CROSSING THE BARRIER

Strange darkness, seems to have pervaded the world at this hour. It is a strange darkness as it was only three in the afternoon. Phlegon wrote that this darkness surpassed anything that had ever been seen. At mid-day the stars could be seen. At the same time, an earthquake caused much damage.  It was felt on Golgotha by the Jews who wanted to witness the death of the criminal Jesus, it was felt by the Romans on guard, and by the few friends of Jesus and His mother.

This same earthquake went down the Valley of Chedron, it passed the cemetery, it entered Jerusalem right through the Temple and into the Holy of Holies ... and the famous huge curtain was torn from the top downward. It then ended into the Dead Sea. Tertullian noted that he had found in the records of Rome a notation of world-wide darkness which the statesmen of the Empire could not explain. Nature was witnessing the last terrible scene; the sky could not bear it any longer and became unnaturally darkened. The whole of nature was in travail, refused to look upon ‘Him’, upon what was happening. And Christ uttered a terrible cry: “My God! My God! Why have You forsaken me?”

It is interesting to note that the words in the original were: “Eloi, Eloi, lammah sebaktani?” What makes it interesting is the fact that this line is made up mostly of ‘vowels’; three vowels in the first and second word, two in the third word and four in the final word. To sum it up we have these vowels: e-oi, e-oi –a- -a-    -e-a--a-i.  According to studies from the Holy Shroud of Turin, which have been going on for over fifty odd years, Christ on the Cross could ‘inhale’ some air, with great pain, into His lungs, but could not ‘exhale’ that same air, wind from His lung because of the horrendous pain He was feeling. He had to exert pressure on the foot nail to push Himself up, once to the right and once to the left. In this way He could ‘exhale’ therefore utter some words.

Being in tortuous position He only uttered vowels, but this being a line from a Psalm 22:2, every Jew knew, they could make up the sense of what he was uttering. Just try it out yourself, letting out air from your mouth whilst sounding the vowels: e-oi, e-oi, -a- - a, -e-a- -a-i. One can visualise, imagine what pain Christ went through to utter those last seven words.

There’s more to it. There is a mystery behind that cry which we cannot penetrate. Christ had taken this life of ours upon Him. He had done our work and faced our temptations and borne our trials. He had suffered all that life could bring. He had hnown the betrayal of friends; the hatred of foes; the malice of enemies. Up till now he had gone through every experience, except one; the consequence of sin.

Now if there is one thing sin does, is that it separates us from God. It puts between us and God, a barrier, an unscalable wall ... humanly speaking. That was the the one human experience through which Christ had never passed ... because He was without sin (St.Paul).  Maybe that this was the moment that experience came upon Him, again not because He had sinned, but in order to be completely identified with humanity He had to go through. Christ felt what it meant to be in sin, to be sin itself, and this experience must have doubled His agony. He realised that He had to ‘cross the barrier’ for our sake.

“ET TU, BRUTE!”

These were the famous last words uttered by the Roman dictator Julius Caesar to his close friend, Marcus Brutus. These words were spoken by Caesar after Brutus had stabbed him, at least according to Shakespeare’s play. This phrase: ‘Et Tu, Brute’ has become part of Literature, in any language, to express disappointment against any act committed by a very close and trusted friend.

It is nowhere recorded that Christ has ever spoken these words, not even to Judas in his betrayal in the Garden if Gethsemane … but we know that He did feel the pain of betrayal. And worse still, Christ being divine, knew how, where and by whom He was to be sold, at the price of a slave. Mentally, He suffered the Passion much longer before He was given the Cross.

In my younger years I was always impressed by a painting by a German artist, showing Christ sitting down under an olive tree, and weeping. He was portrayed sitting high up in the Garden of Gethsemane, overlooking His beloved Jerusalem. I always asked why. Today, experience and study of the Scripture has enlightened me. The worst thing that can happen to you is, to be betrayed … by a close friend.

In that cold night, sitting under the olive tree, Christ could see His triumphal entry into Jerusalem; the waving of the leaves of palm trees, lifting up of olive branches, cloaks thrown on the ground to serve as carpets, for the donkey. He could hear the shouting of voices from one and all, screaming “Hosanna in the highest” or “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”.

But these welcoming greetings were mixed with other shouts of madness, with screams of hatred, calling out: “Crucify Him, crucify Him.” “We have no king but Caesar. Take Him away, crucify Him.”  Would any one wonder why Christ did weep on that cold evening under the olive tree, overlooking His beloved Jerusalem? I used to wonder, one day. I don’t anymore.

If the people who greeted Christ’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem were replaced by a different group of people, say, by a throng of madmen, just escaped from a lunatic asylum, things would have seemed different. But the fact that this was the one and the same crowd, who has changed the frequency, the mood, who followed the advice of their Jewish leaders, who changed the palm tree leaves were into daggers, truncheons and swords … no wonder Christ cried over Jerusalem.

