Yesterday was Good Friday, the anniversary of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins.
“Stations of the Cross” and the liturgy after the Stations are for me the most emotional religious services of the year. There each of us is, confronted by the reality of his or her unworthiness and Christ’s sacrifice for each of us.
The Third Station – Jesus falls the first time – features this passage of blunt anger from Isaiah 63:
“Why are your garments red, your clothes like someone treading the winepress?”
“I have trodden the winepress alone; of my people, not one was with me. So I trod them down in my anger, I trampled on them in my wrath. Their blood squirted over my garments and all my clothes are stained.
For I have decided on a day of vengeance, my year of retribution has come.
I looked; there was no one to help me; I was appalled but could find no supporter! Then my own arm came to my rescue and my own fury supported me.
I crushed the peoples in my anger, I shattered them in my fury and sent their blood streaming to the ground.”
A “no snowflake” zone.
Or then for the 12th Station – Jesus dies on the cross – the Reproaches, the imagined accusations of a dying Christ to the people He loved who turned on Him. For it was out of jealousy the leaders of the people of the Holy Land schemed to put Jesus the Nazarene to death.
O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!
For I brought you out of the land of Egypt,
but you brought out a cross for your Savior.
I scourged the first-born of Egypt for your sake
yet you scourged me and handed me over.
O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!
I plunged Pharaoh into the Red Sea and plucked you out of Egypt’s hand
yet you handed me over to the high priests.
I parted the sea before you
yet you parted my side with a lance.
I led you as a pillar of cloud
yet you led me into Pilate’s palace.
I rained down manna for you in the desert
yet you rained down blows and lashes on me.
I gave you saving water from the rock to drink
yet for drink you gave me gall and vinegar.
O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!
I struck down for you the kings of the Canaanites
yet you struck the head of your King with a reed.
In your hands I placed a royal scepter:
yet upon my head you placed a crown of thorns.
I raised you up in great power:
yet you raised me up on a cross.
O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!
After the Stations come prayers and veneration of the Cross.
The person who wrote the Church’s prayers mentioned prayers for Catholics, then prayers for Orthodox and Protestant Christians, then prayers for the Jews. After the prayers for the Jews come prayers for the Moslems, the pagans, and the atheists. After the prayers for the atheists come prayers for public officials.
The liturgist realized most politicians are lower than those who deny God Almighty.
This is not a departure from Christ’s own words. In Matthew 21, He said to the leaders, “When John (the Baptist) came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him, but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not change your minds and believe him.”
John the Baptist lived a harsh life. He was the herald of Christ, and was a cousin of his. John’s mother Elizabeth was a kinswoman to Mary, and the teenager Mary helped the fiftyish Elizabeth out in the last months of her pregnancy with John. John wore camel hair (ar maybe camel skin with the hair on it), ate locusts and wild honey, and did not drink wine. Most of his disciples, on seeing Christ, left John. And then Herod in his drunken incestuous lechery, had John executed because his new wife hated John for calling her a whore and because he was drunk and sexually excited the wife’s daughter (and his niece) Salome put on the equivalent of a strip club act for him and other corrupt scumbags in his regime.
Christ didn’t forget John the Baptist. And Christ is always right. He said John the Baptist was the greatest of all people who had two earthly parents.
The only touch of kindness Jesus received on His way to Golgotha was commemorated in the Sixth Station, when Veronica got around the Roman soldiers whipping Christ to move Him forward, and took a cloth and wiped His face …. and the image of His tortured face remained on the cloth.
Jesus and Veronica — re-enacted in “Passion of the Christ”
Ironically, none of the Gospels carries this account. But it happened. The Jews and others who entered into the Christian community knew Veronica and her act of kindness is part of Tradition. Tradition means two things to the Church – beliefs not specifically listed in the Bible that have the backing of God, and the history of the Church as recorded and handed down generation to generation. It is not mandatory for your salvation that you believe the truth about Veronica, but it is part of the historical record.
Veronica, by the way, was the wife of another New Testament figure. Her man was Zacchaeus, the stubby little tax collector who climbed a tree so he could see Jesus. Luke 19 immortalized the corrupt little guy who went straight. Since he entertained Jesus and the Apostles at his home, this meant Veronica and her ladies worked like mad to make things right for the Savior and his men.
Tradition has it Veronica and Zacchaeus eventually left Israel and settled in Gaul (France). People who know the Latin and Greek languages enjoy the irony that VERONICA is a scrambling of the words VERA and ICON, meaning TRUE IMAGE.
