He will return with his immense heart, with his heart of fire, his poor man's soul
and his smile. He will return! And the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph!

JESUS CHRIST, UNIVERSAL SAVIOUR (2)

Under the title “Jesus Christ, Universal Brother” we have undertaken to establish a theological « dialogue » with Islam. (cf. He is Risen n° 65, February 2008, pp. 1-8).

The first announcement of the Passion can be read in the very beginning of the Gospel according to St. Mark. Jesus is asked: « Why is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not? » (Mk 2.18)

Jesus’ answer is: Do not ask the bridegroom’s attendants to fast on the day of the Bridegroom’s wedding! « The time will come for the Bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then, on that day, they will fast. » (Mk 2.20) In fact, throughout the centuries, Christians fasted on Wednesday and Friday in memory of Christ’s arrest and death, which His worst enemies were already plotting; the same people who had remained closed to the call of John the Baptist. Why Wednesday and Friday? We will have to anticipate the second volume of the Holy Father’s book “Jesus of Nazareth”, which is being written. Will Benedict XVI speak about the “long” chronology of the Passion of Christ that Annie Jaubert discovered? According to her, in the time of Christ, two liturgical calendars existed: the ancient and the “new” one?

According to the former, the Pasch always fell on a Wednesday. Thus the Paschal lamb was prepared on Tuesday afternoon in order to be eaten on Tuesday evening. Our Lord and the Apostles, who were “traditionalist” country folk from Galilee, followed this calendar. When St. Mark writes: « It was two days before the Pasch and the feast of the Unleavened Bread », his indicating the Saturday evening or Sunday before this Tuesday gives us the point from which to calculate what precedes the events of Christ’s Passion.

THE ANOINTING AT BETHANY

« It was two days before the Pasch and the feast of the Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes sought to arrest Jesus by treachery to kill Him. For they said, “Not on the festival day, for fear that there may be a tumult among the people” » (Mk 14.1-2).

Thus, Saturday, which corresponds to our Palm Saturday, or perhaps Sunday at noon, « when He was in Bethany at table in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of ointment, costly genuine spikenard. She broke the alabaster jar and poured it on His head. » (Mk 14.3)

Who was this woman? Mark does not name her, the Abbé de Nantes explained in his commentary on the Gospel of St. Mark, because she represents the Church, the spouse whom Christ came to seek on earth. Let us not speak about the Virgin Mary, Immaculate Conception, but about sinful humanity whom the Son of man came to redeem at the price of His Blood.

In fact, « the Church is that reparative society born from the unjust killing of the Saviour God » (Georges de Nantes, Letter to My Friends n^o 137). This woman is her figurative, her personification. She accomplishes the first act of “reparation”, which Our Lord accepted by replying to those who were indignant about the “waste”: « She has done what was in her power to do: she has anointed My Body beforehand for burial. » (Mk 14.8)

Jesus would speak later about His Body in order to give It to eat to His Disciples under to appearance of bread: « Take It, this is My Body » (Mk 14.22), ordering them: « Do this in remembrance of Me. » (Lk 22.19) Here, Jesus said: « Amen, I say to you, wherever the Gospel is proclaimed, in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her. » (Mk 14.9)

These words of Jesus associate the remarkable act of this “woman” and the worship that multitudes would give the Blessed Sacrament in the future, generation after generation, in remembrance of Him. It is precisely the very same word that we find in the account of the institution of the Holy Eucharist: Jesus orders the Apostles to repeat His action in remembrance of Him. The two actions correspond: « The action of this woman is like the action of the spouse answering the action of the Bridegroom », the Abbé de Nantes commented.

Through His Passion, Jesus sheds the Blood of His Heart on her whom He loves, the Church, His Spouse, and thus He makes her fruitful. In reply, she gives all her ointment, that is to say, her prayer of thanksgiving, her cult. The anointing at Bethany is thus a parable, an allegory, a figure of the entire future history of the Church, a luminous episode between the two darknesses of the plot of the chief priests and the scribes who sought to arrest Jesus by treachery to kill Him, and of the betrayal of Judas, « one of the Twelve », approaching the chief priests to hand Him over to them (Mk 14.10).

With the preparations for the Passover supper, we once again enter into a zone of light. During this meal, Jesus reproduces the same actions as during the multiplication of the loaves: « He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take It; this is My Body. »

Here, there was no fish, but He blessed and broke the bread and nourished His Apostles with it. Since this founding act, He has never ceased throughout the centuries to renew this miracle of the multiplication of His Body, which was delivered up to death for our salvation and raised up from the dead in order to communicate His life by giving Himself to be eaten under the appearances of bread: « This is My Body. »

Careful! Jesus did not say: « These are the appearances behind which My Body is hidden. » He said: « This is My Body. » Therefore “this” is the Body of Jesus, and the species or appearances of wine became the species or appearance of the Blood of Jesus.

