One connection that I made in our Lord of the Rings reading to Theology and Christianity was during the conversation between Gandalf and Saruman. I thought Saruman’s choice to side with evil was similar to Pilate’s (and many others) decision to go along with the crucifixion of Jesus. Saruman says, “This then is one choice before you, before us. We may join with that Power. It would be wise, Gandalf. There is hope that way. Its victory is at hand.” This line shows that Saruman cares more about power, wealth, and his personal safety over aiding what is good. I thought this was similar to people turning against Jesus because many turned away for the same reasons. Instead of vindicating Jesus because he could find no fault in him, Pilate hands him over to the Jews because he is afraid of losing his power and afraid for his safety.

On a more bigger picture outlook, a theme I noticed throughout this excerpt was the fact that it is much easier to choose evil, but there is reward in fighting the good fight. Gandalf shows that he does not want to give into the evil of the Ring and instead chooses to fight it and save the world. We see that doing this and standing up for what is right, leads to the ultimate reward. And, just as we see in Christian thought, fighting through hardship in the name of Jesus, leads to ultimate happiness. 

“The Church is Holy”

The Catechism says that the Church is Holy because Jesus Christ (the Holy one) gave himself to the Church, raised it up in glory, and gave it the Holy Spirit. This was an interesting point for me because it shows that the Church is something more than a bunch of people, rather it is through Jesus Christ that it has been instituted. 

I also like how the CCC also points out how we make up the body of the church but that we ourselves are not individually holy: “In her members perfect holiness is something yet to be acquired.” This shows that it is through God that he can make the institution of the church holy even though we do not hold this status ourselves. The CCC continues this point by stating: “All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners.” This is poignant because although the members of the church are sinners, the Church is a holy institution because Jesus has given himself over to it. 

This portion of the Catechism was engaging because it made clearer a complicated issue. That is, it is through Jesus that the church becomes holy. As the Catechism puts it: “United with Christ, the Church is sanctified by him; through him and with him she becomes sanctifying.”

Two of the things that the Church emphasized about the resurrection was the empty tomb and the appearances of the risen Jesus. The Catechism makes sure to note how the empty tomb was the early sign for the apostles that Jesus had in fact risen and that it led some of the to believe. It also emphasizes the appearances of the Jesus after his resurrection to show that it is not just a couple people who say they witnessed it. Jesus appeared to over 500 people at one time, thus showing that Jesus was truly resurrected from the dead. 

To say that the resurrection is the work of the trinity is to imply that all three parts of the trinity took on instrumental roles in the resurrection. First, God the Father raised Jesus up in his humanity, but it is also through Jesus’s divine power that it comes to pass. And as for the spirit, it was the spirit who gave life back to Jesus’s dead humanity—bringing him up to glory. 

It is through Christ’s resurrection that we are given the opportunity to be born again in Christ. Because it is through Jesus’s passion, death, and resurrection that we are saved from our sins, it is also through him that we are able to be resurrected with him. Because of this, our resurrection is directly tied to Jesus’s sacrifice and ultimately his resurrection. 

The letter I chose was the first one, written to the Church in Ephesus. 

This letter opens by showing the strength and power of God. It says that the message comes from the one who, “lives among the seven golden lamp-stands.” With the message opening this way, we are able to see that the message is to be taken seriously because it comes from the head of the church—Jesus.

The letter then continues by showing what the church in Ephesus has done well. It states: “I know your activities” which seems to show that Christ knows both the good and the bad that are happening in Ephesus. By choosing to start with the good, the letter begins on a positive note leading up to the part where the complaint is made. It reads, “I know too that you have perseverance, and have suffered for my name.” I think this part is highlighted because later in the letter it calls on them to remember “where you were before you fell.” By reminding the church in Ephesus of the great time of following and suffering for God, the letter is able to show that it is possible and beneficiary to return to the Lord. 

The letter then moves into the complaint which is that the church now has less love than they used to. But instead of leaving it on a do this better note, the letter ends with a promise of reward. By closing with, “those who prove victorious I will fee from the tree of life set in God’s paradise,” the church at Ephesus is able to see the end goal and thus be able to try to strive to their former glory.

Paul turns to Abraham here in order to show that faith and salvation is for both the Jews and everyone else and to show that the Law is not everything.

Paul interprets the Genesis account through the eyes of Faith. That is, instead of focusing on the Law, Paul looks at it though the faith of Abraham as a model for Christian faith.  Because of this, he says that if we look to Abraham in the Genesis story, we can see a model of faith in God that ultimately unites us to Jesus in the resurrection.

Paul goes about this by first focusing on the fact that Abraham was not circumcised. During Paul’s time the common belief would have been that one must be circumcised or else you weren’t as holy as those who were. But Paul, attempting to show that the church is meant to be universal, shows that their forefather Abraham was blessed and yet at the time was himself uncircumcised.  

Paul continues this theme of demonstrating that the church, faith, and salvation is accessible to everyone by showing that faith, not necessarily the law, is of utmost importance. To prove this he says, “For the promise to Abraham and his descendants that he should inherit the world was not thought the Law, but through the uprightness of faith.” Because of this, Paul is emphasizing that yes, it is good to follow the Law, but one must truly believe in their heart. Or, in other words, it is faith that saves. Whether it be though the Law or just though a sense to do the right thing, God’s kingdom is for everyone and is meant to be spread to the ends of the earth.