In “How to be your Own Detective” nation, we look through multiple sources to figure out the truth. In the case of Veronica, Tradition gives us the answer the Bible didn’t.
Another character of the Passion of Christ was the Good Thief.
During World War Two, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, later the only televangelist to have a regular show on a major network, was almost alone of those without Polish blood in championing the cause of Poland against Hitler and Stalin. In his speeches he denounced Stalin and Communists almost as hard as he denounced Hitler and the Nazis. Sheen was right. The Nazi-Soviet Pact, which was an agreement to carve up Poland and take land from other Eastern European nations, allowed Hitler to start World War Two by invading Poland a few days later.
Left-wingers and Reds in FDR’s administration put pressure on the Catholic Bishop’s Conference, under whose auspices Sheen was doing a national radio show. Sheen could lose the radio show if wartime censors got too pushy.
In his book “Treasures in Clay,” then-Monsignor Sheen said he submitted his script for a show, which contained the line, “Poland was crucified between two thieves – the Nazis and the Soviets.” He said the Bishops’ Conference people got upset. So he replied, “How would it be if I was to call Russia the Good Thief?”
Another truth about the Gospels is that on the surface, the writers don’t agree about the Good Thief, whose name was Dismas.
What do the Gospels say?
Mark and Matthew say both convicts crucified with Christ mocked Him also.
Luke 23 says: “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And He said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’”
John, who was there, said nothing about the other two men executed with Our Lord.
Couldn’t the writers get their stories straight?
Again, as good detectives will tell you, don’t believe statements just because people give them. Eyewitnesses have their own biases and limitations. They usually don’t see or hear everything, or they hold back info. Police have this trouble sorting out the truth routinely because of problems many eyewitnesses have. Also, Mark, Luke, and Matthew were not present at the Crucifixion. They depended on the testimony of others.
All the Apostles and disciples except a few ditched Christ out of cowardice on Good Friday. Almost all of us today would do the same or much worse because we are weak. Good Friday is a testament to the weakness of all people for all time.
Only John, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, Mary the mother of Christ, Mary Magdalene, Veronica, and some other women toughed it out on Good Friday.
After Christ rose from the dead, He forgave all the other Apostles except maybe Judas. Judas, overwhelmed with guilt, flung the bounty money into the temple and killed himself in despair. Perhaps Judas was forgiven because he realized he had done something horribly wrong and was gravely sorry to the point of public confession, return of an ill-gotten reward, and self-abasement. He was probably not in his right mind, and succumbed to despair in taking his own life. Or maybe out of a wrongheaded sense of justice, he tried to pay with his own life for the sinless life he helped take. Only God knows the answer and has the power to forgive.
Peter, who publicly denied Christ, broke down and wept, but did not despair. He sought Christ’s forgiveness and was forgiven and healed.
So were the other cowards. After the Descent of the Holy Spirit, they mastered their fears and preached Christianity to Jews and pagans alike despite the consequences. Even death by execution is not as low for a real man as the knowledge he publicly committed an act of cowardice.
Christ forgave them, but they didn’t escape the trial of being threatened with death unless they disowned Him. Every Apostle except John died a martyr because they passed the courage test after Pentecost and affirmed the divinity of Christ when it would cost them their lives to do so. John already passed the test on Good Friday.
Saul, who persecuted Christians, also died as the Apostle Paul, a martyr.
Back to Dismas and who was right.
Let’s look at the record.
Mark aka John Mark was a young disciple of Christ, but not one of the Apostles. He reportedly carried water to the house for the Last Supper. He is also the young man who followed Jesus after the guards seized Him in the olive orchard named Gethsemane. The guards saw Mark and stripped him of his cloth, and he ran away naked. Mark 14 covers this humiliation … I have to believe a man who would testify to his own cowardice and shaming would try to write the truth.
Matthew was an Apostle, but he was one of the eleven who abandoned Jesus on Good Friday.
Luke wasn’t there either. He wasn’t an Apostle or disciple.
Most scholars say Luke was of Greek origin, and grew up either in today’s Syria or today’s coastal Turkey, both regions full of Greeks in the days of Christ. Some say he was a Hellenized Jew, those who lived like the Greeks, but kept their Jewish faith.
Luke was a doctor and a man of science. My Jewish friends say that is proof Luke was a Jew.
Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. He helped Paul extensively, and he was with Paul in Rome. He generally wrote about Paul in the third person, but occasionally he wrote “we” when he and Paul were among Greeks.
This has led many to suspect Luke was a Greek.