These species or appearances are not natural, but sacramental. He assumed them at the moment that He said: « This is My Body », « This is My Blood ».

These are the appearances that allow Him to manifest Himself as our bread, our food. It is truly His Body that has these appearances; it is not the appearances that float next to His Body:

« This is My Body! »

CHRONOLOGY

It is time to fix the date of these events with precision. John the Baptist inaugurated his ministry « In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar », St Luke (3.1) tells us after having made a point of assuring us at the beginning of his Gospel that he investigated everything accurately. Since Emperor Augustus died on 19 August 14, the years of Tiberius extended from 20 August to the following 19 August. Thus the fifteenth year of his reign extended from August 28 to August 29.

Furthermore, St. Luke gives us to understand that St. John the Baptist baptised Jesus at the beginning of His preaching. The commencement of their public lives resembles that of their births. John the Baptist’s preceded that of Jesus by six month.

In the Gospel according to St. Matthew, the same verb expresses a few verses apart, the entry of the Messiah and that of His precursor:

« In those days John the Baptist appeared » (Mt 3.1)

« Then Jesus appeared » (Mt 3.13)

If John began his preaching in October of the 15^th year of Tiberius, 28 A.D., the traditional date of 13 January, the octave of the Epiphany, when the Church celebrates Christ’s baptism, may be considered the true anniversary of 13 January 29 A.D., the date of the founding event.

Then the calendar of Jesus’ actions and trips between His baptism and the following Easter when He was in Jerusalem can be easily reconstructed. It is remarkable to see that two thousand years afterwards, the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church is only the faithful memorial of these events.

From the moment that Jesus entered the scene at His baptism, which is His anointing (He is Risen no 65, February 2008, p. ………..), the events of His public life unfold at a rapid pace.

In the first days of October 28 A.D., « John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. » (Mk 1.4-5)

After having taken leave of the Virgin Mary and departed from Nazareth, Jesus in turn presented Himself in the first days of January 29 A.D.

St. Luke’s entire Gospel is constructed on this itinerary, which will lead Jesus to Jerusalem in order to offer His sacrifice the following year at the Pasch of 30 A.D. After having celebrated Pasch in accordance with the traditional calendar on Tuesday evening of Holy Week, 4 April 30 A.D., He was put to death, like the lamb that is led to the slaughter on Friday, 7 April at the hour when the priest were preparing the official, “legal” Pasch by immolating the lambs in the Temple.

And He rose from the dead on Sunday, 9 April.

Forty days afterwards, He ascended into Heaven.

Ten days later, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles inaugurated the times of the Church.

What is the Church? She is still Jesus! « Jesus Christ diffused and communicated », as Bossuet used to say. This means that Alfred Loisy was expressing a profound lack of understanding when he objected: « Jesus announced the Kingdom, and it is the Church that came. » Truth to tell, Christ, « Ruler of the kings of the earth » (Ap 1.5), reigns from Heaven, where He sits at the right hand of His Father. He continues to act, through the hand of the Apostles and their successors in His Church.

Let us confine ourselves to the Gospel events that concern us presently. They thus unfolded in a context and on dates that are well-known. They began with the preaching of John the Baptist beyond the Jordan and ended with the Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord. At the beginning, in October 28 A.D., there was John the Baptist: « in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign » (Lk 3.1). Then Jesus preached in Jerusalem for the feast of Pasch 29 A.D. (Jn 3.13). He died on the Cross one year later on 7 April 30 A.D., and rose from the dead on the 9^th. It is truly a course of a giant.

A KING CROWNED WITH THORNS

We left Jesus in the Upper Room. By the institution of the Eucharist, He gave His Body and His Blood to those whom He was going to leave. It was the fruit of His sacrifice and proof of His love. This gift, this sacrament was going to produce in them a fruitfulness in good works that would be capable of conquering souls throughout the centuries; this is the « Kingdom of God » established.

« Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God. » (Mk 14.25)

The Eucharist is thus both the memorial of the Passion that we must now meditate, and the anticipation of this meal in which Jesus will be back once again, but in His glorious Body.

THE AGONY.

Jesus who left to vanquish, is victorious! But not without having waged a terrible combat:

« After psalms had been sung – the thanksgiving that ended the Paschal meal – they left for the Mount of Olives. » They pass from the light of the Upper Room to the darkness of the stairs that descended towards the brook of Cedron, in the shadow cast by the pinnacle of the Temple on a night with a full moon. On the way, « Jesus said to them: “You will all lose faith, for the Scripture says: I shall strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered”. »

It is the moment of the great trial foretold by the Prophet Zechariah (Zc 13.7).

« However, after My resurrection I shall go before you to Galilee. »

In the midst of the darkness, this is a luminous perspective…

But Peter no longer listened:

« Even if all lose faith, I will not! »

– I tell you solemnly, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will have disowned me three times.