No wonder Christ recalled how often He had gathered Jerusalem’s children around Him, just like a hen does with her chicks, and sheltering them with her wings. Is it small wonder that Christ did weep. Imagine, you mothers, after having spent the prime years of your life in pain, in work and trouble trying to bring up your family, at a great sacrifice, you will end up being forgotten by all your children … even if forgotten by one is enough to bring tears to your eyes. And I am saying forgotten not betrayed and murdered.

Many sick people were healed by Christ; the blind given sight; the deaf given back hearing; those sick of palsy returned to normality; the dead returned to life; the lepers were cured and cleansed; they were fed once and twice … the list is infinite, according to St. John. And that is the kind of ‘Thank You’ Christ received. No wonder Christ wept … and He is still weeping. I know God does not weep, but humanly speaking, the offence is always an occasion to cause pain and tears.

I pray to God He will not utter Caesar’s accusation on Judgement Day and tell me “Et Tu, Antoni?” Do think about it? But do replace the Antoni with your name, to feel more the guilt and gravity of the offence.  We cannot stab Christ in the back, like Brutus did, but we can still stab, offend, disregard, ignore, accuse, close an ear to the shouting of pain, close an eye to the sufferings of our brothers. They do not need be Christians, Christ is in the person of every human being. Let’s be true, genuine Christians … for others.

MAN’S LOGIC IS NOT GOD’S LOGIC

…or should we say it the other way round; what God sees is not what man sees; what God knows is not what man knows; what God foresees is not what man foresees; God’s reasons are not man’s reasons … and we can go on forever. So we should not be surprised when Jesus tells us that ‘a grain of wheat must die to produce more’. We do believe that the blood shed by the martyrs have strengthened and confirmed the Church… and are still to this day.

But Christ was not simply daydreaming or imagining things when He declared this, because through His Death and Resurrection, He fulfilled this law of the ‘grain of wheat.’ As a matter of fact in the Eucharist, the Bread of Angels, Christ Himself, truly becomes the hundredfold fruit on which hundreds, thousands, millions, and more, live. But in this mystery of the Eucharist, in which He truly and fully lives for us, He daily asks us to fulfill this law which is the definitive expression of the essence of true love.

And so the essential meaning of ‘love’ can only be that ‘we abandon our narrow and selfish aims, and come out of ourselves,’ and begin to live for others. The formula is easy: Change LOVE into LIVE,  and the ‘I’ is most important letter because it replaces an ‘O’, which is ‘nothing’ a simple ‘zero’. We shall be truly giving value to a ‘nothing’ to a ‘zero’ in love when we replace it with an ‘I’, and live for others. We will be participating in the creative love of God.

A man cannot save himself because of the fact that he is a Christian. But, only if he is Christian for others. Because God wants and expects our services towards others, irrespective of family relationship, skin colour, ideals and beliefs, to create that harmony needed for the building of His Kingdom. We will be building ‘bridges’ between God and man. That is why we are Christians, that is, following in the steps of ‘Christ’.

The danger lies in the complacency of living under the false impression that because we are Christians, even Catholics, our ‘salvation’ is guaranteed. We are committing the same mistake the Jews committed when they used to believe that because they were called ‘the sons of Abraham’, that title gave them the right to enter heaven. We should interpret the state ‘Christianity’ as a way of life for the sake of others. We can take pride in being called ‘sons and daughters of God’, and so are we (that’s a better title than ‘sons of Abraham’), but we have to live as God’s children. That is the responsibility, and commitment of every Christian.

A SEVENTY-YEAR OLD BABY

He was very wealthy ... later on his wealth increased, its value had become infinite. He was an intellectual ... yet he was advised to ignore all worldly knowledge. He was a member of a sect, one of six thousand, who followed the Law to the letter ... until the day came that he followed the Law according to the spirit. He was an elite ... he ultimately chose to be a follower of a carpenter. He was very religious ... later on he became very spiritual. His name was Nicodemus.

Nicodemus was a ‘night character’. He lived up to this name; the first time he met Christ was during the night, and spend a whole night in the Rabbi’s company. It was night when he ventured to defend Christ during a meeting of the Sanhedrin. He declared that it was illegal to condemn a person without giving him a chance to defend himself. Though it was after three in the afternoon, the sky looked like night-time when together with Joseph of Arimatea, Nicodemus carried the dead body of Christ to the tomb.

But the character of the night ultimately became the ‘man of light’. During his first visit to Christ under cover of the night, Nicodemus was only interested in gaining knowledge, of learning. He believed in Christ’s miracles, yet he was not completely convinced. This results from the answer he gave to Christ, when he answered Him: ‘We know that you are a man sent by God .... By using the word ‘we’ he implied doubt, he wanted to convey the idea that ‘if society needs to change’ we are ready to comply.