Let’s look at the motivations and styles of the men.
John was a mystic and a poetic soul. He was an accurate eyewitness, but one with a singular viewpoint.
John was the Apostle Christ was fondest of. But Peter was more of a leader, so Christ chose Peter to lead the Church on earth after His Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Christ did commend Mary His mother to the care of John, thus proving He was her only child and also proving John was the most loving of the Apostles.
And that was John’s unremitting message – Love one another as Christ has loved you. Even as an old man, John preached in that vein to the generations of Christians coming behind him.
John was the antithesis of Paul in his style. Paul was legalistic and theological, and is not an easy writer to read. On paper he sounds harsh, picky, and proud. But that’s on paper. Paul could not have won so many Gentiles to the Faith without being aflame in zeal, persuasive, and personable in person.
Mark wrote like a reporter used to, before reporters became leftist propagandists and liars. His gospel is short and to the point, almost like a wire copy story.
Matthew aka Levi was a Jew, although one who had strayed because he was a despised tax collector too. Jesus called Matthew away from his life of theft and fraud. Matthew’s point of view was that of an apologist to his people. He wanted to show the Jewish people how Christ was the Messiah using Jewish argument and scriptural references.
The detail about the thieves wasn’t important to Mark and Matthew. And perhaps they picked up second hand the prejudices of some of the onlookers who claimed both criminals mocked Jesus.
Or perhaps Dismas did start out skeptical but changed his tune as he saw the truth before his eyes that horrible afternoon. And Matthew and Mark left that out because the eyewitnesses didn’t stick around long enough to see Dismas’ rebuking of the other guy, his confession, and his pleading with Christ. Or maybe the eyewitnesses were scandalized Christ promised eternal life to a criminal and they didn’t know how to process it. So they left it out. Or maybe they didn’t get close enough to hear what was going on, and the mockery of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Romans was loud enough to confuse them.
Luke was a historian. He made sure to place the times of Roman rulers and puppets like Herod properly. He described people in great detail. He also realized history is a story. He focused on the charity and good works of Jesus, and on His interaction with the people.
Luke brings us the details of the birth of Christ and tells us how the lowly came to honor Him.
Luke the physician in Chapters 7 and 8 tells how Christ cured the Roman centurion’s servant, raised Jairus’ teen daughter from the dead, and oh, by the way, cured the woman with a dozen years of blood discharge who touched the hem of his garment. In those days, women were considered unclean when they were menstruating, so this woman had to put up with a dozen years of being a virtual outcast. And spending all her money on doctors who did her no good.
The details in each story – the Roman officer’s surprising humility: “I am not worthy to have you under my roof.” The woman’s “If I just touch the hem of His garment ….” And Christ throwing out the misled mourners, bringing the young teen girl back from the dead and telling the parents, “Give her something to eat.” These are details a physician with good bedside manner would comment on, and details that show the faith of theses people, and Christ’s down-to-earth way of performing the miraculous.
Luke 10 tells us the parable of the Good Samaritan, and how Christ wanted people to do good for others instead of just being holier than thou. As Christ said, “Go and do likewise.”
If you are a murderer, giving money to charity won’t earn you forgiveness of your sins. That’s simony. But reading your Bible and then acting like a pig (like Bill Clinton waving a five-pound KJV after his debaucheries) or an uncharitable cheapskate shows you don’t have honor or charity, so professed belief in Christ without doing like Him and helping those in need, or without acknowledging your sins and asking for forgiveness won’t gain you forgiveness of your sins either.
There was Luke’s account of Christ on the way to Golgotha with the women of Jerusalem who were mourning Him.
And Luke’s account of Christ and the Good Thief is one of the most uplifting details of the Gospels.
Luke just didn’t spit out facts and figures or point of view. He told the story of Christ’s work and he showed the character and the love of Jesus for His Father and for the people in Israel, Jews, Samaritans, and Romans alike … like a real historian would do. He let Christ’s message come out in His parables, His teachings, and most importantly, in His actions.
Luke’s gospel and the Book of Acts, which he also wrote, are supposedly the two most scrutinized books of the New Testament. And they have a very high degree of verifiability by historians and theologians.
I vote Luke’s account of Saint Dismas the Good Thief was the accurate one. He undoubtedly took the time to interview as many people as he could and figure out the truth from all the details people told him.
We at How to be Your Own Detective realize Luke, like other historians and witnesses, isn’t complete. That’s why we try to seek out as many ways to arrive at the truth as possible. All the gospels have truth, but putting them together gives the person more of the truth. Adding in Tradition and the other books of the Bible gives the person an even more complete picture of the truth.