« But he replied still more earnestly: “If I have to die with You, I will never disown You” And they all said the same. »

They were all presumptuous and understood nothing. St. Peter insisted on making it known by the quill of St. Mark, his « dear son ». In the end, Peter would indeed die a martyr, thirty-four years later on 13 October 64, in the circus of the Vatican, after thirty-four years of apostolate, carried out with the force and light of the Holy Spirit. But before then, Jesus had to give all the Blood of His Heart.

« They came to a small estate called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to His disciples: “Stay here while I pray.” Then He took Peter, James, and John with Him. And fear came over Him, and great distress. And He said to them: “My soul is sorrowful to the point of death. Wait here and keep awake.” »

Our Holy Father the Pope writes that Jesus’ psychology is inaccessible to us. The Abbé de Nantes, however, makes us enter into the Heart of Jesus, who « before the Face of His Father assumes all the sins of humanity. He is the “Holy One of God”, as the demons rightly said. » It was an appalling thing to bear the shame, the contrition, the humiliation of them before His Father, as though it was He, the Beloved Son, who had committed them!

« Going on a little further He threw Himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, this hour might pass Him by. » This was the hour for which He had come, as He had said in announcing His glorification:

« Now the hour has come » (Jn 12.23). He had already experienced the same agony in the presence of the “Greeks” who had asked Philip and Andrew to see Jesus: « Father, save Me from this hour! »

Here, once again, « He said: Abba! », an Aramaic term that St. Mark translated for the Romans for whom his Gospel was intended: « Father! »

« Everything is possible for You. Take this cup away from Me. But let it be as You, not I, would have it. »

What a mystery! How could the Beloved Son have a will different from that of His Father? These astounding words would give rise later on to great theological discussions on the conflict of two natures, of two wills in Christ. For the time being, St. Mark transcribed what he had heard on the lips of Peter, who had it from someone else, probably from St. John, who slept less soundly than he…

It is the mysterious agony of a Son of God, God Himself, who wanted to give His life for my salvation, out of obedience to His Father; yet who violently loathed to consent to this sacrifice with all the strength of His human nature, as we do when we repel a sacrifice.

« He came back and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Did you not have the strength to keep awake one hour?” » Simon could have replied: « If You are unable, Lord, who could do better? » « Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. » (Mc 14.37)

Jesus’ despondency when He is failed by the weakness of the flesh is harrowing. It is, however, all the more extraordinarily comforting. Jesus is truly our elder brother. Like us, like Simon, who a while before had said that he was ready to die with Him, Jesus had within Himself an ardent spirit ready to say: « Yes, Father, may Your will be done », and a human soul that no longer had the courage to carry out this will…

« Then He went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more He came back and found them sleeping, for their eyes were so heavy, and they could find no answer for Him. »

Even St. Peter, who always had such prompt replies, remained speechless!

« He came back a third time and said to them: “You can sleep on now and take your rest. It is all over. The hour has come. Now the Son of Man is to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up! Let us go! My betrayer is close at hand already…” »

THE ARREST.

What sudden resolve! It is love for His Father that took the upper hand, that prevailed. The hour of temptation had passed: you can sleep on and take your rest. It is I, Jesus who will do all. You are all free and clear. I no longer need you.

« Now the Son of Man is to be betrayed into the hands of sinners… »

Now Jesus was eager to go to meet everything that His Father had decided, even shedding the last drop of His Precious Blood for the salvation of the sinners to whom His Father delivered Him.

Suddenly the clash of the weapons of an approaching troop can be heard, and the light of torches can be seen:

« “Get up! Let us go! My betrayer is close at hand already.” Even while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, came up with a number of men armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. » All the members of the Sanhedrin.

« Now the traitor had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss, He is the man. Take Him in charge, and see that He is well guarded when you lead Him away.” »

This armed group was composed of people who did not know Jesus.

« So when the traitor came, he went straight up to Jesus and said, “Rabbi” and kissed Him. The others seized Him and took Him in charge. Then one of the bystanders drew his sword and struck out at the high priest’s servant, and cut off his ear. »

St. Luke said that Jesus touched the ear of the wounded man and healed him. Matthew specified that Jesus said to the person who had intervened: « Put your sword back, for all who draw the sword die by the sword. » And I must die on the Cross like a criminal, and not like a soldier. Moreover, if it were necessary to fight, « do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father who would promptly send more than twelve legions of angels to My defence? » (Mt 26.52-53)

Jesus is invincible. He needs no one to defend Him. If He was arrested, it was because He had decided that it happen:

« No one takes My life from Me; I lay it down of My own free will. »

He wanted to drink the whole chalice that He had just accepted in order to accomplish the will of His Father. He said so magnificently to those who came to arrest Him:

« Am I a brigand that you had to set out to capture Me with swords and clubs? I was among you teaching in the Temple day after day, and you never laid hands on Me. But this is to fulfil the Scriptures. »

So, this is not fatalism, contrary to the theories of Fr. Xavier Léon-Dufour and other modernists; it is not an act of weakness on Jesus’ part, nor a “failure”, according to an expression dear to Benedict XVI.

