Luke 23:26-49

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until about three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.

© The Saint John’s Bible, Used with Permission.

The Paschal Mystery

ChristologyLarry Fraher

Christian Worldviews

Influence of Nominalism on Christianity Today– William of Ockham – Ockham’s Razor

If there are a variety of explanations for something, the most simple is to be preferred.

– Leads to Nominalism (Naming) Something is not necessarily good, right or

true unless and until I experience it as such and named it.

Faith is not faith until one has experienced it and named it as their own.

Christian Worldview Catholicism Stands in Stark Contrast

to Nominalism– An Objective Reality of Grace that is

Communicated in the Sacraments Regardless of How it is Experienced.

– Challenges the View that Grace is not active until I experience and name it Grace is objective, true and universal. Just because an individual has not ‘named’

it, does not invalidate the Grace. Especially Important Relative to the

Paschal Mystery

Christian Worldview

The Question of Death…“I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,

the Only Begotten Son of God,born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light,true God from true God,begotten, not made,consubstantial with the Father;through him all things were made… For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,he suffered death and was buried,and rose again on the third dayin accordance with the Scriptures.”

Christian Worldview

The Question of Death– Incarnation: God meets us in OUR

HUMANITY Death is a human reality, not a Divine one. The death of the person Jesus Christ, human

and divine– NOT modern philosophy’s “Death of God”

An attempt to render God as non-existent God submits to death

– A HUMAN Reality– Divine Reality is Retained…

Review of Parables and Miracles

Parables– Stories that turn the current structure and

understanding ‘upside down’– Revealing the Reality of the Reign of God– Reality effected in the Telling

Miracles– Not just ‘nice for the person involved’– Present to all the universal in-breaking of God’s

reign. All Humanity is Lazarus, the Man Born Blind, etc.

– Miracles provide a Release for Discipleship.

For Discussion

Did Jesus have to Die?

Did he have to die on the Cross?

How is Death, particularly a violent death that is ‘capital punishment’, salvific?

Explain.

Why did Jesus Die?

3 Interpretations– Prophetic Fidelity & Eschatalogical

Rejection– The Upright Must Always Suffer– Expiation for Sin

Ritual Sacrifice God is Life

– The Effect of Sin– Understanding Blood Sacrifice

Jesus is the Ultimate Sacrifice– Essential to Eucharistic Understanding– Incarnation

Scriptural Typology– Bearer and Bringer of Sin

The nature of “Original” Sin– The Consequence of Sin– Bearer and Bringer of Salvation– Re-Capitulation

“God became human, that humans might become divine!”

-St. Irenaeus

Re-Capitualition If Adam and Eve hadn’t sinned, would we still

have needed Christ?

Humanity is “headed” by Adam/Eve– Always Creature– “Hatred of Boundaries”– Original Sin = To be God

Christ Re-heads or Re-Capitulates Humanity– Now Faithful– Even if we never sinned, Christ would have come to give

us the share of the Life of God that God desired for us.– Humanity is Re-Created in and through Jesus Christ.

“The 8th Day of Creation”

Analogy of Creation– Six days of Activity– One day of Rest (Sabbath)

Christ as Re-creating…– Six days of Activity refer to the life and ministry

Christ, culminating in his death.– Christ is in tomb on “day of rest”– Resurrection is 8th day – the Eternal Day – of

Creation– Humanity, in fact, all creation, is re-created on

this day!

Roman Jewish Relationship and the Execution of Jesus of

Nazareth Zero Tolerance Policy

– Barney Fife… Jerusalem as Religious and Political

Center– Cleansing of the Temple– Arrival in Jerusalem

Discipleship Challenges the Very Heart of the Political & Religious World View of the Time

Roman Jewish Relationship and the Execution of Jesus of

Nazareth The attack of the “Temple Structure”

– If you go into your parish gift shop and clear everything out in the name of fidelity to Christ and the Gospel, what will happen to you?

Perception is Everything– Nationalism (Zealot)– Kingly Proclamation– Large Following (Political Revolution)

Death

In our Human Frame death is the ultimate uncertainty– Vulnerability– No Control

In this Manner, we become Adam and Eve– You Certainly will not Die…– Lazarus will die again…– In the totality of Human Sin, we are all

Responsible (CCC 598) The Challenge and Confrontation of Death

is Fidelity

Jesus’ Death

Expiation/Intervention

Obedience and Fidelity

Service

Jesus’ Death as Expiation and Intervention

Parable in Mk 12:1-12– The vineyard owner is forced to send his

son on his behalf.– The lack of faithfulness among the

tenants of the vineyard evokes the “paternal Intervention.”

