Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: John 18: 33-37

Pilate said to Jesus,
“Are you the King of the Jews?” 
Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own
or have others told you about me?” 
Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? 
Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. 
What have you done?” 
Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world.
If my kingdom did belong to this world,
my attendants would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. 
But as it is, my kingdom is not here.” 
So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” 
Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. 
For this I was born and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth. 
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Who are the three people whose names are most frequently spoken at Mass?

Certainly Jesus, then Mary.

Who might be the third?

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Not Joseph. Perhaps not even Peter or Paul.

But Pontius Pilate. 

Catholics say his name every Sunday while reciting the creed. 

“I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ… For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried.” 

We include Pilate’s name to emphasize that this was a real historical event. It happened. It matters.

But who, exactly, was Pilate?

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He was the government official put directly in charge of maintaining Roman rule in Judea. Thus, when he speaks to Jesus in today’s Gospel, he speaks with the authority of the most powerful empire the world had ever known.

Pilate reminds Christ of this as the Lord stands trial before him, saying, “Do you not know that I have power to release you and power to crucify you?”

Yet the Lord never asks to be released. His sole concern throughout this sham trial is Pilate’s soul. Even in this horribly heated environment when the stakes couldn’t be higher, Jesus attempts, “to seek and to save what was lost.”

This will be the final encounter the Lord has with a human being before being sent off for execution. His final act is to turn the tables on Pilate, putting him on trial, causing Pilate to make a decision.

Like all of us, Pilate must decide for himself, “Who is this man? Is he a king? Is he my King?”

This is undeniably a day of judgment.

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Pilate’s decision is neither easy nor immediate, revealing just how torn he is. If he were not intrigued by Jesus, then he would’ve sent him off immediately for execution to quell the bloodthirsty crowds.

Yet he staves them off for a time, oscillating between his honest questions, his search for Truth, his fear of an uprising, and his desire to stay in power. 

His indecision is magnified by the fact that he rushes between Jesus and the crowds seven different times. In the process, he asks Jesus more questions than anyone else in the Gospels.

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If Pilate comes to faith, then his first lesson in discipleship will be one of the hardest. As the Lord taught openly during his public ministry, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” 

A cross for Pilate that would include rejecting the crowds’ demand for blood, saving an innocent man, and dealing with the consequences of a city on the verge of a riot, which very well may cost him his job, even his life.

Stuck in the prison of indecision, Pilate tries to compromise by having Jesus scourged, then offering to release either him or Barabbas in honor of the impending Jewish celebration of Passover.

Interestingly, Barabbas in Hebrew means, “son of the father.”

John uses this tension between Christ – the Son of God the Father – and Barabbas to highlight the stark difference between these two men. One is God, the other is a violent revolutionary. 

And who does the crowd choose? Barabbas.

Throughout history, humankind has chosen the way of Barabbas, the way of brute force and violence, instead of the way of love. 

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So, what might this high-stake encounter between Pilate, the crowds, and Christ say to us today?

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Faith always comes at a cost.

Although Pilate declares before the crowds, “I find this man to be innocent,” he buckles under pressure, having Christ crucified anyway – and releasing a violent man, Barabbas, back into society in the process.

At times, we, too, experience this pressure to buckle under the weight of the world, instead of making faith-based decisions. 

Whether that includes honesty at home or at work, moral decisions when we think no one is watching, or speaking out against the crowds, making an unpopular, but right, decision. 

For every believer, faith comes at a cost.

What are some of the pressures we face? Or when has it been difficult to choose Jesus over someone or something else?

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Every Sunday we profess that Jesus Christ was crucified under Pontius Pilate, not only to say his death matters; it also has consequences for our lives today.

May all of our actions this week reflect our faith in Jesus Christ, not only King of the Universe, by our King.

My King.

My Lord and my God!

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Image credits: (1) Miles Christi (2) iStock (3) The Oneness of God in Christ

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Revelation: 10: 8-11

I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me.
Then the voice spoke to me and said:
“Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel
who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll.
He said to me, “Take and swallow it.
It will turn your stomach sour,
but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.”
I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it.
In my mouth it was like sweet honey,
but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.
Then someone said to me, “You must prophesy again
about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”

The Word of the Lord.

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All week we’ve been reading through the Book of Revelation, which deals with the end times, divine judgment, the return of Christ, his triumphant defeat over Satan, and the glory of heaven.

At this point in the Book, John has seen the glory of God. Now he’s asked to take a scroll and eat it. Notice it isn’t forced upon him; he must choose to accept it.

“Take and swallow it,” the heavenly voice says. “It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.”

What is this scroll John is asked to eat? And what might it mean for us?

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The scroll contains the Word of God, which is never forced upon us. Rather, we’re invited to take it, to savor it, and to digest it until it becomes part of who we are.

To one with faith, this Word tastes as sweet as honey, because it reveals the Truth. 

However, it can also leave a sour feeling in our stomach because of what that Word demands – a change in priorities, an end to vice, and a conversion of heart. 

If anyone is to enjoy the vision of God, which John was privileged to see, then we must be willing to suffer first, turning our priorities upside down, right side up, putting God first at every moment in our lives.

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For example, generous living is a sweet idea… but Christians are called to give until it hurts.

Honesty is a virtue we all value… but try being honest after getting caught in a lie.

Purity of heart is the most admirable of traits… but keeping the darkness of temptation at bay is never easy.

We adore Christ for laying down his life to save us… but he reminds us, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” We, too, must lay down our lives for others.

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As we approach this holy season of Advent, may we develop a tolerance for the sour, trusting, in time, it all becomes sweet.

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Image credits: (1) Draw for God (2) Devoted to You (3) iBelieve.com

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Gospel: Matthew 12: 46-50

While Jesus was speaking to the crowds,
his mother and his brothers appeared outside,
wishing to speak with him.
Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside,
asking to speak with you.”
But he said in reply to the one who told him,
“Who is my mother?  
Who are my brothers?”
And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father
is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Today we celebrate the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, a feast that dates back to the 6^th century. 

While Mary’s presentation in the Temple is not recorded in the Gospels, many believe that her parents, Anne and Joachim, brought her to the Temple in Jerusalem around the age of three, consecrating her to the Lord.

Mary was their only child. Taking her on pilgrimage and offering her back to God was both an act of faith and thanksgiving. 

Some years later, Mary will do the same as she and Joseph bring the Christ-child, wrapped in swaddling clothes, to the same Temple, also offering him to God. 

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This feast teaches us three things.

First, Christians are called to be people of gratitude. We recognize that everything is from God and, ultimately, everyone belongs to God, even those we hold most precious in our lives.

Second, we are a pilgrim people. Pilgrims are on a journey; the ground we stand upon is neither our home nor our final destination. It’s merely a place of passage. We see this world – and all things in it – as passing, and act accordingly.

Occasionally, we also make smaller pilgrimages, like going up to Jerusalem (or, for some parishioners next February, Portugal!) to remind us of our true homeland, heaven.

Third, we are generous people. We give to God what belongs to God. In Anne and Joachim’s case, they offer their only daughter. Mary does the same with Christ. 

We, too, should offer our lives in service to the Gospel.

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On this, her feast day, may Mary intercede for us that we’d be people of gratitude, pilgrimage, and generosity, recognizing that everything and everyone belongs to the Lord.

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Image credits: (1) Crossmap Blogs (2) Vatican News (3) Living Bulwark