Sharing the Passion

   Yesterday coming home from kindergarten, my son says, “Dad you know what I like about you, you know a lot about History and a lot about Gods”.  One thing lead to another, and it seems clear to me he is talking about religion at school.  I’ve blogged about it on FB though try hard to not step on toes. It was/is easy to get into misunderstandings, even after over 30 years practice avoiding.  I didn’t intend to be an apostate, though after many years, much reading, pondering and soul searching I couldn’t square it with my Mind and Heart (let alone the Book).  As a teenager I started to see my friends were struggling as well, wondering why the world was so confusing, while it was clear that fun was near, our Adult mentors rarely spoke about Nightmares, Hormones or the Blues.  Bono wrote an introduction for a translation in English of the Psalms, of which King David is reported to have authored, and commissioned many.  The King of Ireland points out that David had his problems for sure, (Bathsheba and Manslaughter for instance) and yet when he danced Naked before the Elders of Israel, it was Kosher.  “David had the Blues”, says Bono.  So segwaying back to yesterday with my son, he starts in with God and Jesus stuff.  And I find myself having to say, “Actually Jesus did die, he got killed”.  “How?”  People did it.  We went inside, and I told him as best I could the Passion.  We examined the Painting of the Last Supper by Da Vinci for some of the story.  There are no crucifixes in my house, and I have tried to shelter my son from violence, though not enough.  He asked, “Even after all he did?”  I reminded him that Jesus taught we are All God’s Children.  “Remember you thought people might not of liked being reminded that?”  “I think we sort of both came up with that one, together”, he reminded me.

     So I talked about being taught, that Jesus knew things were going bad.  I reminded Emery that Jesus had made a whip and turned over the tables on the Business in the Temple.  He was surprised by that story, so we talked about money some.  “Emery said, “you don’t have to pay to go to church”.    I told him that Jesus told his Disciples (his friends who were part of his team) that some would betray him= spread lies about, and blame for things others did.  Jesus took the Rap(even tended the wounds of a soldier wounded arresting him, a true negotiator), to save his Friends who were all gonna go to jail and maybe worse.  He had some special bread in a dish, and he said the one who would betray him would eat it.  He later was kissed by Judas as a Signal to who Jesus was.  We checked out the bag (of $ ?) Judas holds at the Table in the painting.  I  told him the Governor Pontius Pilate ( I know slight change, he is 6) had a trial and said he didn’t see anything wrong with Jesus, though he didn’t defend him, and gave him to very angry people, who hurt him, whipped and beat him.  “Even after all he did?”  We talked about feeding people, healing sick people, sticking up for children, women and the weak.  He asked to hear the Story of the Loaves and Fishes, which I was taught was a sort of spontaneous Potluck, created through the Generous Example of Jesus sharing all the food they had, and people responded by sharing too.  That story is also dear to me for helping solve 10 years of pondering the meaning of the word Cruithin (People of Ireland and Britain); The Koine Greek (Krithi) of the Gospels cognates in my Mind with the Barley People.  That is another Story which I have written of in detail.  I guess I wanted to say the Passion is a rough Story to tell a child, even though Lenny Bruce warned me.  I see Jesus as someone who was working in Refugee Camps and built a Network of Community Organizers, healers, educators and Service Providers.  I told my son that some think Jesus came back from the dead.  Some say the Disciples found his Spirit still lived in their Hearts, and that people could learn from Jesus by being around his friends, and that he didn’t have to be there physically.  Their Teamwork couldn’t really die.  And we learn from these Stories.