose of the cross is to raise us up to be seated with God in heaven in Christ Jesus
The purpose of the cross is to show the immeasurable riches of God’s grace and kindness
Ephesians 2:7 ‘That in the ages to come He might show the immeasurable richness of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus’.
The purpose of the cross is to conquer fear and death
Romans 6: 3 “Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”
The purpose of the cross is to exhibit God’s love
John 12: 27 “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.
The purpose of the cross is salvation from condemnation
The purpose of the cross is light, to expose evil and wicked works
John 18: “4 Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him, went out and said to them, “Whom are you looking for?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus the Nazorean.” He said to them, “I AM.” Judas his betrayer was also with them. 6 When he said to them, “I AM,” they turned away and fell to the ground.”
The Scrutiny readings from Year A emphasize Baptism, conversion, and Christ the Messiah
The Scrutiny involve the images of living water and light
New American Bible (NAB) readings are referenced from the Lectionary for Mass, for use in the dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition ©1997, 1970 by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. [see link]Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright ©1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
Readings for the Season of Cross Purposes see Liturgical Readings link
Ash Wednesday
Joel 2:12-18 “rend your hearts not your garments” proclaim a fast; “let the priests and ministers of the Lord weep and say ’spare O Lord, your people
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 “for our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin” Fulfilling God’s promise in Isaiah: “Now is a very acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation”
Matthew 6:1-5, 16-18 not that others might see, “pray, go to your inner room…pray to your Father in secret”
1st Sunday of Lent
Genesis 9:8-15 covenant: “never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed” by flood
1 Peter 3:18-22 Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous. Noah’s flood prefigured baptism. “Appeal to God for a clear conscience through the resurrection of Jesus”
Mark1:12-14 Jesus in the desert 40 days; at Galilee he proclaimed “This is the time of fulfillment” “The kingdom of God is at hand”
2nd Sunday of Lent
Genesis 22:1-2, 9a,10-13, 15-18 Abraham tested in offering Isaac as a holocaust; did not withhold his beloved son so God blessed him abundantlyRoman 8:31b-34 God is for us, did not spare his Son, “handed him over for us all” Jesus who died was raised, at right hand our intercessor
Mark 9:2-10 the transfiguration; dazzling white; Elijah and Moses appeared conversing with Jesus, voice: my beloved Son; charged not to tell until when Son of Man risen from the dead.
3rd Sunday of Lent
Exodus 20:1-17 Ten Commandments; “mercy down to 100th generation; “the Lord will not leave unpunished the one who takes his name in vain”;
1 Corinthians 1:22-25 “we proclaim Christ crucified” a “stumbling block to Jews… foolish to Gentiles”
John 2:13-25 Jesus cleaned out the temple area with whip, with “Zeal”; “Destroy this temple & in 3 days I will raise it up” -remembered later; Some began to believe in his name due to signs: “Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all”??
4th Sunday of Lent
2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23 Princes, priests, people of Judah infidelity; despised warnings; anger of the Lord inflamed; their enemies tore down Jerusalem; burnt temple, captives to Babylon until King of Persia, Cyrus, had word from the Lord to rebuild it and restore Jerusalem.
Ephesians 2:4-10 in mercy & love God brought those dead in sin to life with Christ; “by grace you have been saved” through gift of faith
John 3:14-21 Jesus to Nicodemus: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” “that the world might be saved through him” “whoever believes in him will not be condemned”
Scrutiny Sundays: A
3rd Sunday of Lent/ scrutiny: A
Exodus 17:3-7 “strike the rock” in Horeb and “water will flow”
Romans 5:1-2,5-8 “while we were sinners, Christ died for us”
John 4:5-42 Samaritan women at the well
4th Sunday of Lent / scrutiny: A
1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a Samuel’s anointing of David
Ephesians 5:8-14 “Live as children of light”
John 9:1-41 man born blind, whose sin? “smeared clay on his eyes” “I was blind and now I see” “I do believe”
Fifth Sunday of Lent / scrutiny: A
Ezekiel 37:12-14 “I will put my spirit in you”
Romans 8:8-11″..not in the flesh but in the spirit”
John 11:1-45 or 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45 “Lazarus, come out!”
