2. Why finish here?
The obvious answer…
But… is it really the ending?
Sophomore year
3. Terminology
Remember: Paschal Mystery
Paschal lamb
Passion
Resurrection
Resurrection Appearances
The Ascension
Don’t confuse this with the Assumption.
4. Models for Understanding Why?
Imagine: Superman is shot to death,
and he’s shot to death by the local
police.
The earliest followers of Jesus had to
understand and explain why their hero
died and why their hero died in the way
he did.
The authors had three images in mind:
What are the three images/models?
5. Which model is this?
Isaiah 42, 49, 52, 53
53:3: “For he was despised and rejected by others; a man of
suffering and acquainted with infirmity.”
53:5: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed
for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us
whole, and by his bruises we are healed.”
53:12: “Therefore, I will allot him a portion with the great, and
he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured
out himself to death, and was numbered with the
transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors.”
6. Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
Acts 8: 25-40
What’s the story here?
What’s a eunuch?
What’s the problem with eunuchs (as far
as the Jews are concerned)?
What’s the eunuch “reading”?
Why “reading”?
Isaiah 53:7-8!
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb
silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In
his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe
his generation? For his life was taken away from the earth.”
Who does Philip say this is about?
7. Paul’s Understanding of the Resurrection
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
Paul’s First Letter to the
Corinthians
Corinth (Greece)
Dealing with everything
Sexual immorality
Food offered to idols
Divisions during Eucharist
What’s the issue?
8. The Last Supper
Remember our discussion of meals
What happens over meals?
Remember: This is a holiday meal.
Which holiday?
John and Luke will deal with similar
ideas in different ways.
9. Luke’s Last Supper
Judas plots to betray Jesus
Why is Jesus put to death?
22:2: “And the chief priests and the teachers of the law
were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they
were afraid of the people.”
22:7: “Then came the day of the Unleavened
Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be
sacrificed.”
How do Peter and John find the room for the
celebration?
The bread and the wine.
Dispute over pecking order.
Jesus’ response?
Twelve tribes
Peter’s role
10. John’s Last Supper?
What is the great symbolic action?
Luke has this message, too, but what’s different in Luke?
Peter’s misunderstanding.
13:14-17: John’s clearest statement on what it
means to live as a Christian?
Does Jesus want Judas to betray him?
13:28: “So Jesus told him, ‘What you are about to do, do
quickly’.”
Note about Judas’s role within the movement.
Judas goes out into the night.
Jesus’ command
Quo vadis?
11. Luke’s Passion
Jesus in the Garden
Is Jesus open to NOT dying?
Sleeping disciples
The arrest
Judas… sonoffab*tch!
The scuffle and the healing
The accusation
22:52: “Am I leading a rebellion…?”
Peter’s denials
Pilate, then Herod, then Pilate
Evasive language
Who finds Jesus guilty?
Why does Jesus get bounced around so much?
Jurisdictions
Pilate, 23:3: “Are you the King of the Jews?”
The assembly/the crowd as agitators (Sanhedrin)
Crucifixion and burial
The titulus, 23:28: “This is the King of the Jews.”
Discussion with criminals
Recognition by centurion
Burial in Joseph’s tomb
12. John’s Passion
John 18
Annas Caiaphas Pilate
Pilate, 18:31: “Take him yourselves and judge
him by your own law.”
Longer theological discussion
Jesus, 18:36: “My kingdom is not of this world.”
John 19
Crown and robe
Pilate, 19:6: “You take him and crucify him.
As for me, I find no basis for a charge
against him.”
“The Jewish leaders” as agitators
The titulus we know: INRI
The women at the cross
Why break the legs?
Who buries Jesus? And where do they do it?
13. Which model is this?
Mark 10:45:
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for the many.”
Soldier imagery; business imagery
Not a Catholic perspective
How do ransoms work?
• Why has the possession changed?
Adam and Eve?
• Who is paying?
Humanity? Jesus? God?
• Who gets paid?
Satan? God? Creation?
14. Which model is this?
Remember Exodus 12?
The lamb as part of a process of
delivery/rescuing
John the Baptizer, John 1:29: “Look,
the Lamb of God who takes away the
sins of the world.”
Revelation, Hebrews
15. The Resurrected Jesus
Who sees the empty tomb?
Who’s in the empty tomb?
Commissioning
Acts 1:6-9
Matthew 28: The Great Commission
16. Easter Traditions
(Note on the readings cycles.)
Catholics celebrate the Paschal Mystery
during Easter.
What is the season that leads up to Easter?
What was the name of the season that leads up to
Christmas?
Paschal candle
Christian initiation
Catholics also celebrate the Paschal
Mystery during every mass! How?
