Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Were You There?
Hi guys, this is something I blogged about on the SOW blog (mountainmovers.tumblr.com - go check it out) but I thought should be shared with all of you as well:
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
So the question is, were we there when our Lord Jesus was being crucified on Golgotha?
“Joshua Bell is an American Grammy Award-winning violint, who plays a 300 year old Stradivarius worth 3.5million, and charges 1000 USD per minute for his performances. In an experiment by the Washington Post, Joshua Bell posed as a street busker at the Metro subway station L’Enfant Plaza on January 12, 2007 as exactly 7.51am. The experiment was videotaped on hidden camera; among 1,097 people who passed by, only seven stopped to listen to him, and only one recognized him. For his nearly 45-minute performance, Bell collected $32.17 from 27 passersby (excluding $20 from the passerby who recognized him)”
- Wikipedia
So what is this telling us? Unless we have the correct disposition, we are not really there even though our physical selves are. The passerbys could not appreciate or recognise a world class maestro before them because they were not disposed correctly, as in, they were all rushing to work and had their minds elsewhere - on their problems, to do lists, etc. Let’s say we were told that we would be attending a world class concert featuring the critically aclaimed violinist Joshua Bell, only then would we be disposed to appreciate his talent and genius.
The exact same thing applies for Jesus’ crucifixion on calvary. The day when God died for all of us sinners, how many of us were there, and how many of those there (the women of Galilee, the roman soldiers, Pilate) were really there? It was the greatest concert ever played, with Jesus as the maestro, but how many of us can appreciate and recognise it? This event is the centrepiece of salvation, and is the single most defining moment in history, are we going to let it pass by as ‘just another execution of a criminal’?
Fr. David Garcia gave a very insightful example by citing Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph was part of the Sanhedrin, the council of elders that put Jesus to death. He had been a secret disciple all along, and had been fearful of what might happen to him if he revealed where his true loyalties lay. However, he was transformed by the event of the Crucifixion as he was there, and it gave him the courage to finally BE a disciple of Christ. He was the one who offered the tomb for Jesus’ body, and more importantly, was the one who asked for Jesus’ body. Under normal circumstances, Pilate would not have let anyone take Jesus’ body as he was afterall, a criminal, and should be buried in the mass grave. However since Joseph was part of the Sanhedrin and was of certain political standing, Pilate agreed to his request.
This has enormous consequences as if Jesus was buried in the mass grave, who would have known of his resurrection 3 days later? The empty tomb is the evidence of Jesus’ triumphant victory over death, and this would not have been possible without Joseph’s intervention. Joseph of Arimathea was able to rise to the occasion and respond to God’s call when he was the most needed, as he had the correct disposition at the crucifixion, and was there in body, mind and soul to contemplate the mystery of God’s unconditional love for all of us.
I guess this message from Fr. David is extremely apt as we are fast approaching Holy Week. It is a call for all of us to be truly present when Jesus is performing His great act of love. It is a call to be there for Him, just as He is there (upon the cross) for us. It is a call not to let this year’s Lenten journey and Holy Week just pass by our very eyes, just as the saviour of the world passed by Pilate’s without him noticing…
Where you there when they crucified my Lord?
I hope our replies this year will be, “Yes I was there…”
Love,
Soo
(Everything I’ve just shared was taught by Fr. David Garcia yesterday at SFX’s Charismatic Session which Mel and I attended. There’s a lot more to what I’ve just posted, so feel free to ask Mel since I may have left out important bits. Or even better, get Mel to post what he remembers! God Bless!)
Were You There?
Hi guys, this is something I blogged about on the SOW blog (mountainmovers.tumblr.com - go check it out) but I thought should be shared with all of you as well:
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
So the question is, were we there when our Lord Jesus was being crucified on Golgotha?
“Joshua Bell is an American Grammy Award-winning violint, who plays a 300 year old Stradivarius worth 3.5million, and charges 1000 USD per minute for his performances. In an experiment by the Washington Post, Joshua Bell posed as a street busker at the Metro subway station L’Enfant Plaza on January 12, 2007 as exactly 7.51am. The experiment was videotaped on hidden camera; among 1,097 people who passed by, only seven stopped to listen to him, and only one recognized him. For his nearly 45-minute performance, Bell collected $32.17 from 27 passersby (excluding $20 from the passerby who recognized him)”
- Wikipedia
So what is this telling us? Unless we have the correct disposition, we are not really there even though our physical selves are. The passerbys could not appreciate or recognise a world class maestro before them because they were not disposed correctly, as in, they were all rushing to work and had their minds elsewhere - on their problems, to do lists, etc. Let’s say we were told that we would be attending a world class concert featuring the critically aclaimed violinist Joshua Bell, only then would we be disposed to appreciate his talent and genius.
The exact same thing applies for Jesus’ crucifixion on calvary. The day when God died for all of us sinners, how many of us were there, and how many of those there (the women of Galilee, the roman soldiers, Pilate) were really there? It was the greatest concert ever played, with Jesus as the maestro, but how many of us can appreciate and recognise it? This event is the centrepiece of salvation, and is the single most defining moment in history, are we going to let it pass by as ‘just another execution of a criminal’?
Fr. David Garcia gave a very insightful example by citing Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph was part of the Sanhedrin, the council of elders that put Jesus to death. He had been a secret disciple all along, and had been fearful of what might happen to him if he revealed where his true loyalties lay. However, he was transformed by the event of the Crucifixion as he was there, and it gave him the courage to finally BE a disciple of Christ. He was the one who offered the tomb for Jesus’ body, and more importantly, was the one who asked for Jesus’ body. Under normal circumstances, Pilate would not have let anyone take Jesus’ body as he was afterall, a criminal, and should be buried in the mass grave. However since Joseph was part of the Sanhedrin and was of certain political standing, Pilate agreed to his request.
This has enormous consequences as if Jesus was buried in the mass grave, who would have known of his resurrection 3 days later? The empty tomb is the evidence of Jesus’ triumphant victory over death, and this would not have been possible without Joseph’s intervention. Joseph of Arimathea was able to rise to the occasion and respond to God’s call when he was the most needed, as he had the correct disposition at the crucifixion, and was there in body, mind and soul to contemplate the mystery of God’s unconditional love for all of us.
I guess this message from Fr. David is extremely apt as we are fast approaching Holy Week. It is a call for all of us to be truly present when Jesus is performing His great act of love. It is a call to be there for Him, just as He is there (upon the cross) for us. It is a call not to let this year’s Lenten journey and Holy Week just pass by our very eyes, just as the saviour of the world passed by Pilate’s without him noticing…
Where you there when they crucified my Lord?
I hope our replies this year will be, “Yes I was there…”
Love,
Soo
(Everything I’ve just shared was taught by Fr. David Garcia yesterday at SFX’s Charismatic Session which Mel and I attended. There’s a lot more to what I’ve just posted, so feel free to ask Mel since I may have left out important bits. Or even better, get Mel to post what he remembers! God Bless!)