« And they all deserted Him and ran away. »

The Apostles got out of their depth. They no longer understand, although Jesus had prepared them for this hour.

REJECTED BY HIS PEOPLE.

« They led Jesus off to the high priest; and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes assembled there. »

They were awaiting the signal, knowing that Jesus was to be arrested that evening. They were quickly assembled.

« Peter had followed Him at a distance, right into the high priest’s palace, and was sitting with the attendants warming himself at the fire. » (Mk 14.54)

Who allowed him to enter there? It was John. Without a doubt “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, John, the son of Zebedee, as we have demonstrated (CCR n° 310, June 1998, p. 13).

« The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus on which they might pass the death sentence. But they could not find any. » (Mk 14.55)

A witness for the prosecution against Jesus?

This is impossible!

Yet, false witnesses were not lacking. The problem was that « their evidence was conflicting. »

For example, « Some stood up and submitted this false evidence against him: “We heard Him say: I am going to destroy this Temple made by human hands, and in three days build another, not made by human hands.” But even on this point their evidence was conflicting » (Mk 14.57-58).

First, He did not say: « I will destroy », but « Destroy » Then St. John explained that He was speaking about the Temple of His Body. This means that He was telling them that He was fully aware of their intention of putting Him to death. Obviously it was not an order, but a prophecy: « You are going to commit a crime. » They were the criminals. « Well! Do, then, what you are going to do. Destroy this Temple! I will build another by rising from the dead on the third day. » If it is criminal to kill an innocent man without reason, it is divine to bring this innocent man back to life in three days.

It is true that, « indirectly », as the Abbé de Nantes says, the Jews were going to be those primarily responsible for the destruction of « this Sanctuary made with hands », the Temple that Herod had magnificently built. It would be destroyed in 70 A.D. by Titus in punishment for this crime committed against the new Temple that is the Body of Christ.

In any case, for want of serious evidence for the prosecution, Jesus’ file remains empty. There is nothing left to do but to acquit Him.

« The high priest then stood up before the whole assembly and put this question to Jesus. »

It is Caiaphas, the chairman of the Sanhedrin since 18 A.D. He will remain in this office until 36 A.D. The man was detested, contemptible. Recently, his tomb was found in Jerusalem. The Jews were not too proud.

« Have You no answer to that? What is this evidence these men are bringing against You?” But He was silent and made no answer at all. The high priest put a second question to him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” »

This was the reus mortis: if He said yes, He was punishable by death.

He never let it be said that He was « Christ », the Messiah, but people understood so by seeing His miracles. « The Son of the Blessed One » is a euphemism used to avoid saying « the Son of Yahweh » whose name one does not utter. In other words: Are You Yourself God?

Jesus sufficiently made it understood each time He said: I am, in Greek: Ego eimi, as St. John relates in his Gospel. In Hebrew: èhièh. In the third person: Yahweh, He is. This time He said it: « I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of Heaven. » (Mk 14.62)

« The Son of Man » is the name that Jesus gave to Himself from the beginning of His public life, according to the prophecy of Daniel.

Jesus announced that He would establish His reign by His resurrection; it would inaugurate His triumph over His enemies by means of the Church, until He would judge the living and the dead at the end of time.

« The high priest tore his garments and said: “What further need have we of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy! What is your finding? »

If there had been a free man in this assembly, just one, he would have said that it “seemed” to him that the accused had given sufficient proof of his affirmations by His miracles…

« They all gave their verdict: He deserved to die. Some began to spit on Him. They blindfolded Him and struck Him and said to Him: “Play the prophet!” And the attendants rained blows on Him. »

All of these sanhedrists had always been obsequious, false, and hypocritical towards Him. Seeing that He had been condemned, they, from the upper middle-class, knew how to surround themselves with refined luxury as the archaeological excavations of Jerusalem have revealed, these leading citizens in Israel, priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees behave in an ignoble manner.

We know this also from the history of France from 1789 to 1944… People whom we believed to be very gentle, very kind and courteous suddenly behaved like savages. We will perhaps see it again before long.

DENIED BY HIS OWN.

Nevertheless, Jesus triumphed before the Sanhedrin by His sovereign profession of royalty. This unleashing of Satanic hatred is proof of it. This picture that is marked with a red colour, with the purple of martyrdom, this luminous picture is followed by the sombre denial of Peter, yielding to his fear of a servant:

« Seeing Peter warming himself, she looked intently at him and said: “You too were with the Nazarene, Jesus” But he denied it saying: “I do not know, I do not understand, what you are talking about.” he said. Then he went out into the forecourt and a cock crew »

The servant girl saw him and again started telling the bystanders:

« “This fellow is one of them.” But again he denied it. A little later the bystanders themselves said to Peter: “You are one of them for sure! Why, you are a Galilean.” But he began to curse and to swear: “I do not know the man of whom you speak.” »

In his commentary, our Father makes us imagine the feelings of the Christians of the Catacombs thus hearing about him who had just gloriously died as head of the Church, as Prince of the Apostles, crucified in the games of the circus, in the Vatican!

