Natalia Fiore’s Reviews > Jesus: A Pilgrimage – A New York Times Bestselling Meditation on Christ, Scripture, and Faith in the Holy Land > Status Update

“…In John’s Gospel, the foot washing is more about the mutual service of friendship, a mutual sharing of gifts that in no way implies any sort of domination. The message is not that the master has become the slave, but that all are on the same level. After Jesus has washed the disciples’ feet, he challenges them to do the same for each other and to see that all are equal friends in the kingdom…” (p. 348)

“Beside her brother’s tomb, she is blunt. Martha can be seen as a female counterpart to Peter: a strong, impetuous, outspoken friend of Jesus who believes even as she feels free to question. The memories of her retained in the Gospels are so vivid that she likely was a formidable figure in the early church. Martha’s fierce honesty also reminds us that Jesus included strong women among his circle of friends.”

Many of us live in fear of being seen as uncool, foolish, gullible, and consequently rejected. But why not be foolish for Christ? You could be foolish about humility and refuse to seek acclaim in a culture that prizes it. You could be foolish about your relationship to God and set aside time for prayer in a society that prizes nothing more than activity. You could do all this even though people disdain you. (p. 309)

“The paralytic lying by the pool might have been living in a passive and dull despair. He wanted to be healed, though he did not see how he ever could be since he had no one to help him. The first essential step toward receiving the power of Jesus is to have intense desire for it. If in our inmost hearts we are well content to stay as we are, there can be no change for us.” (Ch 16 “Bethesda,” p. 287)

“We also may feel that our efforts are inadequate. We try to help our family and friends, but nothing seems to work. We try to seek forgiveness, but others are still resentful. We try to love, but it doesn’t seem enough. But Jesus accepts what we give, blesses it, breaks it open, and magnifies it. Often in ways that we don’t see or cannot see. Or will not be able to see in this lifetime.” (Ch. 15, p. 269)

“For the readers of Mark’s Gospel — who were both Jewish and Gentile Christians — the tale of Jesus’s first interaction in pagan lands would have been an especially important lesson. And for the next generation of Christians, the story would have been used as a reminder of Jesus’s outreach to those in non-Jewish communities. His power has no boundaries. Neither does his love.” (Ch. 14, p. 246)

“Everyone faces stormy times when God’s presence is hard to perceive. One of the most common struggles in the spiritual life is a feeling of God’s absence during painful times. Even some of the saints report this. Why? Because when we are struggling, we tend to focus on the area of pain. It’s natural, but it makes it more difficult to see where God might be at work in other places, where God is not asleep.”

“Jesus’s use of parables parallels the gracious entrance of God into our human existence. Just as it was not beneath Jesus to approach his listeners in ways they could understand, so it was not beneath God to come in a way that we can understand — in Jesus. God says, ‘Do you want to know what I’m like? Let me be a story for you, the story of Jesus.’ In a sense, Jesus is the parable of God” (Ch 12 p 205)

“When we are doubting or struggling, we rely on others to carry us to God. Just as often we must do the carrying to help friends who are struggling. Even though we may disagree with others and find life in a community occasionally annoying, we all need others to help us find God. The community is one way that we are carried to God, especially when we are too weak to walk to God on our own.” (Chapter 11, p. 191)

“The Beatitudes aren’t just a promise of reward for those who suffer unjustly and a prediction of the turnabout of the status quo. They also paint a portrait of the person Jesus wants us to be. Jesus was inviting the multitudes, and us, to embody certain virtues now. In doing so we become the people he intends us to be, participate in his reign, and become his disciples. And so we are blessed.” (Ch. 10; p. 177)