{"id":202,"date":"2014-04-13T05:00:04","date_gmt":"2014-04-13T09:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sjcmetheology.wordpress.com\/?p=202"},"modified":"2014-04-13T05:00:04","modified_gmt":"2014-04-13T09:00:04","slug":"standing-by-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/standing-by-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"Standing by Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the afternoon of March 13, 2013, during a long break in a class I was teaching, students watched, on the \u201cedge of their seats,\u201d the live, televised papal election of Cardinal Bergoglio, presented as \u201cPope Francis.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 They cheered and screamed exuberantly. In the excitement of the moment, I reminded them that, when the world views him more critically\u2014when the pope\u2019s preaching and living the Gospel evokes anger and hatred among those \u201cof the world\u201d\u2014then they must continue<\/em> passionately supporting and encouraging our Holy Father. Not so easy, though, when popular culture castigates the Church\u2019s stance \u201cin truth\u201d as an outmoded and bigoted vestige of dark ages in humanity\u2019s past.<\/p>\n

We may view Pope Francis\u2019s exceptional popularity\u2014a huge boost for Catholic counter-culture and waning Church attendance\u2014as a timely but provisional blessing from God. As we know, popularity comes and goes. Jesus\u2019 sobering words clarify our focus on realistic discipleship: \u201c\u2026because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you\u2026If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.\u201d (John 15:19-20)<\/p>\n

Today, we celebrate Palm Sunday, on which we recount Jesus\u2019 final entry into Jerusalem during his earthly ministry. Just prior to this entry, descending the Mo\"Palm\"unt of Olives toward Jerusalem, Jesus\u2019 multitude of disciples accompany and receive him. They lay down cloaks and leafy branches on the road before him and proclaim Jesus of Nazareth the \u201cson of David,\u201d the \u201cking.\u201d This alludes to and fulfills Psalm 118:25-27: \u201cLord [actually, YHWH<\/em>], grant salvation! [in Hebrew, Hosanna<\/em>!]\u2026Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord\u2026The Lord is God and has given us light. Join in procession with leafy branches\u2026!\u201d Jesus\u2019 extolled, messianic procession also fulfills prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 and alludes to Isaiah 40:9 and 62:11. Concerning Jesus\u2019 approach toward Jerusalem, the intertextuality between each Gospel and the Old Testament is significant and intricate in messianic contour.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 peak of popularity, and the renown proper to him as the true Messiah and world Redeemer, are quite transitory. Shortly following his climactic reception on Palm Sunday (as we call it), the religious leaders of Jerusalem\u2014at risk of suffering the fate of the unrepentant sinners of Zion, of those consumed among unquenchable flames (Isaiah 1:27-31)\u2014falsely arrest, torture, and crucify the Christ.<\/p>\n

Jesus, undaunted by the esteem of men or their status (Matthew 22:16, John 5:41), boldly speaks the truth: \u201c\u2026for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice\u201d (John 18:37). Jesus\u2019 mission of testifying to the truth corresponds to his identity, Truth itself (John 14:6). If our discipleship of Christ is genuine, we must be faithful to his word. Can we withstand the pressure to conform to \u201cthe world?\u201d By what we say and do, and even at times by our silence or act of omission, do we fail to courageously, faithfully embrace all<\/em> of Jesus\u2019 teachings? Out of fear of social reprisal, do we slight duty and devotion to Sunday Eucharist and holy days of obligation, patience and kindness toward all, chastity and the sanctity of real marriage, material solidarity with the poor, etc.? When we conform to our fallen nature, we deny our divine image, as well as Jesus, the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). In our denial, we are saying about the Christ, in effect, \u201cI do not know this man!\u201d<\/p>\n

In contrast, by the amazing grace God lavishly bestows on us, along with our freely-chosen resolve, we each can stand by Christ in courage, saying, \u201cI can do all things through him who empowers me\u201d (Philippians 4:13).<\/p>\n

Mark Koehne<\/strong> teaches moral theology for Saint Joseph’s College Online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the afternoon of March 13, 2013, during a long break in a class I was teaching, students watched, on the \u201cedge of their seats,\u201d the live, televised papal election of Cardinal Bergoglio, presented as \u201cPope Francis.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 They cheered and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,24,1],"tags":[91,206],"class_list":["post-202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-evangelization","category-the-pope","category-uncategorized","tag-discipleship","tag-palm-sunday"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}