« He is the same person who had become the head of the Church, who died a martyr in an absolutely heroic way in the Vatican, there, very close! Imagine it, and make your own the faith and hope that these early Christians had in the power of grace, capable of transforming a coward into a martyr! »

« And immediately a cock crowed a second time. Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said to him: “Before the cock crows twice you will deny Me three times.” And he burst into tears. »

What follows obviously presupposes Annie Jaubert’s long chronology, even though Mark lets us believe that all took place on Friday morning:

« As soon as morning came, the chief priests with the elders and the scribes, that is, the whole Sanhedrin, held a council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed Him over to Pilate. » (Mk 15.1)

In his preaching in Rome, St. Peter did not want to enter into all these complications with which the Jewish religion exhausted itself: to explain that there were two calendars and that Jesus had been arrested in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday after having celebrated the Pasch in accordance with the ancient priestly calendar. His audience would have gotten lost and so, he passed on as though the Pasch were on Saturday for everyone, and that at dawn Friday the second session of the Sanhedrin had taken place; with what aim? To confirm the death sentence, which could only be passed the day after or two days after the proceedings, according to law.

There remained to go before Pilate to give effect to the death sentence (Jn 18.31). They bound Jesus and led Him through a part of the city between the chief priest’s palace and Herod’s, which was located in the northwest corner of Jerusalem; this is where Pilate resided when he came to Jerusalem.

St. Luke conducted his inquiry as a scrupulous historian, with more care than Mark for the exact succession of events. He related that Pilate, on learning that Jesus was a Galilean and thus under the authority of Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee, tried to rid himself of this difficult case by referring Him to Herod, who had also come to Jerusalem for the feast (Lk 23.6-12).

For the Jews it was an unforeseen setback. The people and leaders dispersed. It was the interval also supposed by Matthew when he relates how Judas, bitten by remorse, went off to find the high priests and elders: « I have sinned in betraying innocent blood. » (Mt 27.3-10)

KING OF THE WORLD.

Jesus does not deign to answer a single word to Herod, who therefore sends Him back to Pilate.

« Pilate questioned Him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” »

This, then, is the indictment. Pilate is surprised that a dissident was brought before him. His question reveals his intuition: he clearly sees that there is something abnormal. Besides, Jesus does not look like a “resistance fighter”!...

« Jesus answers him: “It is you who say it.” »

« And the chief priests brought many accusations against Him. Pilate questioned Him again: “Have you no answer? See how many accusations they are bringing against You!” Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed. »

Something new happens with the entrance of the true insurgent:

« Now on the occasion of the feast Pilate used to release to them one prisoner whom they requested. Now a man called Barabbas was then in prison along with the rebels who had committed murder in the rebellion. »

The Abbé de Nantes’ commentary: « Extraordinarily, Barabbas means “son of the father”. If there is someone who is “Son of the Father” it is Jesus. The Jewish people who are rebellious against their Messiah, Son of the Father, are going to ask for the liberation of a rioter and become infatuated with him, a false messiah if ever there was one and who was called – supreme derision, supreme omen – son of the father! Could one have invented anything better?  »

Spontaneously, « the crowds » would have acclaimed Jesus, but they were manipulated by the chief priests. « When the crowd went up and began to ask Pilate the customary favour, Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he realised it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over. The chief priests, however, had incited the crowd to demand that he should release Barabbas for them instead. » (Mk 15.8-11)

« Fickle though public opinion may be, the account gains more probability if the priests had at least a whole day before them to work on the people and so win them over to their cause »

« Then Pilate spoke again. “Then what am I to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” They shouted again, “Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “What evil has He done?” They only shouted all the louder: “Crucify Him!” »

It was obvious that He had done no evil, but Pilate was confronting the unleashing of an infernal hatred against the Son of God, a “cruel” hatred, in the etymological sense of the word: bloodthirsty.

« So Pilate, anxious to placate the crowd, released Barabbas for them and, after he had Jesus scourged, handed Him over to be crucified. »

Pilate passed judgement at about midday on Thursday: « It was about the sixth hour. » (Jn 19.14) Pilate henceforth personifies until the end of the world the cowardice of the high-ranking civil servant who declines to do justice for the innocent, because he is afraid.

Scourging was an appalling torture that was reserved for slaves. The marks of the stigmata can be read on the Holy Shroud of Turin with a striking precision that no painter could ever equal.

The meeting was over. The crowd dispersed. It was Thursday evening. During the evening, Jesus was handed over to the outrages of the army rabble.

Ah! He claims that He is the King of the Jews!

THE CROWNING OF THE KING.

