January 8

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Thursday, January 8, Christmas Weekday

LUKE 4:14-22
Jesus’s Mission

Prayerthoughts

a. Jesus treats the Sabbath day with God as part of it. Do I truly make Sunday the Lord’s Day for me?

b. In Luke’s Gospel especially, Jesus is very concerned about the poor. In my life right now, am I showing some concern for those less fortunate than me? In what ways can I show more concern for those less fortunate than me?

c. “A year acceptable to the Lord.” I have just begun a new year. What are some spiritual resolutions that I should make for this year?

d. The Lord was introducing his mission in life. In general, what is my goal for the life I have chosen?

e. The people of Nazareth were proud of Jesus as their native son. Jesus did not allow this pride to dictate to his actions. Is there too much “pride of self” in my thoughts and words?

f. My prayerthoughts….

Today, I will read 1 John 4:19–5:4 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

THE PROBLEMS OF THE WORLD

+ As Jesus begins his public ministry in Nazareth which is the Gospel today, he says to the people in the synagogue:

Today this Scripture passage [namely, Isaiah] is fulfilled in your hearing.

- which means that what Isaiah the prophet was talking about in prophecy was what Jesus was concerned about

- he was sent by God to address some problems

+ You look at those problems, and with only a couple small changes because of the times we are in, the problems very much resemble problems which we can identify with

1 -- help the poor

- those who are lacking because of lack of money or lack of education or lack of the necessities of life

2 -- give freedom

- in our world, there is a lot of slavery

- slavery to dictators, yes, but also slavery in the sense of people dominating others, whether it be in homes or schools

3 -- give sight to the blind

- there are people who refuse to see what is right and what is wrong—the psychologically blind

4 -- announce the good news that God continues to be with us

- our world desperately wants and needs that message

+ In essence we have the same problems that Isaiah talked of

- and that Jesus said that he had come to address

- and the means that Jesus used to address the problems?

- he was to proclaim it a little later in his ministry and it is what the first letter of John talks of in the first reading:

This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother [and sister].

- the way that Jesus addressed the problems was with love of others

+ We do not have the opportunity usually to address the global problems that plague our world

- but we can address the problems that are part of whatever situation we are in

- then our personal world will start to function well again.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "Juror # 2" -- final session

COURAGE TO SAY THE TRUTH

The Gospel

LUKE 22:61-62

...and the Lord turned and looked at Peter; and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.” He went out and began to weep bitterly.

Gospelthink: Peter realized what he had done.

During the sessions with the jurors in the movie “Juror #2”, one of the jurors, Harold, broke the jury rules by collecting data on body-shop visits following Kendall’s death and narrowed the search to fifteen vehicles, including Justin’s. Knowing his situation, Justin strategically revealed Harold’s research to the judge who removed Harold from the jury.

Also, during the trial, the DA prosecutor Killebrew grew conflicted about whether James Sythe killed Kendall Carter, realizing that law enforcement offices had primed one of their witnesses to identify Sythe at trial. She took the repair records that the dismissed juror had gathered and visited each of the vehicle’s owners. Justin’s was on the list of course, but registered to his wife Ally who told Killibrew what Justin had told her namely that he had hit a deer.

Meanwhile Justin told his attorney Larry that the trial is headed for a hung jury and a mistrial. Larry convinced Justin that they had to have a verdict because Killebrew would keep trying the case to look good for her future election. Realizing the situation, Justin convinced the rest of the jurors to convict. Sythe was sentenced to life without parole. After the sentencing, the DA Killebrew sat down with Justin knowing that somehow Justin was involved, but because the trial was over and she did not want to look bad before the election, she left the case alone.

After a while, Justin and Ally had a child, Killebrew was eleted DA and Justin sold the car. One day soon after, Killebrew went to Justin’s house. Justin opened the door…

...and the movie closes with Killebrew glaring at Justin.

As you view the clever ending of the movie, what would you do? You know that Killebrew knows the truth. You know what you have said. You could simply pursue your lie, hoping that he will not be convicted. Or you could tell the truth and face a trial, with the real possibility of spending the rest of your life in prison.

What did Peter do when he realized what he had done? He could have kept on denying it and draw to a close his relationship with Jesus and the other apostles. Or he could acknowledge the truth and face the fact that he had denied Jesus even as Jesus’s kingdom was beginning, a beginning for which Jesus had chosen Peter. We know the rest of the story, of course, but the decision was a significant one for Peter at that moment.

What should a Christian do? Luckily, usually our situations will not be as personally significant as Justin’s was or as Peter’s was. But we know that there have been situations in the past and no doubt there will be situations in the future in which the truth might hurt us in some way. The Christian will have no choice of what to do. Jesus says simply that the truth must always prevail.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, as we view your servant Peter, we know thatwe could have similar situations in our own lives. Give us the grace to know the truth, and once we know it, the courage to let it be known. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: Once a lie is told, a true Christian will own up to the truth even though it may mean some type of punishment for the person who told the lie.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

(session: approximately 53 minutes)

1. What does the movie “Juror # 2 teach young people?

2. Given the ending of the movie, what would most people do once Killebrew actually accused Justin of lying?

3. In your opinion, is there any circumstance in which Justin should lie?

4. In your opinion, do most people have a high regard for the truth?