The Father sends his son as his representative to the tenants

Jesus’ Death as Obedience

Feast of the Triumph of the Cross– “He humbled himself and became

obedient to the point of death, death on a Cross!” (Philippians 2:8)

– He is obedient to his humanity– Incarnation Necessitates death

Proclamation necessitates the cross– Jesus is obedient to both

Jesus’ Death as Service

The Last Supper Stories Portray Jesus’ Loving Service– Identification of the Bread and Wine with

His Body and Blood is Service– The Washing of the feet is the

implication of the Eucharist

Jesus goes to the cross in loving service to all humanity

Christ, Offering Praise to the End

Chapel of Santa Sabina, 6th c. One of the earliest depictions of the Crucifixion

Notice that Christ is in the “orans” pose.

The Emptiness of Jesus Jesus “Empties” Himself (kenosis)

– In this emptiness, Jesus becomes the loving, serving and giving vessel of the Father.

– Our knowledge of the Father In this way, it is possible to speak of the Kenosis of God

The Emptiness is and– Soteriological (saving):

The Love of God, incarnated in Jesus Christ, brings salvation

– Eschatalogical (bringing the fullness of the end times): The old age ends, the new age dawns

The Burial of Christ Upon his Death, Christ is Buried

– As every human, this constitutes a time when the soul and body are separated

Descent into Hell– Christ’s Descent into death allows for

the union of all who have gone prior Allows also for the union with all who will

die… Death becomes the universal meeting point

between God and Humanity. All who had died and will die, are able to be

saved

Understanding the Resurrection Stories

“If they found an unopened tomb marked ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’, and there were a corpse inside, how would our faith be affected?”

Understanding the Resurrection Stories

Mark: Persecuted Church = The Messianic Secret

Matthew: Jewish Christian Church = Jesus is the fullness of God’s Promise

Luke: Gentile Christian Church = While we are Gentiles, we understand that Authority is from the Jews

John: Apocalyptic Church, Response to Gnosticism = Jesus Fully Divine, Fully Human

The Resurrection

God Raised or Jesus Rose?– The Action is God’s Initiative– Mortal, puts on Immortality

Healing of all that is not Whole (Shalom)– What are we bound to?– What makes us not free?

The Resurrection

The Question of ‘Opthe’– Passive: He was seen – Actor = Disciples– Passive: He was shown – Actor = God– Active: He showed himself – Actor =

Jesus Christology must pursue and

embrace all three– God Reveals in Doxa or Through Doxa =

Glory– Christology CANNOT accept only #1 and

remain Christian

Perceptions of the Resurrection

1. Objective and physical reality

2. Graced knowing: likened to ‘Real Presence’

3. A Push through the ‘Wall of Faith’

The Resurrection

Primary Axiom: “Faith does not establish the Resurrection. The Resurrection establishes faith.”– This necessitates a real and physical encounter

with the Risen Christ as other!– The Risen Christ establishes the Kerygma

The ongoing reality of the Kerygma present through the Church mediates the ongoing reality of the Resurrected Christ in history.

The Resurrection:Some Conclusions

The Necessity of the Resurrection– Resurrection IS NOT a simple Psychological

Phenomenon– Remember the reality that metanoia is the

result of the encounter with the Risen Christ The Historical Reality of the Paschal

Mystery is Essential to Christian Faith– The Gospels express this reality in variety, yet

a consistent faith runs through the varied expression.

– The Resurrection of Jesus is Historical Reality!– We proclaim the Mystery of Faith!

The Transforming Death = New Life

God’s Action in the Paschal Mystery– Total and Complete Union of Human and

Divine Death of Christ is God’s Unity with Humanity Resurrection of Christ is God’s Sharing of

Divine Life with Humanity– Transformation of the World

Recreated Made Whole (shalom) Ushering in of the Messianic Age

The Transforming Death = New Life

“That does not mean that suffering and dying lose their actuality for a Christian. But it does mean that anyone whose life is in Christ is no longer basically directed toward what perishes in death.”

-Cardinal Walter Kasper

We Have Seen the Lord!

The Resurrection is the Establishment of the Christian Faith.

It becomes the ‘hinge’ upon which the faith and all Salvation History rest.

©The Saint John’s Bible. “Do Not Hold On to Me”