« The soldiers led Him away to the inner part of the palace, that is, the Praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort. They clothed Him in purple, wove a crown of thorns, and placed it on Him. »

We are surprised to see the Evangelists relate these things without any sign of emotion, but our Father explains this impassiveness by the fact that St. Peter, and thus St. Mark, were enthusiastic and proud to see Jesus suffer for the joy of accomplishing in this way the redemption of the world. He is truly a king, and this crowing will merit Him the homage of all the redeemed throughout the centuries. This scene marks the first preaching of the outraged Jesus to the pagans.

« They began saluting him: “Hail, King of the Jews!” »

They did not know how right they were. This is when He was truly a king. It is the mystery of redemption about which the Jews had been informed by the Prophet whom our Father calls “the Unknown of the Exile”, in the “Poems of the Servant”:

« I offered My back to those who struck Me, My cheeks to those who plucked My beard; My face I did not shield from insult and spitting. » (Is 50.6)

This was written about the Messiah around 530 B.C. Jesus fulfilled this prophecy to the letter.

« They struck His head with a reed and spat on Him; and they went down on their knees to do Him homage. When they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the purple cloak, dressed Him in His own clothes. » (Mk 15.19-20)

VICTORY BY THE CROSS.

« They led Him out to crucify Him. They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus, who was coming in from the country, to carry His cross. »

St. Paul refers to Rufus at the end of the Epistle to the Romans (Rm 16.13). Alexander and Rufus were known to the Christian community of Rome. In Rome, Rufus was thus a witness to the events that he had heard his father relate time and again.

« They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which is translated the place of the Skull. »

The expression designates a rocky hill still visible today. This is where originates the tradition of representing the skull of Adam buried under the Cross: where Adam had been buried, he was redeemed by the New Adam who offered His sacrifice for him. It is a powerful symbolism that appears on many ancient crucifixes on which a skull and two tibias are represented under the feet of the Crucified One.

« They offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He did not take it. »

Jesus refused the anaesthesia. He wanted to suffer.

« Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments by casting lots for them to see what each should take.

« It was the third hour when they crucified Him. »

It was 9 a.m. This is proof that all had been decided the day before. This Friday morning was 14 Nisan, the day on which thousands of pilgrims were pressing in the streets; each family had to buy a lamb that would be immolated in the Temple and eaten at home. It is in the midst of this animation that Jesus, « the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world », would be immolated.

« The inscription of the charge against Him read, “The King of the Jews.” »

This document gave an appearance of legitimacy as regards the emperor and Roman law, to what was in reality an assassination.

« And they crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left. »

Here was the court of this King!

« Those passing by reviled Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days; save Yourself by coming down from the cross.” »

These people are extraordinary witnesses. They repeat the fraudulent evidence that served to condemn Jesus: “He spoke against the Temple!” Jesus had indeed said that the Temple would be destroyed and that He intended to rebuild it in three days. And He did so!

“The Temple” was His Body. It was destroyed. Jesus would die and, in three days, He would rebuild It.

« The chief priests and the scribes mocked him among themselves in the same way. “He saved others, and He cannot save Himself!”

This was extraordinary testimony on the part of adversaries! They recognised that He worked miracles, cured the sick, raised the dead, and they believe that they triumph because He did not work a miracle for Himself!

« Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe! »

Obviously, they gave Him His title of Christ and King out of derision, demanding a sign in order to believe. They forgot only that He did not give a sign, not out of powerlessness, but because He had decided so: « No sign will be given to this generation. » (Mk 8.12)

Thus, He is truly King and dominates events.

« Even those who were crucified with Him taunted Him. » (Mk 15.32)

St. Luke specified that there was a “good thief”.

JESUS DIES.

« When the sixth hour came there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. »

From noon to 3 p.m.

« At the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” »

Jesus intoned Psalm 22, which along with Chapter 53 of Isaiah, is the most extraordinary prophecy of the Passion of Christ.

« When some of those who stood by heard this, they said, “Listen, He is calling on Elijah!” One of them ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar and, putting it on a reed, gave it Him to drink saying, “Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take Him down.”

« But Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed His last. »

Jesus died on 14 Nisan, on the eve the Pasch according to the official calendar, at 3 p.m. Not one bone of His will be broken (Jn 19.36), as was the rule in the Temple where, at the same hour thousands of lambs were being immolated without breaking any bone. (Ex 12.46).

Everything was accomplished. Jesus died giving a loud cry, which was completely miraculous for a man suffering from generalised tetanus.

« And the veil of the Sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. »

The torn veil manifested the abrogation of the ancient worship, and the opening of the Sanctuary to all men.

Scarcely had darkness fallen over the Jewish world than light was beginning to dawn for the Roman world:

« The centurion who stood facing Him saw how He breathed His last, and he said:

“Truly this man was the Son of God!”

« There were some women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary of Magdala, Mary, the mother of James the younger and Joset, and Salome. These women used to follow Him and look after Him when He was in Galilee. And there were many other women there who had come up to Jerusalem with Him. »

THE BURIAL.