One turn of phrase that stood out to me and I think John is emphasizing because of its importance in demonstrating his message about Jesus is in Chapter 19, verse 30. It says, “After Jesus had taken the wine he said, ‘It is fulfilled’; and bowing his head he gave up his spirit.” I found this verse to be a major emphasis of John’s telling, because it underlined Jesus’s sacrifice for humanity. 

Instead of just saying that Jesus died on the cross, John makes sure to note that “he gave up his spirit.” By saying this, it is understood that Jesus’s passion, death, and resurrection was a sacrifice for his people and that it was something that was voluntary. With this emphasis, we can better understand Jesus as the sacrificial lamb and come to a deeper relationship with Jesus who was willing to die for us.

One character in particular that I think John uses to advance his message is Pilate. Although Pilate ultimately caves to the Jews we see him come to the understanding that Jesus was something more than just an ordinary criminal. By having this Roman leader come to this realization, John is showing that Jesus’s work was widespread and that his message was not only meant for one group of people, but rather meant to be spread to the ends of the earth. 

Differences in the Gospels of Luke and John:

Reading the Gospel of John and then comparing it to the Gospel of Luke brought to light numerous differences between the books. The first one is the difference in style. In Luke, we encounter a series of stories that contribute to the whole overarching theme, but in John we see a seemingly more continuous narrative. 

The second difference is the way the two Luke and John ordered their Gospels. Luke’s Gospel tells of Jesus’s birth, touches on his childhood, talks about his ministry, and then ultimately his sacrificing himself for us. Meanwhile, John only discusses Jesus’s ministry and His passion, death, and resurrection. This difference may play a part in the first difference I noted because Luke’s gospel spans a much wider time frame and thus is fragmented into smaller stories of Jesus’s life. 

Distinct theological message in the Gospel of John:

John opens his Gospel by stating: “In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1). And then later in the book says: “No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known” (John 1:18). With these two verses in mind I think John’s message was that Jesus is God and it is through him that we will reach eternal life. Because he said the ‘Word was God’ we can understand that Jesus and God were one and that it is through the Son that we can reach and know the Father. 

One thing that stood out to me from Luke’s Gospel (especially towards the beginning of it) were the numerous times Jesus seemingly defied others or what others thought was right. For example many of the miracles Jesus works are done on the Sabbath Day making it seem like he broke the commandment. But I think Luke does this on purpose and is trying to make a point by doing it. 

In Luke’s Gospel, it says: “The Son of man is master of the Sabbath.” This shows that Luke is emphasizing the authority and power of God and the importance of doing good for others. This theme continues throughout portion of the Gospel where Jesus goes about teaching and healing. 

Another part of the Gospel that I thought helped bring out this point was in Chapter 22 where Jesus tells of Peter’s fall and repentance. Instead of rebuking Peter after foretelling him denying him, Jesus chooses to show that he will recover and strengthen his brothers. By doing this, Luke again makes visible Jesus’s loving character that wants to heal and guide us. 

Luke closes his Gospel by telling the story of the ascension. This is a fitting end because it closes with hope and healing. After the ascension it says the apostles went back to Jerusalem “full of joy.” By depicting this, Luke shows us that Jesus is continually among us and that his ‘leaving’ the world is not a cause for mourning because He is always with us. 

One of the main take a ways from this article was the different portrayals of Jesus. And, in particular, the portrayal of Jesus in the Gospels—or, in other words, the Gospel Jesus. The article brought up an interesting point that I had not thought of before: the gospels “stem from his highly selective arrangement of Jesus material in order to promote and strengthen a faith that would bring people closer to God.” In making this purpose clear, the article makes it obvious that the Gospel’s had a specific purpose and thus their portrayals of Jesus were geared to this purpose. 

When we take this into account, it makes sense why we get different gospels. Instead of a uniform version of the story, the different gospels told their story to different audiences, thus resulting in unique versions telling of the same God.  

While this ‘Gospel Jesus’ point of view made a lot of sense, it also caused me to wonder why these ‘different’ versions of Jesus had to be created. Without the uniformity, we lose some of the cohesiveness of the story and leads to a story that is, in a way, just pieced together. While there is much to gain from this way of describing the gospel story, I also feel like there is some to lose with the method.  

The Book of Job offers us some insight into God’s great power and some wisdom into how we are supposed to live. A couple of verses that especially stood out to me regarding wisdom were 5:27 and 42:2 which read “Blessed are those whom God corrects!” and “I know that you are all powerful: what you conceive, you can perform.” The first verse provides some wisdom into correction. Instead of it being bad that someone needs creation, Job tells us that those who need it (and accept it) are blessed by God. The second one shows us that God is all powerful. Even though Job doubted and questioned God, he ultimately showed him that he can do anything whenever he wants. With these two verses of wisdom we can come to better understand God through the fact that he is both all powerful, but merciful.

I think that these passages attempt to teach us about God and his doings. The passage shows that God is very powerful and yet he shows his mercy to his people. Because of this we see the relationship between God and man as an amiable one. With the power that these passages show God has, it is clear he does not need us. But he chooses to look after us and love us as his own. This shows that there is a mutual, loving relationship between God and man. One in which we are called to love God and seek his correction.