Tag Archives: death

Jesus, his empathy…his heart

5 Apr
from Turin, Italy

from Luke 7

‘Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

‘ … his heart went out to her…’ Jesus visits the town of Nain. Walking to the town gate, by chance, he sees a widow who has lost her son, her only son. Seeing her sorrows, her tears, her, his heart moves to her. This is his empathy.

In the Greek ‘empathy’ is used to describe someone who is acting while being driven by passion. With such emotions, no one can see objectively or calmly. Jesus is not at peace as he sees this unnamed mother and widow. A woman who has lost her himself and now her only son, one who had to remind her of a loved husband’s lost. One sorrow calls up the other. She is alone.

But not quite alone. Jesus sees. He approaches. He feels deeply, with his heart going to her.

In the English version ‘empathy’ means that someone is getting to feel deeply (“more inside”) the other and his/her situation. This widow is not alone. Jesus’ heart is with hers.

They cry together. And so, …

14 Then he ( Jesus ) went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Our Lord came to Earth to show us, to see our sorrows. He came to teach us, as he walked among all peoples, how to feel even when immense pains were involved. He came to share our pains; to share us with his father and the Spirit.

He came to teach us how to feel, to feel deeply.

We are his heart, his empathy. Jesus comes to feel deeply.

Us.

Feel as Him the Easter week of 2023. Let hearts go out to those in need. Feel, by the Spirit, as Jesus. Deeply feels.

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questioning Jesus, Mark 12, death

29 Aug

Parable of the Vine-growers

12 ‘And He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and put a wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. 2 At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. 3 They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others.6 He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ 8 They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not even read this Scripture:

‘The stone which the builders rejected,
This became the chief corner stone;
11 This came about from the Lord,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

12 And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left Him and went away.

Jesus asks the question after the story today: What will the owner of the vineyard do?

He will come and destroy; he will give the vineyard to others. He will reject, expel, silent those who do not see the marvellous cornerstone. What were these teacher builders seeking, seeing?

Jesus’ death.

Jesus in his mercy tells them the hate filled story of their hearts. And they can’t hear; can’t see. Jesus asks and answers his own question so they can be have the absolute, the cornerstone truth.

And so they continue to plan to kill Jesus. This is what they are planting: death.safly, their own.

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‘And so we came to Rome.’ Acts 28

10 Jul

Paul’s desire; his call; his end place is not Taurus or Damascus; Ephesus or Philippi; Jerusalem or Malta. His called and chosen destiny is Rome. Rome.

Paul’s Arrival at Rome

11 ‘After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island—it was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. 12 We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days. 13 From there we set sail and arrived at Rhegium. The next day the south wind came up, and on the following day we reached Puteoli. 14 There we found some brothers and sisters who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome. 15 The brothers and sisters there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these people Paul thanked God and was encouraged. 16 When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him.‘

Paul was at home in Rome. On the Alexandrian ship he with ( at the least ) his brother Luke;  in Puteoli he sets his tent with brothers and sisters for a week; more family travel to the Three Taverns to touch, hear, love Paul.

And in Rome he has his own house and here can host even more of his newly forged Roman family with his testimony. 

Now, his letter, his epistle to the church in Rome takes on flesh and blood. 

Rome, Paul’s home, is now his life.

Rome, is life. And will be the place, the home of his human end, his death. 

His choice. Rome, …

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