March 23

  [media presentation below]

GospelThink

Monday, March 23, Lent V

JOHN 8:1-11

Condemning Another

Prayerthoughts

a. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, probably to pray. Prayer is significant in the Lord’s life. Is prayer a significant part of my every day?

b. Jesus taught them. What do I consider to be Jesus’s most significant teaching for me?

c. The woman caught in adultery was treated with no respect. How do I think of people who have done wrong? Do I judge them instead of pray for them?

d. Harsh treatment was given to people who did evil in the past. In my thinking, do I judge evil people in a harsh way?

e. We have no idea what Jesus wrote on the ground. Perhaps a good thought would be: if Jesus would write something to me, what would it be?

f. The meditation is more about not condemning people than forgiveness, although certainly forgiveness is part of the thought. See letters c and d. Do I consider forgiveness of others to be a significant action?

g. Jesus tells the woman not to sin any more. Sinfulness has been a part of my life. Perhaps now is a good time to make an act of contrition.

h. My prayerthoughts…


Today I will read Daniel 13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62 and write and important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

GOD DON’T MAKE JUNK

+ One of the sins that we carry out on other human beings is that we use them for our own purposes

- most of us are very selfish when it comes to our own interests, and without even knowing it sometimes,

- we take advantage of others and take things from them to make us feel better or make us better off


+ Both stories of the liturgy today acts out how we should treat others

- the first reading is the story of Susanna and how Daniel shows the treachery of evil, eventually leading to Susanna’s vindication, and the fact that she must be treated with dignity

- the second is Jesus acting out his own teaching

- the teaching is that everyone is important


+ The context of the Gospel is that the scribes and Pharisees wanted Jesus to look badly with regard to following the law

- so they use a woman caught in adultery to suit their purposes

- Jesus says basically, “this is a human being, and everyone is important; you don’t treat human beings this way”

- Jesus separates the sin from the sinner and does not condone the sin as he tells her:

Go, and from now on do not sin any more

- but he treats her, the sinner, with the utmost respect

- to Jesus, everyone is important


+ One of the sayings from the 70’s was the saying that God don’t make junk

- from the most insignificant person who died in the last minute to the child who was just conceived by a man and a woman

- everyone is important because God don’t make junk


+ One of the movies that I think everyone should see is “Seabiscuit,” the story of a horse who could have been junk

- one line keeps going through the movie that is very apropos here and important to learn from:

- “You don’t throw away a whole life just because it’s banged up a little.”

- Jesus acted that out today; it’s a wonderful lesson to learn.











MEDIA PRESENTATION

Song: "Be Alright" -- Dean Lewis

IT WAS NIGHT



 

The Gospel


JOHN 13:21-30

Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’s side. So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus’s chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After he took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or to give something to the poor. So he took the morsel and left at once. And it was night. 

Gospelthink: When Judas betrayed me, it was indeed a dark hour. Have I betrayed Jesus because of my sin?

"I look up from the ground to see your sad eyes. You look away from me, and I see there’s something you’re trying to hide. And then you say to me you made a dumb mistake. And I feel the color draining from my face. And my friend said, ‘I know you love her, but it’s over. It doesn’t matter, put the phone away. It’s never easy to walk away. Let her go, it’ll be alright. Nothing heals the past like time. They can’t steal the love you’re born to find.”

Did the human Jesus ever give up on anyone? From the Scriptures, it would seem that he did not. He was always interested in helping people as much as he could. The Scriptures are clear that Jesus had pity on the crowds, and healed as many who came to him. It would seem however that sometimes he could not help because the person in question did not have faith.

It is in such a light that we should study the Last Supper with Jesus's treatment of Judas Iscariot. Jesus had previously shown his Apostles the importance of service as he washed their feet. Then he told them that they were his friends for whom he would give up his life. Then he comes to Judas. Jesus knew full well that Judas was not accepting what Jesus had said, and he therefore had betrayed Jesus to his enemies. "It was night" is a symbolic way of saying that perhaps Jesus had given up on Judas after hoping that Judas would see the love that Jesus wanted to build toward him.

Romantic love relationships are different, of course. They disappear with some regularity as people try to find the person with whom they would spend their lives. Dean Lewis sings of such a situation in his song "Be Alright."  The man in the relationship had done something wrong, and as a result, the relationship ceased.  Luckily the man had a close friend who wanted to help as much as he could. He told the man in the relationship what he had to do--to "Walk away, let her go," that "it'll be alright."

The man's friend was right on with his advice. Do not try to keep the relationship if the other does not want it.  Of course, it is not easy to let the relationship go--it means admitting that there were things that were just not right, perhaps some it due to one's own fault. But if a relationship does not work out for whatever reason, the best approach is to try to get it back together, but as the man's friend said, after giving it time, let it go.

Jesus did not want to give up on Judas, but he had no choice, and he suffered because of it. Not unlike a human love relationship that does not work out.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, sometimes in our lives, we have to begin again because of something that did not go right. Help me see and understand what I must do in order to bring about true love. Be with us, we pray.

 

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: Sometimes in love relationships we simply must start over because they did not work out.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What does the song "Be Alright" teach young people?
2. Given that "taking time" is important in any relationship, what are the other important elements of a love relationship
3. From your knowledge of the Scriptures, were there any other relationships that Jesus had other than Judas' in which it seemed that Jesus "gave up"?
4. In John's Gospel, Jesus washed the feet of Judas before Judas left to betray him. What does the action mean for us today?
5. In many, if not most love relationships, we human beings do not marry the person we first "love." It means some type of a break-up therefore. In the song, Dean Lewis says that "it'll be alright." Why is it so difficult to believe that?
6.  Why do we try to keep a relationship when we know that it is over?
7. In your opinion, how old should a person be in order to make a permanent commitment?  

 

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America