Week 9

Jesus' earthly life was not ideal...especially to 21st century humans. Today Americans most likely couldn't fathom being born in a barn, traveling on foot thousands of miles, and being crucified on a cross. During the Wiki presentations, many of my classmates (myself included) cringed at the process of crucifixion and couldn't believe the horrific process that it involves. As the world population soars about the outstanding seven billion mark, I find it easy to predict that maybe, just maybe, the percentage of those newborn babies born in a barn will be about 0.000000005%. There will be more babies born in taxis than in barns. Those traveling thousands of miles on foot, probably have about the same percentage as those born in barns (except I guess if you have a similar drive as Forest Gump). My point here is to illustrate how exception Jesus' sacrifice was. His actions and behaviors exhibit pure love that have stood the test of time. Marcus Borg's final two chapter explains the final days and moments in Jesus' life. Chapter nine breaks down Jesus' final week:
Sunday- Beginning of the week of Passover (Palm Sunday) and Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. Borg explains that his action (coming to Jerusalem and riding a donkey) was a, "prophetic act that was a provocative public deed performed for the sake of what they symbolize...it is associated with the prophets of ancient Israel" (Borg 231).
Monday- a second prophetic act of cleansing the temple.
Tuesday- Jesus is questioned, attacked, and in conflict with authorities.
Wednesday through the last days- Borg clumps Jesus' last days together as times filled with resistance and challenges with authority about who holds power-- the God/Jewish religion and state rulers?
Chapter ten in Borg's book focuses on the crucifixion, reasoning behind his death, and Easter. Jesus is questioned by Pilot, "Are you the King of the Jews?" (Borg 264). And Jesus' non declarative response is "You say so" (Borg 264). This exchange epitomized the idea that Jesus was killed because of his perceived threat against ruling authority. Borg continues on with the crucifixion and sums up the event as leading into something bigger. Borg states the Sunday school explanation (extremely basis but very true), "His death was central to God's plan of salvation: he had to die in order to atone for our sins. It was necessary," (Borg 267). I went to private Catholic elementary and middle school, and this concept was drilled into my head at a very young age and throughout my Catholic education. Easter celebrates Jesus' sacrifice and the beauty behind the resurrection of him. Borg says that Mark was the first Gospel writer to give define Easter and his story is the earliest Easter story.
Matthew's gospel chapter 26- 28 recounts Jesus' final days up until the commissioning of the disciples after the resurrection. The similar issue regarding Jesus' position in society is the motive for his crucifixion ordered by the leading state powers. Jesus' death was simply a reflection of humanity's greed that he fought so hard to destroy. Overall,  Jesus' physical life ended with the triumph of humanity's ugly greed but his spiritual life most importantly saved humanity from greedy sin.

Week 7

Wow I can't believe we are already seven weeks into the first semester and half way done! My group's wiki, "Cheese and Rice", was a success! We covered the topic of the apocalypse and analyzed it from four different angles. My wiki was about the apocalypse in Hollywood. I greatly enjoyed learning about how Hollywood has taken the image of the apocalypse and turned it into a million dollar money maker. I found excellent source to be the Journal of Religion and Film. The publications I read were very similar to information I was that trying to claim, and therefore gave my wiki credibility from the scholarly source. I found it interesting that individuals have such varied opinions on the end of the world and the second coming of Jesus (rapture). I learned about the meaning of rapture and different distinctions surrounding apocalyptic texts. I enjoyed the other group presentations and thought everyone did a good job clarifying their topics to an audience with varied religious education and beliefs.
In response to the Marcus Borg reading, chapter 7 and 8, I thought both chapters were interesting and related to our topics in class this week. Chapter 7 is about Jesus' perception of God, and many of the wiki presentations today can be related Jesus' view of God. For example, my topic on the apocalypse is discussed by Borg and he states that "most mainline scholars (including me) don not think that Jesus spoke about his second coming"(Borg 179). Borg also predicted that Jesus did believe in God's final judgement and God perception he will have on humans on the final judgement day (heaven or hell?). Chapter 8 discusses a topic studied at Tuesday's class about the broad and narrow way. Borg says the broad way is the way that people during Jesus' time thought, acted, and behaved. The narrow way comparatively is the "alternative way, the road less traveled... is conceptually simple and easy to state, even as it is existentially challenging" (Borg 218). I thought the last biblical text assignment was an example of the broad way because it mentioned the actions taken by the Pharisees in condemning Jesus for working on the Sabbath. During Jesus' time, working on the Sabbath with not allowed and punishable.
Overall, I thought the wiki presentations went great and chapters seven and eight were very relevant to the topics discussed in this week's class.

Week 6

Mark's gospel is filled with messages about Jesus' work as a miracle worker, teacher, and healer. As discussed in class, Mark's is considered a dark gospel. His understanding of the Messiah, the theme of suffering, and the ending with an empty tomb help defend the darkness claim. The story that I thought went well with the gloomy weather was "Jesus stops a storm". Jesus and his followers were crossing a stormy lake, and the boat quickly began to get swamped by the crashing waves. The disciples were worried about drowning, and Jesus cleared alway the storm. Jesus asked them why they didn't have faith about being saved. The lesson from to be taken away from this passage is that no matter how difficult things can get, just have faith that everything will work out in the end. Jesus' messages are timeless and can be applied to different aspects multiple individuals' life experiences. Mark's portrayal of Jesus' empty tomb is also an interesting passage. Mary, Mary Magdalene, and James were the first to discover the empty tomb and the first to encounter the young man in the white robe who told them not to worry but to go and tell Jesus' disciples, especially Peter, to meet him in Galilee. Mary, Mary Magdalene, and James were too frighten that they did not end up telling anyone about what they saw. The passage of the empty tomb and Jesus stops the storm, are related in trusting in faith. Jesus told his follows to have faith that the storm would end and they would not drown. The angel told Mary, Mary Magdalene, and James not to be afraid and trust that Jesus is now with God and to go forward to spread the good news. To reiterate, I think the most important message Jesus has craved as timeless, is that we need to have faith to not worry because everything will work out. Jesus' teaching can be transcribed to different contexts, but it is faith in God, religion, friends, family, education, and much more that will help us through the difficult trials and tribulations.