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Friday – Second Week of Lent

And behold, one of those who accompanied Jesus put his hand to his sword, drew it, and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his ear.
Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into the sheath, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot call upon my Father and he will not provide me at this moment with more than twelve legions of angels? But then how would the scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must come to pass in this way?” (Mt. 26:51:54)

The Twelve do not do well in the place call Gethsemane. While Jesus was praying, they slept. When the arresting party arrived, one of their own was leading the way. Now, one of them draws a sword and wounds the high priest’s servant. Finally, in just a few moments, they will all abandon him.

This was a bad night for the Twelve.

The story has a good ending, not only for Jesus, but for the disciples, whose memory of Gethsemane was a bad one. Tradition has it that most of the Twelve died martyrs’ deaths, which is quite a turnaround. God’s grace can do that.

We can all think of a “Gethsemane” or two in our own lives – a bad time that we didn’t handle well.

Has it been set right? God’s grace can do that.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

March10, 2007

Criterion of Embarrassment

The Gospels were written 40 to 60 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Prior to that, words and actions of Jesus were passed on verbally, and some were probably written down (although none of these earlier writing has been found.)

Each evangelist had access to some of these oral or written traditions, and used them to put together his Gospel

The details of those earlier traditions were sometimes changed as they were passed on. So, one can ask whether every detail in the Gospels is accurate. Did Jesus speak “those exact words?” Did this event happen “exactly this way?”

One of several tools by which scholars try to resolve this is the “criterion of embarrassment.” The natural tendency would not be to add embarrassing details, but rather to soften or suppress them. So, the more embarrassing a detail, the more it might be an indication that it happened that way.

The story of the betrayal by Judas is an example of this. Did it really happen? The “criterion of embarrassment” (plus the fact that it is told in all four Gospels) makes a very strong case for the fact that this story accurately describes a historical fact.