I was fortunate to be related to and know a Vatican detective – Father John Baggarly, a Jesuit priest and World War Two veteran who was a cousin of Dad and my uncles. He examined ancient and medieval documents for authenticity and meaning.
Why was this important?
For example, if you read a newspaper with the headline “Lions Kill Saints,” you would conclude Detroit easily beat New Orleans in a football game. If you find that same sentence in a document from 200 or so AD, you would conclude something entirely different. Father John knew the expressions, idioms, and slang writers from the Roman and Medieval periods used.
These expressions in the Gospels and elsewhere in the Bibles – and the apparent contradictions that pop up from time to time – lead to unneeded fighting among Christians, and to abuse from nonbelievers who mock the Bible anyway.
Bear in mind the Jews wrote the Old Testament. They were evicted from the Holy Land, allowed to return, and conquered by several hostile states, and finally exiled from the Holy Land, not to return as an organized state of people until after World War Two. Likewise, unless Luke was not a Jew, all the books of the New Testament were written by Jews who became Christians. The early Gospels were not readily available in written form during the first three centuries of the years after the birth of Christ because the Church was under heavy persecution. It was a struggle to get written copies to the Christian communities during these trials. It was almost miraculous the Jews and early Christians were able to safeguard and preserve the Scriptures and other holy writings under that kind of pressure.
After Constantine became emperor of Rome and tolerated the Church and encouraged the bishops to resolve the differences that had cropped up because of the centuries of enforced non-cooperation, then the Church fathers were able to define the New Testament and Church teachings. They branded some works as false, and marked other writings and teachings as valid, but not includable in the Bible.
The Church again came under attack from Vikings, Moslems, and pagan hordes from central Asia. It was not easy to keep the documents safe during these times, but the Church fathers in Rome and in Constantinople managed. Then just as Russia became more stable for Christians, the Moslems conquered the Orthodox Christian center Constantinople. Fortunately the Church fathers had copied many records and had spirited out many others to prevent the Moslems from destroying them. Two years after Constantinople fell, in 1455, German Catholic Johannes Gutenberg – the inventor of movable type – printed the first book. It was the Bible.
Well before Martin Luther, printers printed the Bible in all the languages of Europe. Most of the printers were Catholics, and the rest were Orthodox. Protestantism wasn’t an option then.
Back to Father John.
Father John could read and translate ancient languages. By analyzing use of words and patterns of writing, he could tell forgeries from real documents. He also could figure out meaning and context of words in documents. He worked nine months of every year as a detective of documents.
The other three months of each year – the summer – Father John would come home to Chicago and assist at a Catholic parish in saying Mass, hearing confessions, and dispensing the other sacraments, visiting the sick, and counseling young people. He found it a joy to work with those who needed him at home. That’s when I met him, during one of his summer assignments.
Father John worked with Orthodox and Protestant scholars to verify writings or debunk them. He highly recommended the book “The Bible as History,” which German Lutheran Werner Keller wrote in the 1950s.
Keller, a scientist with legal training, used his post as an employee of Albert Speer during World War Two to save Jews from Hitler. He was implicated in a plot to kill Hitler and was condemned to hang in early 1945. However, the Nazis transferred him to another prison by SNAFU, and the Americans liberated the prison.
Keller used archaeology and other forensic evidence in his master work. Father John and those in the various Christian faiths who worked with him likewise viewed finding the truth as their calling, so the faithful would have accurate works, accurately translated, to guide them. They used their forensic skills to serve God.
One last thought: Abraham Lincoln, the deepest and most spiritual of the Presidents, was able to celebrate the surrender of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia to U.S. Grant and the Army of the Potomac, led by General George Meade. Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865, which that year was Palm Sunday on the Catholic and Protestant calendar. That following Thursday, Abe and Mary Lincoln went to Ford’s Theater to see “My American Cousin” to escape their sorrows and troubles for an evening. You know the rest. In the wee hours of the next morning, April 14, 1865, President Lincoln died from the gunshot wound John Wilkes Booth gave him.
Lincoln, like Christ, died a murder victim on Good Friday.
Evil never takes a day off. Sadly, your vigilance can never relax.
As St. Francis de Sales would say, “Pray as if it all depends upon God. Work as if it all depends upon you.”
Blessed Easter to my Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Protestant readers.
Happy Passover to my Jewish readers.
SHERLOCK JUSTICE
WE CAN SHOW YOU HOW TO BE YOUR OWN DETECTIVE.
