random bits: SF story, gospel of Judas, family visit, Pesach, Hebrew

[cellio]

Dan Simmons recently published this story on his web site. It's part SF, part commentary on current events, part dystopia, but I enjoyed reading it. (I did see half of the ending revelation coming somewhat early; I don't know if that was intentional.)

I had not heard of the lost gospel of Judas until I saw the news stories a few days ago. I haven't seen the text itself, of course (only what's quoted in the news), but it sounds like it makes an argument that I made for years with teachers in the church I grew up in: if Jesus's execution and resurrection were required for redemption to happen, then wasn't it necessary for Judas to betray Jesus and for the Romans to kill him? Why get mad at either in that case? (It makes sense to get mad at the Romans for their cruelty, but that's different.) By the same logic, those who blame the Jews for killing Jesus miss this point. I'm pretty sure this was one of those questions that generated a note home from Sunday school.

My parents stopped by for a visit today. They brought a loaf of fresh, home-made bread. I'm so glad this visit didn't happen next weekend, during Pesach. :-) (It's a small-enough loaf that we'll finish it before Wednesday.) We haven't seen them in a little while, so it was nice to visit. They report that my neice, who is in Italy for the semester, is a little homesick, but she's also taking the time to explore the country so it doesn't sound all bad. She did ask a friend who was coming to visit to bring her some peanut butter. Who knew that you can't find peanut butter in Florence?

Pesach prep is mostly under control. I've cleared out most of the chametz that I'll be selling (except what we need for the next couple days), and tomorrow the cleaning fairy comes to scrub the kitchen, and then I can bring up the other dishes and stuff. I'm really fortunate to have a large-enough kitchen (not that it's large, but it's large enough) that I can stuff all the current dishes, pans, etc into certain cabinets and then just close them up for the week. Much easier than shlepping it all to the basement.

I have a transliterated haggadah published by Artscroll that I will never use. (I don't need the transliteration and I have other Artscroll haggadot for the core content.) If any of my friends could make use of this, let me know. It won't arrive in time for this year, but you'd have it for the future (maybe even second night this year, depending on the speed of the postal service). Note that as with all transliterations published by Artscroll, it's Ashkenazi pronunciation.

For the last several months, during torah study, my rabbi has been explaining more of the grammar in the Hebrew. (Mostly basic stuff, but more than he used to.) More recently, he's been prefixing some of these comments by addressing me. This week he asked "does anyone other than Monica know...?". We haven't actually had a Hebrew lesson together, but I guess I'm making progress that's visible to him. Nifty -- though I'm a little boggled that he might consider me the most knowledgable of the people in the group, as there are at least two who (I think) know way more than I do.

Comments

[akitrom.livejournal.com]

: if Jesus's execution and resurrection were required for redemption to happen, then wasn't it necessary for Judas to betray Jesus and for the Romans to kill him? Why get mad at either in that case?

My answer: The Lord can find grace in terrible things. "The stone which the builders have rejected has become the cornerstone." The Creator can find something useful in any aspect of His Creation, because we all manifest His will in our simple act of being.

That never excuses crimes or sins. If I hate my arrogant neighbor and plan to do her ill, that's wrong; it doesn't matter whether (a) I do her grave injury, (b) I never get a chance to harm her, or (c) my attempts to harm her end up breaking her of her haughtiness and turning her towards prayer.

Was Jesus' ceath by crucifixion necessary for our salvation? I would not dare to so limit the Divine. I believe His death was used to bring about our salvation, but I wouldn't dare to say that was the only possible means. (If so, the Devil, who tempted Jesus in the wilderness, would have been better off protecting Jesus against any life-threatening injury.)

[cellio]

I believe His death was used to bring about our salvation, but I wouldn't dare to say that was the only possible means.

But didn't Jesus talk a lot, before that meal, prophetically about his fate? Or are my fuzzy memories deceiving me? I always had the impression that it was part of the plan pretty much all along.