Bible Burns

I’ve recently been thinking that in the Bible there are actually many times where people get burned, figuratively speaking. Many of these occasions involve the Jewish people—those who’re angry at Jesus--confronting him but ending up with Jesus shutting their mouths with some answer.  I think it’s all pretty interesting because you get to see God’s knowledge and wisdom in action, resulting in adequate ‘burns’ for each particular occasion. Here are some examples:

                        There’s this moment when the Jewish authorities, who don’t want to believe in Jesus, ask him from whom did he get authority for his actions, and Jesus proposes them something (Mt 21, 23-27):

                        *Note: God had sent John the Baptist to “prepare the path of Christ” in advance, but not everyone believed in him.

                        In another example, Jesus tells an allegory that clearly referred to how the Jewish authorities were corrupt and refused to recognize the Son of God (Mt 21, 33-41). The message was so plain they realized who he was talking about. To top it off, Jesus mentions a foretelling passage from the Scriptures that directly refers to these guys’ conduct, one that they themselves knew well and couldn’t deny its meaning. That was a pretty big burn (Mt 21, 42-43).

                        Now for me, this example is the most epic, though it doesn’t involve a direct conversation with Jesus. He cures a blind man who is known to everybody in the place. When the Pharisees heard of it, they once again refused to believe such a miracle and began to inquire the former blind man and everyone around him again and again about the incident (Jn 9, 26-33).

                        Despite all of these burns and more, though, the Pharisees kept refusing to accept Jesus. I guess that if there’s anyone who can relate the most to the phrase “haters gonna hate”, it’s God.

Free Theme: Chickened Out

I’m a real chicken when it comes to horror movies or scary stories. I avoid them whenever possible, because then I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night, trying to push away all those scary thoughts or images. However, not so long ago I went to the movies and this trailer for a horror film came up between the commercials and FREAKED ME OUT.  It was supposedly based on a true event, in which a team of professionals studied a girl who was possessed by a demon. Technical advances in special effects nowadays allow filmmakers to produce images as scary as they want, even more for a trailer, so these super frightening sequences came up. But what made it all scarier was that I, being Catholic, believe--I KNOW--that sometimes demons possess people; I’ve heard of different cases from around the world, only they’re not as common as, say, street accidents or maybe those survival stories that are told in “I Shouldn’t Be Alive” episodes. SO I was all, “no, this is just cruel, how can you guys make a movie about this? Now no one’s gonna sleep”. I’ve always reasoned that as long as you’re close to God, you don’t have to fear facing such a situation. But this doesn’t stop the whole idea from being frightening and unsightly. I guess that it’s because of the logic behind it: beauty stems from what is good and harmonious, embodied in God, while foulness stems from the opposite, which is evil, embodied in demons, who oppose God. On the whole, I got real creeped out because it's a really dark concept. I felt that the filmmakers were exploring a raw source of evil.

            I suddenly remembered how in the Gospels, there are many occasions in which possessed people showed up. I've read the New Testament a couple of times already, and when I’d come to those parts, I’d say “Oh, look, another demon case. Yeah, that was normal in those times”, and keep on reading.  Since there are no details or specific descriptions in the writing, you don’t get to realize what’s really happening, unless you pause to think of it well, using your imagination.  Now I realize how creepy those events might have been. How could people LIVE, SLEEP in those times, when it was common to find demons haunting anybody? I don’t think one could get so easily accustomed to it, even if it were a usual happening.

            There’s this passage that I used to like a lot because I thought it was chilling and interesting, but now I won’t look at it the same way. The narrator introduces this possessed guy that spent his time screeching in a graveyard—this image is scary enough--and there was no way anyone could chain him or tie him up. One day Jesus shows up and the guy goes to him begging to be left alone. Jesus asks the demon its name, and it answers “Legion, because we’re a lot”. Okay. A whole bunch of demons inside a single human. I don’t know how I’d carry on having been possessed like that in the past. So, since Jesus was insisting on their leaving their host, they ask permission to possess a pig herd nearby, and Jesus’s like, yeah, yeah, now go! The demons then enter the herd, and the pigs go nuts! They go running like crazy until they commit suicide jumping off a cliff and drowning in the lake at the bottom! Man, that’s crazy! But it must’ve been a terrible sight because the herdsmen freak out and run to tell it to the village, and the entire village freaks out, too, and they go to Jesus and send him away (I didn't understand exactly why).

            All I can think now is that I should be grateful that extraordinary events like these aren't so common nowadays. By this time, the movie trailer’s effect on me has faded with the passing months, and I’m thankful for that, too. But when I chance upon such events in the Gospels again, I won’t forget the discovery I made.