« When it was already evening, and since it was Preparation Day, that is, the vigil of the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a distinguished member of the Council, who was himself awaiting the Kingdom of God, came and courageously went to Pilate and asked for the Body of Jesus. »

His “Body”, sôma, and not His “cadaver”, and this “Body” was awaiting the resurrection.

« Pilate, was astonished that He was already dead. He summoned the centurion and inquired if He was already dead. And when he learned of it from the centurion, he granted the Body to Joseph. »

« Having bought a linen cloth, he took Jesus down from the cross, wrapped Him in the shroud and laid Him in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb. »

« A shroud », sindon: a long linen cloth, which is kept today in Turin, with all the marks of certain authenticity. The traces left by the impact of the terrible Roman flagrum, are still impregnated with human blood serum as witness the chemical tests, which constitute irrefutable proof. From the head to the feet of the venerable facial and dorsal silhouettes imprinted on this magnificent linen cloth, none of the traces of the barbarian treatment that was inflicted on Jesus is missing: marks of the nails that were driven into the hands and feet, when the torture of the cross was ordinarily carried out with ropes.

The wound in the side especially, and the legs having remained intact have the same value as a signature, for the soldiers « broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into His side, and immediately Blood and water flowed out. » (Jn 19.32-34)

« Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of Joset watched where He was laid. » (Mk 15.47)

Their intention was to return for the final burial, which they were unable to undertake that evening because of the opening of the great Sabbath. Each family had to celebrate the Paschal meal, and nothing in Jerusalem budges.

« When the Sabbath was over Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices so that they might go and anoint the Body. » (Mk 16.1)

On the evening of the Sabbath, as soon as the sun set, all the shops opened and the women were eager to buy spices. They, therefore, did not for one moment think that Jesus was going to rise from the dead. The Blessed Virgin was present at the foot of the Cross, we know this by St. John. She is, however, absent from all these preparations because She, and She alone, had faith in the resurrection that Her Son announced time and again.

The others are only preoccupied with one thing: to cleanse for burial this Body that was left bloody, spattered with mud and spittle.

THE EMPTY TOMB

« Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, at sunrise, they came to the tomb. They were saying to one another: “Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back; it was very large. On entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were dismayed. He said to them, “There is no need to be dismayed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified. He is risen; He is not here. Behold the place where they laid Him. » (Mk 16.2-6)

The discovery of the empty tomb, the unshakeable foundation of our faith in Christ’s resurrection is the indisputable truth of the witnesses’ accounts.

« This observation from the realm of physical evidence remains the point of departure of a proof that is still conclusive today. The most exacting reasoning can be applied to it. His Body is no longer there. No one stole it. It is impossible that they mistook the tomb. It is unconceivable that this Body vaporised within thirty-six hours, for the absurd does not exist! » (Georges de Nantes, The Mystery of the Resurrection, CRC n^o 71, August 1973, p. 11)

Yet, there was an exegete who attempted to substantiate the absurd! Fr. Xavier Léon-Dufour, in his book The Resurrection of Jesus and the Paschal Message (1971), p. 303, note 43 in the first edition, provides this “proof ab absurdo”.

Our Father commented:

« This note, which surreptitiously disappeared at the time of the new edition in January 1972, shows the full extent of Fr. Xavier Léon-Dufour’s offhand way. If it is true that the book is the fruit of twenty years of scientific work and Christian meditation, we are informed about the lack of seriousness of this science and this religious faith.

« For after all, let us review this argumentation:

« 1^o To write that “the Gospel accounts do not afford any element of a solution as to what became of Jesus’ cadaver” is to lie with an extreme impudence. The entire New Testament protests that… Jesus’ cadaver – but there never was a “cadaver” – rose alive from the tomb, that He was seen, that He ate and drank, spoke to His own, was touched by them, in order to convince them that it was indeed He, in His own glorious Body!

« 2^o It is unworthy of a true scientist, and of a Christian! to accept a “presupposition”, be it the sacrosanct principle of the conservation of matter or that of the degradation of energy! This rationalism excludes the very possibility of an objective, truly scientific historical investigation!

« Proof of this is given immediately by the so-called historian, Xavier Léon-Dufour, who conscientiously puts forward stupid “solutions” that the texts preclude, and that are, moreover insolently irrational: “The body was transferred elsewhere”. It was transferred where and by whom? Was it then abandoned, rediscovered, or incinerated? “The women went to the wrong tomb”. Did Peter and John also make the same mistake? What about the linen cloths lying on the ground, and the Shroud that was rolled up in a place by Itself? What a poor anticlerical novel!

