Father Denny Dempsey

Third Sunday of Easter A April 6, 2008

Luke 24:13-35 In the first letter of Peter, from which today’s second reading is taken, reference is made to Mark who wrote the first gospel as a member of Peter’s ministerial team. Luke was on Paul’s ministerial team. There was contact between the two teams. Mark, for one, associated with both groups from time to time. Luke had a copy of Mark’s gospel when he wrote his gospel and copied large sections of it, rewriting to put the language into a more refined style of Greek. Luke also added material not included in Mark’s gospel. This text is a good example. Mark 16:12-13 very briefly mentions the appearance of Jesus to two disciples on the way to the country. Luke fills out the account. In doing so, he mentions the name of Cleopas, one of the two disciples going to Emmaus. The majority of people who pass through the gospel accounts are not named, so it is logical to assume that, when named, their names mean something to the readers. Was Cleopas a member of Paul’s team? Had the people to whom the gospel was initially addressed heard his personal testimony of the appearance of Jesus on that Easter day?

This is one of three post-resurrection appearances of Jesus mentioned in the gospels in which those to whom he appeared could not identify him by either visual or voice recognition. They knew it was Jesus by what he said and did. May our personal testimony to Jesus, in the long line of Christians including Cleopas who have dedicated their lives to proclaiming the message, make the same Jesus present by what we say and do.

Divine Mercy Sunday March 30, 2008

John 20:19-31 In this, the original conclusion, we are told why the author wrote the gospel: “ that you may believe… and through this belief have life”. Backing up to the exchange between Jesus and Thomas, Jesus pronounces a blessing on all who believe without the need of actually seeing Jesus…everyone who reads the gospel and accepts its message. Personally, I think Thomas, rather than going down in history as “the doubter” could be considered a wonderful role model for young people in particular. Thomas was strong. This is the fellow who, when Jesus returned to the Jerusalem area to attend to Lazarus, said to the others, “Let us go to die with him.” It would have been easier for him to go along with the crowd. Instead he stood firm in the face of a lot of pressure from his friends. When he did come to believe, he was just as strong. While the other disciples remained in the more familiar cultures of the Mediterranean region, Thomas went to bring the word to India. Thomas is Didymus, the “twin”. The author of the gospel wasn’t just pointing this out as an instruction in word derivation. Thomas had a twin…anyone who needs that extra bit of evidence to say “yes” to Jesus but, once professed, lives that faith with conviction.

Palm-Passion Sunday March 16, 2008

Gospel of the Procession - Matthew 21:1-11 From the ridge of the Mount of Olives one can look directly across the Kidron Valley at the Temple of Jerusalem and the city behind it. Some wonder why Jesus didn’t ride a horse instead of a donkey. Donkeys were less expensive, harder working, and easier to care for than horses. Jesus had probably never ridden a horse in his life. It is doubtful that anyone in Bethphage even owned one. Certainly a horse seems more regal to us, but it doesn’t appear that people in the crowd thought less of Jesus because of his mount. Those more knowledgeable of scripture prophesies may have recalled Zechariah 9:9, “Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you, a just savior is he, meek and riding on an ass.” The time of confrontation had come. Many of the people, perhaps most of the apostles, saw the moment as political, believing that the Messiah would inaugurate a new era of Jewish independence and freedom from Rome. It was for that reason James and John (Mark 10:35) had approached Jesus asking for the places of honor in that kingdom…and for the same reason the other apostles had gotten upset with them for doing so. It was for that reason that the apostles had argued among themselves who was the greatest (Mark 9:33-34). It was likely for that reason Judas betrayed Jesus when he realized that the kingdom was not going to be anything like what he had imagined. It gives us pause to consider why we follow Jesus. Is it for personal gain, bestowal of favors in this world, or something more profound which enables us to follow him as our king no matter what the personal cost?

Fifth Sunday of Lent A March 9, 2008

John 11:1-45  We don’t know the original connection between Jesus and the family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. The gospels don’t tell us if they were related to Jesus, friends of the family, or people he had met during a visit to Jerusalem in his younger days. It is clear from the gospels, however, that they had “adopted” Jesus as part of their family and that he was a frequent guest at their place whenever he was in the area of Jerusalem. Bethany was a good location for Jesus to get away from the crowds of the city, situated a couple miles east of the temple of Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley, up and over the crest of the Mount of Olives. Before reaching the crest, Jesus liked to stop at an olive grove called the Garden of Gethsemane where he could look across at the Jerusalem temple and pray. When news of Lazarus’ illness reaches Jesus, he and his disciples were a couple days’ journey away on the east side of the Jordan River, an area outside the jurisdiction of the Jewish authorities who were searching for a way to convict Jesus and have him put to death. Should he go back into their territory? Thomas expresses the danger of doing so when he suggests the apostles should go back with Jesus “to die with him”. Jesus does return, but why did he wait? Given the number of days necessary for the journey and the timing of Lazarus’ death, Jesus would not have gotten to Bethany before the death of Lazarus anyway. Perhaps Jesus knew that the Pharisees, who were aware of his friendship with Lazarus, would be keeping an eye out for Jesus to return to Bethany but would have ended their vigil when Lazarus died. It is also possible that Jesus was simply giving time for word of Lazarus’ death to spread, thus making more dramatic the news of his subsequently being raised by Jesus. Lazarus became a celebrity in the weeks following his return to life. Hundreds of people went out from Jerusalem to see him and hear his testimony about Jesus. There was even a plot to kill Lazarus (John 12:10) because of the strength of his testimony to Jesus. Can you imagine Lazarus, who had already died, being afraid of a death threat? What a grace for us to not be afraid of death, to be so strong in faith that we even welcome challenges as opportunities to give testimony to what we believe.