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MARK 8:31 Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. |
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Gospelthink: Jesus died for us.
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As Kate worked with Javi during the clean up following a tornado they were tracking, Kate learned that Javi’s company was earning money on behalf of a profiteer who was purchasing tornado-damaged land at very low prices and re-selling them for large amounts. She confronted Javi who in turn blamed her for their friends’ deaths earlier thus leading to their separation. Meanwhile Tyler began bonding with Kate. He followed Kate to her home and discovered Kate’s original research on tornadoes. Tyler offered to help Kate retry her efforts and after originally dismissing the idea, Kate finally accepted his help. Tracking another EF5 tornado, Kate and Tyler’s crew went into a town trying to help the people in it. Javi also left his team who were tracking the same tornado, to come into the town and help the people. As they were helping, they soon discovered that a number of people would be killed if something wasn’t done. Kate, realizing that she and Tyler had manufactured material to possibly dissipate tornadoes, took the truck and drove directly into the tornado. She released the materials into the tornado, and after some further initial damage, the materials finally took effect and the tornado dissipated. Sometime later, Kate, Tyler and Javi join in a new tornado radar business. |
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Perhaps the central Christian doctrine of faith for those who believe in Jesus is that Jesus died for our sins. Paul explains the theology to the Church that he set up in Corinth: “I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). The theology is quite simple. God intended for us to have eternal life, and after we sinned, the same God who created us knew that it would take God to give us back the possibility of eternal happiness. Jesus—God—showed God’s love for us by his human martyrdom. Throughout the ages, human beings dedicated to the truth of the sanctity of redeemed humankind have followed Jesus’s example. Both saints so named by the Church and saints not named have given up their lives in order to help the humankind for whom Jesus died. They are brave people who loved human beings as much as Jesus did. Kate Carter was one of them. Seeing that she and a number of people were helplessly being ravaged by EF5 tornado, she knew that she and Tyler had a possible remedy in the chemicals that they had prepared. Willing to give up her life, she drove directly into the storm in order to release the chemicals to save the town. The fact that the materials worked and that Kate survived was a miracle in itself. You and I probably are not called to be martyrs for the people of this world. But the people who understand how God works in our world are called to love the people of that world in the circumstances we find ourselves. True love knows no bounds. If we are called to love, we are called to care for the people around us, even to the point of extreme giving of ourselves. |
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PRAYER Good and gracious God, Your Son died in order to establish once again the human connection to You. Give us the grace to truly love the people around us, even to the point of love that goes beyond the normal. Be with us, we pray. |
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+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT
3. The doctrine of redemption by Jesus should lead people of faith to love God more. In your opinion, do Christians show their thanks to God enough? 4. In general, do Christians show the same love that Jesus showed us to other human beings? 5. Explain in your own words: “True love knows no bounds.” |
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America |
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