Fifth Sunday of Lent (Cycle A)

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The Raising of Lazarus Lectionary:  34 Reading 1 -  Ezekiel 37:12-14 Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 130:1-8 Reading 2 -  Romans 8:8-11 Verse - John 11:25a, 26 Gospel -  John 11:1-45 Lazarus, come out! LESSON: The Power of God Through Those Who Believe We’re a week away from the start of Holy Week. Our Lord now has his sights set on Jerusalem, and the pace is quickening. In these next two weeks, we’re living just one part of the Gospel passage from today: an encounter with the reality of suffering and death. Jesus is asking us to have faith in him. In today’s First Reading the prophet Ezekiel reminds us of the Lord’s promise to not only to bring us back to life but to bring us home. The background of this passage is the famous "Valley of Dry Bones." The people of Israel were in exile in Babylon. They weren't just sad; they were spiritually and nationally "dead." Their common saying was: "Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off." They d...
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Review: Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End

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Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End by Bart D. Ehrman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Apocalypse of John (Revelation) is often interpreted as the herald of Armageddon and the second coming of the Christ. As such, it’s extensive symbolism has been plumbed and twisted into prophetic visions that The End is Coming and the Final Judgement is at hand … again. If only we could all agree on exactly what John is talking about, maybe we can get it right this time. So when I found a book by noted New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman that attempts to explain it all, I was very intrigued … and I was not disappointed. Ehrman was concise and clear in his well organized and very accessible study of the Book of Revelation. I should probably confess at this point that I am an avowed a-millennialist so Ehrman’s scholastic refutation of millennialism was pretty easy for me to accept.

What was new for me … and it probably should not have been … was the now obvious dichotomy between the Jesus of the Gospel and the Christ of the Final Judgement that was a lot starker than I was expecting. More over, I did not connect real-life consequences of a perpetual belief that the end was coming or even the psychological impact of the extremely materialistic and violent imagery in John’s vision. Thankfully Ehrman does an excellent job arguing that John was projecting many of his own hopes and dreams of his eternal reward for the great suffering he and his community endured at the hands of a very brutal Roman Empire when the “wrathful Lamb of the Apocalypse” sweeps it all away. I believe that I now have a much better understanding of this difficult scripture and as well as how to read it in the light of the Gospel.

1. The End is Near
2. The Most Mystifying Book of the Bible
3. A History of False Predictions
4. Real-Life Consequences of the Imminent Apocalypse
5. How to Read the Books of Revelation
6. The Lamb Becomes a Lion: Violence in the Book of Revelation
7. The Ideology of Dominance: Wealth and Power in Revelation
8. The Apocalypse of John and the Gospel of Jesus

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#Armageddon #NetGalley.

View all my reviews

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