Great Friends and the End of Luke

Ok so, I finally finished Luke and although I know that almost everyone knows about the crucifixion I decided to write about it.

In the gospel, Jesus, is accused for saying that he is Christ a King and is taken to Pilate, so that he judges him. Pilate doesn’t find any reason to kill him, but the people start manipulating him by screaming and asking for Jesus’ death. Then, Jesus is not only humiliated, but in the cross they mocked him by writing in the cross THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. I thought this was very cruel since they are not only pleased with the fact that they are going to kill him, but as well want to embarrass and make fun of him. Then, Jesus says his final words.

“And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” ( 23:46)

These final words meant a lot to me since here Jesus is seen so loyal to his father and it is interesting how the Holy Ghost is mentioned. What I understand from this is that your soul goes to heaven and your body stays in earth. I think that Jesus here seems like a God and not like a human.

Mmm so, changing the topic,

You know how people are always saying that you should keep your friends close and you enemies closer, well Jesus certainly did this. I mean if he was so powerful and wise why did he make Judas one of his disciples? If he was the son of God he obviously knew that Judas was not loyal, but although he knew he didn’t do anything about it. He just waited for him to betray him. Judas was such a hypocrite that he gave Jesus for money and at the end when he kissed him he announced that they could go ahead and kill Jesus,

“And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?” (22:47-22:48)

The kiss was a signal of betrayal.

Another example of a great friend is Peter. Peter denies the Lord three times and then regrets this,
“And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.” (22:61-22:62)

I understand the fact that Peter did this in order to save himself, but here he just proved that he is a bad friend. If he truly loved Jesus and believed in him he wouldn’t have denied him.

Oh well, Jesus had great friends.

He was Lost, and was Found

The Gospel of Luke has a lot of teachings in it which Jesus taught his followers. One of these stories is the one about the father who divides his goods and gives them to both of his cons. He younger son takes a journey in which he spends all of the money. In effect, he is forced to return home and very embarrassed goes and asks his father to forgive him and to offer him a job as a servant. Instead, his father receives him and says,

“…Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.” (15:22-15:24)

According to me this is kind of ironic since this son has sinned and his father instead of making him a servant, forgives him, and is happy because he returned home.

After this, the eldest brother gets kind of jealous since he has worked hard to help his father and he doesn’t receive this kind of rewards for his efforts. He goes to complain with his father, but this one just tells him,

“It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.” (15:32)

Yeah, I know it seems quite of unfair, I mean, how can the father reward his son after what he did? If I was the eldest son I would obviously be mad and disappointed, but I guess the father has the right of being happy since his son returned home.

As all the stories in the Bible, this story has a teaching. I have always heard this story in the mass, but I had never actually understood it until now. According to me, the father can be interpreted a God and we are the sons. God has given to us everything and if we decide to sin and ask for forgiveness he will forgive us and will be happy to have us back since his love is unconditional.

FORGIVENESS and other MIRACLES

Now, I´m continuing reading the Gospel of Luke and although I want to sleep I am making a huge effort to keep on reading.
As I said in my last blog post, Jesus is starting to cure people with diseases and is becoming famous for making miracles. In one occasion a centurion´s servant went to ask Jesus for help.

“Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: 7 Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.” (7:6)

When I read this quotation I couldn’t stop thinking about every mass and how each Sunday they keep repeating this. I have never actually understood it, so I decided to read it a couple of times to find its meaning. After trying to analyze it I came up with an interpretation. In those times the Jews were enemies of the Romans, and the Centurion was obviously considered an enemy of Jesus, but Jesus instead of denying his help, agrees to go and cure him. This is extremely contradictory due to the fact that he is curing an enemy, but it teaches everyone and serves as an example of forgiveness and how they are all sons of God and should love each other. The Centurion says that he is no one to ask for his help, but still Jesus decides to help him since he is nobody to judge his actions.

I really like this part since Jesus shows kindness and love and forgiveness. This taught me that in the eyes of the Lord we are all equal so we should treat everyone good. Many times in life we treat people badly and refuse to help them due to their believes or features, and God just wants to teach as that nobody is superior or has the right to treat others badly. In the end we will all die and our actions will be nothing, but the wind. We will ALL die, so what makes you so superior?

Then, we see another act of forgiveness when Jesus forgives a woman who had committed adultery.

“Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.” (7:47)

I remember seeing this part in a movie. This woman is Mary Magdalene, who had committed a huge sin, but Jesus instead of punishing her, forgives her. This shows how everyone should be forgiven instead of being punished (this goes to my Mom).

Then, after lots of miracles, Jesus starts spreading his parables and teachings, and the disciples divide to spread God´s will everywhere. Ok, so, I understand that the apostles admired Jesus, but they were practically his servants. Well, if I were them I would think the Lord was a little unfair since how come Jesus has these special powers while nobody else does? Oh well, life sucks.

Well, I haven’t found anything more interesting in these chapters, but I am really liking how Luke makes things so brief and simple. I really like Jesus´ behavior since it shows goodness and compassion. If more people in the world acted with kindness and didn’t have resentment everything would be better, but life is not like this and people have become selfish and egocentric.

