Finding Your Soul by David Anderson
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Peter
swore with an oath, “I do not know the man.” But it wasn’t exactly true. While Jesus is on trial, Peter is hanging around the courthouse when a maid recognizes him. She points her finger, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” Peter denies it and slinks off, only to be fingered twice more. Each…
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Mary Magdalene
was Jesus’ friend, from beginning to end. Like all the other women who were essential to Jesus’ ministry, Mary Magdalene was not counted as one of his disciples. Luke tells us that Jesus went about preaching, and “With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and…
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Judas
is, outside of Jesus, the most poignant and affecting character in the passion story. We meet other great figures this week, but none that stir such emotion in us. Peter the denier comes close, but no one drops completely into the abyss like Judas. His sin is considered unforgiveable. Would I have done that? we…
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Malchus
is a casualty of religious violence. You hardly know his name, but Malchus is the servant of the high priest, who comes along with Judas Iscariot and the Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus in the garden. He’s a bystander, really, until Peter, armed with a sword, decides he’s had enough of this non-violent resistance stuff.…
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The Donkey Speaks:
Palm Sunday You might think donkeys can’t talk, but if you’ve ever read the story of “Balaam and his ass”—that would be Numbers chapter 22—you know we donkeys have a lot to say. When donkeys get together we tend to talk about you all, mostly how you think you’re the only ones on earth, how…
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The Donkey Speaks:
Palm Sunday You might think donkeys can’t talk, but if you’ve ever read the story of “Balaam and his ass”—that would be Numbers chapter 22—you know we donkeys have a lot to say. When donkeys get together we tend to talk about you all, mostly how you think you’re the only ones on earth, how…
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“Gotta Serve Somebody”
On Saturdays our companions are musicians. Bob Dylan was on a grueling world tour in 1978, performing 114 shows in Japan, Australia, North America and all over Europe. He was traveling with an 8-piece band and three back-up singers. A lot to manage. All told, he sang to two million people. In the middle of…
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Mary
is the queen of surrender. When the angel comes to her with the news, both impossible and outrageous, she says simply, “Let it be.” Let what is about to happen, happen. This isn’t passivity or indifference. It isn’t fatalistic. Not, “Well, it’s bound to happen, so there’s no sense fighting it.” It’s curious, wanting to…
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Jesus in Gethsemane
always knew where this life-in-God was taking him. But his Gethsemane night of agony reveals his deep confusion and misgiving: he didn’t think it would come to this. He falls on his face and prays mightily for God to find another way, sweating blood. Nevertheless, he prays, “not my will but yours be done.” Jesus…