Miralces

It's Touhy, long time follower of the blog, first time poster...

Do you believe in miralces, and if so what is your definition of a miracle? Does a miracle have to be as spectacular as Jesus turning a few loaves of bread into thousands, or can it be something more simple, subtle?

PS- Clare would spend money to watch him walk on water-- or other things

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKZiFmYhBi4

chapter 15- "The temptation to Violence"

The Jews of Palestine were desperate for a leader, someone they could look up to, their hero- a Messiah. They were picturing a courageous king, who would shatter rulers and break them to pieces and destroy godless nations with the word of his mouth. This does not sound very much like the kind of "kingdom" jesus was aiming  for, but some people believe that Jesus really was the Messiah and others are convinced that he was not. In numerous gospels it is said that Jesus denied the position and was very resistant to all the temptations. Jesus thought of being the messiah as evil and he said "to have regarded it as a temptation of Satan which had to be rejected". There were two instances where it would seem Jesus was the most tempted to accept the Kingship of Israel, the first was with the thousands of men at the meeting and the second was the fight with peter. There many records that support the idea that there was a meeting with all the disciples and many more gatherers where the miracle happened of the loaves and fishes. All the people soon thought that he was worthy to be the Messiah and to be King. Jesus told all the people no and then told his disciples they had to get on a boat and leave, then Jesus secluded himself and had reflection and prayer. Then Jesus and Peter got in a huge argument and Jesus does not like the fact that Peter thinks he should just take over and become all-powerfull, he tells peter he is acting and thinking like the devil. In those two instances Jesus is tempted with the power and control that would come with being the Messiah, he knows that with that role comes greed and violence and ultimately failure for not only himself but his people as well. Wether or not Jesus wanted to take over he knew that he wanted  the Kingdom and becoming the Messiah was not the right thing to do. "The 'kingdom' of total liberation for all people cannot be established by violence. Faith alone can enable the 'kingdom' to come."

Hey Mr. Penna, its Clare again so i ust wanted to give you a heads up and tell you that it is me not Austin again, nothin against Austin i just want my points you know. 

-Clare Nelson-Johnson 

chapter 8- "The kingdom and Prestige"

In the time of Jesus' society the dominant value was prestige and the second most important value was money. In this chapter Jesus talks about how every person has their own class and place in society. How women have basically no rights and are only used for sex and being a mother, how beggers, prostitutes, and all the lower class are looked down upon and how important your place in society is. Jesus saw right through all of this and he called it the evil in the world and what he hoped for was a kingdom, a place where status and place meant nothing. Jesus explains how he criticized the scribes not because of ho they were but because of what they aimed for, which was ultimately status and prestige. He then goes on to talk about people similar to scribes, like how some people practiced religion, rich people, hypocrites. The disciples asked Jesus who was the greatest in the kingdom and Jesus simply put a child in front of them. He said "The child is a live parable of 'littleness', the opposite of greatness, status and prestige." He then talks about how he wants people in the kingdom to be more child like in ways, children in that society had no status and no sense of prestige and that is how he wanted the kingdom to be. He also talked about how to be a part of the kingdom you have to be willing to give up your place and your status and be willing to everybody's servant. Ok Mr.Penna, this is Clare by the way because i logged in and I think that it thinks I'm Austin but it's Clare so yea!

-Clare Nelson-Johnson