Mike Landry: Catholic speaker, writer, & music minister in Alberta, Canada HomepageMike Landry: Catholic speaker, writer, & music minister in Alberta, Canada

forgiveness

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Why did Jesus have to die?

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In the Bible (and in the biblical era), the concept of “sonship” is an important one.  A son is more than an heir to the possessions of his father – there are titles, rights, and responsibilities that come particularly to a firstborn (or only) son.  The understanding or claim that Jesus was (is) the only begotten Son of God puts Jesus on equal footing with God – and to many of his first century audience, this was a scandalous claim.  Judaism has an understanding of the sacred that may seem foreign to many Christians – they treat even God’s name with the utmost care and respect.  For a living, breathing human being to claim to be God’s Son was blasphemy, and those who called for Jesus’ execution did so with the intention of safeguarding that which is sacred:

“We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God.”  -John 19:7

While on the one hand, Jesus’ death came about for these very real reasons, the fact is that those who made up the mob crying out crucify him! couldn’t possibly have understood what was happening.  Certainly, Jesus was sentenced to death on a cross for claiming to be God’s son – but He died for a much bigger reason – one which dramatically impacts our claim to live as God’s children. [Read more…] about Why did Jesus have to die?

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There’s a Little Judas in all of us…

By Tyler Brenot (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Photo Credit: Tyler Brenot (Own work) [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Picture yourself: a follower of Jesus during the first century.  One called – audibly – by name to follow Him, one selected to be among His inner circle, one of the twelve.  The most notable miracles?  You saw them.  The most memorable sermons?  You heard them.  You were sent out with another of the twelve to proclaim the Good News and performed miracles yourself in His name.  For three years you lived and breathed right alongside Jesus soaking in everything He said and did.

I can only imagine what that experience would do to my faith.  I’d like to hope it would be a life-defining experience, the sort that would leave any one of us unalterably changed.  Which is always what makes the story of one of Jesus’ twelve, Judas, so troubling.  He lived this… and he walked away.  While we know very little about Judas Iscariot: his call, his betrayal of Christ, and his death (Matthew 27, Acts 1), we know with certainty that he was a traitor (Matthew 10:4, Mark 3:19, Luke 6:16, John 6:71), who apparently stole from the apostle’s common purse (John 12:4-6).

The Apostles were almost certainly stunned by Judas’ actions: the tone of their recollections of him in Gospels show great sadness or even bitterness at the mention of his name.  Dean Jones performed a wonderful one-man play called St. John in Exile – Jones plays the title character, John, reflecting on the Gospel story while living out his days in exile on the prison island of Patmos.  When he narrates Jesus’ betrayal, there is a moving mixture of anger and anguish in his voice as he recognizes Judas leading the mob to arrest Jesus (start watching at 34:05):

[Read more…] about There’s a Little Judas in all of us…

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Waterfights & Sinning

Photo Credit: Maycomb Paynes on Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo Credit: Maycomb Paynes on Flickr (Creative Commons)

With a background in youth ministry – that includes several summers at camp – I’ve got a fair bit of experience with waterfights.  Normally, I start with quick attacks, intending to strike others with buckets or water balloons, and attempting to stay dry as long as possible.  At a certain point, I give in: a waterfight normally ends with all of us being soaked, so if I accept that first, I can soak my intended target more quickly… and I simply use the kamikaze strategy: it doesn’t matter how wet I get so long as I take others down with me.

When I honestly think about it, it’s easy to treat sin the same way. [Read more…] about Waterfights & Sinning

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“Hating the Sin” (but never a person!)

photo: Creative Commons / Alex Bakharev
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene, photo credit: FrTed on Flickr (Creative Commons)

At the end of confession, the priest usually invites me to pray an act of contrition – a prayer saying that I’m sorry for my sins.  This is the prayer I usually pray:

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you, and I detest all my sins, because of Your just punishments, but most of all because they offend You, my God, who are all-good and deserving of all my love.

I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin.

When I was first learning this prayer, one thing seemed a little unsettling: what is it about sin that “offends” God?  Aren’t I just harming myself by making poor decisions?  Well, the answer to that question lies in the way God sees us. [Read more…] about “Hating the Sin” (but never a person!)