The ‘we’ used in the plural lacks the personal conviction. Christ expects personal conviction and commitment. So far Nicodemus addressed Christ as ‘Rabbi’. He was right because Christ was a teacher. Christ behaved as such and criticised Nicodemus for not knowing all the prophecies. By the end of the night, when there were signs of the twilight in the sky, Christ had put over another important message to his new friend: the fact that He was Teacher, but more still that He was a Saviour.

Knowing that He was talking to an intelligent person, Christ told him that what he still needs is not worldly knowledge, but spiritual knowledge. For this end he must be born anew. Nicodemus could not grasp the possibility of an old man being born again. Christ explained to him that man can be born twice. The first birth is the human birth, and we become children of our parents. But then He suggested that we might be born again spiritually, and thereby become children of God. We cannot enter that Kingdom without becoming children of God.

To make things easier for him Christ gave him an example of the wind: we feel the wind, we know its direction, we can see its effect, we see where it’s going ... but we do not know what is the wind. (Do not compare today’s knowledge with what was as yet unknown 2,000 years ago). Christ told him, the same goes with the Spirit, you feel His effect and move along to His promptings, yet you not know who or what is the Spirit. Nicodemus had so far no knowledge of the works of the Spirit.

Finally, Nicodemus realised who Christ was. He brought one hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes. This was the amount for a ‘king’s’ burial. He had found his ‘king’.

THE DEVIL QUOTES THE BIBLE

Many a battle has been fought in the name of Religion, thousands have died. Many still die, to this day and age by ‘those’ who try to justify their actions because, as they say, they are fighting a ‘holy war’. How can you murder your brother, your neighbor and justify your cause by calling it ‘a holy war’?  On a lighter, but still sinful, act, how can you justify your robbing people alive, charging them beyond their means with the excuse that the money is going to the Church’s coffer?

That is just what Jesus witnessed; the daylight robbery of the temple priests on the poor and not so-poor Jews attending the Feast of the Pasch in Jerusalem. First of all every Jew had to exchange his currency to make it acceptable to the Temple’s authority, the Jewish ‘shekel’. As you might imagine many were those who visited Jerusalem and its magnificent Temple.

Josephus Flavius, the historian, tells us that about two and a half millions Jews visited Jerusalem in those days, and they came from all over the ‘known world’ to do their duty. As can be imagined every one carried the currency of the country from where he lived, be it Greece, Tyre, Syria, Egypt, Rome or any other country. They had to undergo much suffering till they arrived in Jerusalem. Once there, they had to exchange their money to the Temple’s currency.

Having said that, we must say that the exchange of currency involved a certain charge, an approximate of four Euro cents. Not much, we might say, but we have to keep in mind that a labourer’s daily wage was just four Euro cents. Next comes the sacrificial animal. According to the Leviticus the animal had to be without a ‘stain’ it had to be immaculate. A person might take a pigeon with him for sacrifice, just as Mary and Joseph did. But that would have cost them just three Euro cents to buy, whereas those offered at the Temple for sale, and the only ones accepted, that were declared without ‘blemish’ would have cost them seventy five Euro cents.

Just imagine Christ watching all this robbery, and knowing that this has been going on year after year. To add insult to injury this was done in the name of Religion, because it was ordered by Leviticus. Though Leviticus did not specify the type of ‘stain’, ‘blemish’ or ‘impurities’ which the Temple inspectors found in the animals, and which sometimes were visible only to the inspector’s eyes. And what about the exorbitant profit made? There’s more to this.

The area provided for their stalls and the carrying out of their business was in Solomon’s Porch only, but gradually it was extended until their stalls reached the ‘Gentiles’ Courtyard. Jesus realized that the thousands of Gentiles seeking a place in the courtyard were finding it difficult or impossible to find a place where one could listen to the Rabbi’s teachings. Besides the deafening shouts of sellers selling their products. Things had reached a point of no return, the Temple had become literally ‘a den of thieves’.

No wonder Jesus took a whip and started pulling down their stalls and turning over their tables. In no place do we find that Jesus had struck any one. HE was loud and clear in His accusations: “You have made My Father’s House, a house of prayer, a ‘den of thieves’. We all know that the temple of Jerusalem was past it’s time. Jesus prophesied that He will rebuild a Temple not made by man’s hands in three days. Jesus was referring to His body where we all participate. This has been repeated by Peter in his second Letter: “You are living stones”.

If I do not respect my brother; if I murder my neighbor, even under the pretext of a ‘holy war’, if I cheat or rob any one, even though I give the money to the church … besides other examples, we will be forming part of the band of thieves and will be helping in ruining, in pulling down the Church with our actions. My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and so is yours and every human being’s. If I do not show respect towards others I will be guilty of disrespect towards the New Temple of the Body of Jesus Christ.