« Xavier Léon-Dufour is a historian? You make me laugh. He is rather an ungodly person…

« 3^o Furthemore, he is an imbecile, along with Bouillard, his colleague in Jesuitism and Modernism, who was too rightly reduced to silence by Pius XII. For, if you “willingly resort to miracles”, these good Fathers suggest a real one for you, one that is tailor made, which is in accordance with natural laws although accelerating them only a little. Ah! No, what morons. We are given permission to believe that the “miracle” of the “resurrection” consisted in a dissolution, an accelerated decomposition, in thirty-six hours, of a bloodless and desiccated body, to the extent of a complete disappearance of all traces – with the washing of the tomb and the folding of the clothes in addition! No, no, but what pedants they are!

« 4^o In advance, Xavier Léon-Dufour defended his tailor-made “miracle” against the objection of the “believers who always feel ill at ease at the stating of [such] a proposition”. Here once again he lies with perversity. He quotes the text of a psalm, gives the reference to the Acts of the Apostles and then speaks about the “author” of these words without specifying – deliberately – whether he is the psalmist or St. Peter. We agree on the psalmist: he literally prophesised that the Holy One would escape from the tomb, without going into further detail. But Xavier Léon-Dufour knew full well, and he concealed from his readers, whom he took for ignoramuses, that these prophetic words that St. Peter repeated, which the Apostle intentionally modified, infallibly attested in his first discourse on the Pentecost Day that the Holy One of God would not see the corruption of the tomb, dissolution, decomposition, whether slow or accelerated. St Peter directly contradicted in advance the hare-brained thesis of Xavier Léon-Dufour, and he had to use trickery to deceive his reader! » (ibid., pp. 8-9)

JESUS RISEN, TRANSFIGURED

After a thorough study of the Dead Sea scrolls, we must point out that, St. Peter did not « intentionally modify » the prophetic words of the psalm. In its original version, it indeed said: « Nor will You suffer Your Holy One to see corruption. » It was the rabbis of Yabneh who corrected the text at the end of the first century, after the ruin of Jerusalem, by changing the term « corruption » into that of « tomb », believing in this way that they would make St. Peter a liar, since Jesus had in fact spent thirty-six hours in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. But it is they who lied… in writing!

After having refuted Fr. Xavier Léon-Dufour, the Abbé de Nantes concluded:

« Thus one must believe that Jesus came back to life. The demonstration is solid and gives the “apparitions” their historical certainty. »

« Having risen in the morning on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary of Magdala from whom He had cast out seven devils. » (Mk 16.9, cf. Jn 20.1)

This Mary is the sister of Martha and Lazarus, but who is protected throughout the Gospel of St. Mark by a sort of respectful incognito. She committed youthful indiscretions in Magdala, a city on the banks of Lake Tiberias, close to Capernaum in Galilee.

Then she encountered Christ and converted. She returned to her family of honest folk, belonged to the best society, and lived in Bethany, close to Jerusalem. Endowed with great vivacity, intelligence, compassion, she is the beloved, the converted sinner whom Jesus loved as much as the Apostle John, and who loved Him in return.

« She went and told His companions who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. »

They are still incredulous. St. John specified that Mary Magdalene instinctively ran to Peter and John and that they ran to the tomb. It was empty. The two Apostles only found the Holy Shroud there, carefully « rolled up in a place by Itself » (Jn 20.7).

This signal relic, which exists to this day as a fifth Gospel, is the proof of the historical fact to which the concordant accounts of the four Evangelists attest. It bears an archaeological witness in the midst of our generation, which is still as « incredulous » with regard to the sorrowful Passion and glorious Resurrection of Christ.

« In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the Disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood in their midst. He said to them: “Peace be with you! When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. » (Jn 20.19)

His hands and side had been pierced, but we are not yet aware of it. The Evangelists had not even thought of specifying this horrible detail: Jesus was attached to the Cross by nails and not with ropes. We will learn about it after the return of Thomas, when he replies to the others who say to him: « We have seen the Lord! »

– Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into His side, I will not believe. » (Jn 20.25)

What a contrast this was to the outbursts of love that Mary Magdalene made; she threw herself at Jesus’ feet and clung to them, not to ascertain that He was risen from the dead, but to cover with kisses the holy Stigmata that she had contemplated as sorrowful wounds when she stood at the foot of the Cross and she now discovered glorious!

She wanted to keep Jesus for herself, but He gently dismissed her:

« Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. »

The Gospel of St. Mark also ends after the commissioning of the Apostles with the account of the Ascension:

« He said to them, “Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned.” » (Mk 16.15-16)

Since the Council, we can say that this text is never quoted. Why? Because John XXIII opened the Council declaring that the time of condemnations was over… But as a result, the mission has also been brought to an end: there are no missionaries to proclaim the Gospel to all men, so that they may believe, be baptised and saved, because if they refuse, they are no longer condemned. They are « free ». This is what the Second Vatican Council decided… But when men of the Church return from this passing aberration, under the authority of a holy Pope and a reparatory Third Vatican Council, through the power, the grace, and mercy of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, « these will be the signs that will be associated with believers: in My Name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover. » 

Brother Bruno of Jesus.