Right now, I need a Jesus. If he was so powerful, can´t he just come and help all the misfortunate? If God is able to perform such miracles, why doesn’t he help the world and all the people who suffer every day?

The Gospel of Luke: FINALLY JESUS!

Yey! I’m ecstatic because I am reading the Bible again. (Please note the sarcasm)

Ok, so, as I said previously I am returning to blogging about the Bible, but this time it’s about the New Testament. I am really not enthusiastic about the idea, but let’s be positive and hopefully things turn out to be better this time.

Now, I am beginning to read Luke´s Gospel and as weird as it may sound I am actually enjoying it. Luke starts by telling the story of how Zacharias ´wife, Elizabeth, conceives a child (John). According to the Bible, Angel Gabriel, appeared in the presence of Zacharias and told him that his barren wife was going to have a child. This seems pretty normal, but it isn’t, due to the SIMPLE fact that Elizabeth is an old barren woman. Yes, because they were living in a happy world were this kind of miracles occurred and were menopause didn’t exist. Also, if Zacharias was a priest, how come he was married? Well, at least nowadays the Catholic Church prohibits this.

Then, we finally get to the story of Jesus. In the sixth day Angel Gabriel appeared to Elizabeth´s sister, Virgin Mary, and told her that she was going to conceive a child from the Lord, and that she shall named him Jesus. After this, Mary becomes pregnant and accompanied by her husband, Joseph, they go to Bethlehem. In Bethlehem she gives birth to Jesus.

I like how Luke makes everything seem simple. For example, throughout all of our lives we have heard the same B-O-R-I-N-G story of how Jesus was born. We have not just had to hear this story over and over again, but as well, we´ve had to see people acting it every Christmas (or at least in my case). I come from a very hot city located in the coast of Colombia, so every time I go there for winter break I have to tolerate those long ´novenas´ in the middle of the hot burning sun and those stupid mosquitoes biting all of my legs, while listening to the same old story.
Thanks God, instead of explaining every detail of the birth of Jesus, Luke only says,

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” (2:6-2:7)

Also, think about it, isn’t it strange to have the son of the Lord while being married to another man? I personally think the idea of being Joseph and having to see his wife have a child, which isn’t his, is terrible. I just see the fact of the Lord doing this, as sexual abuse and adultery. In the Old Testament we see how one of the Ten Commandments is,

“You shall not commit adultery.” (Seventh commandment)

Isn’t kind of contradictory how God states this as a rule, but he doesn’t follow it? I understand the concept of him being superior, but that doesn’t give him the right to go and leave Mary pregnant. In fact, he didn’t even ask for Mary´s permission or approval, he just sent his Angel to give her the news. Ok, maybe Mary and Joseph were extremely devoted to God, but to me this is just too extreme to be justified.

After all this is told, we now get to the part when Luke mentions how Jesus grows, not only in years, but in knowledge and wisdom. Jesus gets interested in the Lord and is learning about him,

“How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (2:50)

It is told that Jesus, as a small kid, had knowledge and was mature, but I really don’t see this as something possible. I am a girl, and it is said that we mature faster than boys, and it is somehow true. I am fifteen and boys my age are not still mature so I really can’t understand how Jesus was born so intelligent and talks about this topics when he is like 7. OH WELL, maybe this stuff did occur at this period of time.

Another thing that caught my attention is how they talk about virginity. For example, there is one part where Luke talks about a prophetess and mentions her virginity.

“And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;” (2:27)

Practically, what I got from this quotation is that Anna lost her virginity when she got married. I thought this was interesting since I’ve always heard my grandmother and mom tell me that they were virgins when they got married, but to me this just seems as a bunch of bull. I mean, maybe at those time women couldn’t have sexual relationships before being married, but in modern days this has changed. So, basically if the Bible doesn’t promote sex before marriage, is this considered a sin?

Then, in Chapter Three, John starts baptizing people and when Jesus is baptized, the Lord appears to him and says,

“Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” (3:22)

UGGGHHHHHH!!!!!! I am really mad at God. How is that he has the right to do whatever he wants and everyone seems to be ok with it? I mean, his sudden appearance to his son is portrayed as something very natural, but if I was Jesus I would be really mad with my Dad for not having appeared before.

After this, coincidentally Satan appears and Jesus is tempted by him. Satan offers Jesus all his power and glory, but Jesus refuses and tells him,

“Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (4:8)

I really liked this part since it shows loyalty. Jesus is extremely loyal to his father since his love for him is stronger than all the power in the world. I admire Jesus since he is not ambitious and demonstrates strength.

What follows next is just how Jesus started curing diseases, forgiving sins, and spreading the word of the Lord. One of the things he said that I really liked is,

“Give, and it shall be given unto you;” (6:28)

This is absolutely true since who gives and spreads happiness will receive happiness, but if you decide to give sadness you will receive sadness back.

So far, I am loving Luke, and although I don’t know who this man really is, he seems pretty intelligent. It is weird to read something written about someone unknown, but it is much better since it makes everything more mysterious and we don’t know about how biased and true the information is.

tao ending

tao 29-47

tao 13-28