The SEEK Podcast
Welcome to the SEEK Podcast – we're so glad you’re here. This podcast is a place of community, collaboration, and inspiration, created to invite and encourage you deeper into a relationship with Jesus. Join these podcasters and many others as we encounter Jesus at SEEK25, Jan 1st-5th. For more information and to register, visit seek.focus.org.
The SEEK Podcast
SEEK24 Keynote: Dr. Edward Sri - Saved By the Cross | The Cross, Cana, and Encountering Christ
Dr. Edward Sri shares his keynote from SEEK24 in St. Louis, Missouri on encountering Christ in the Cross.
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0:00 Life is Full of Surprises
3:21 Salvation History is Surprising
7:34 How Does Jesus’ Death Save?
9:19 Insights about the Cross
13:01 Remembering and Living out the Cross
15:08 What are Your Crosses?
18:25 The Wedding at Canna
20:17 Jesus’ Words
24:01 Give Your Life to God
Welcome to the Seek 24 podcast. I'm John Michael Lucido and I am so glad that you are here. This podcast is a place of community collaboration and inspiration, created to invite and encourage you deeper into relationship with Jesus. So here we go.
Speaker 2:Alright, life is full of surprises, and I got to share with you something this last year a big surprise in my life. I am so blessed. Each year I get to lead pilgrims to Rome and walk the streets of the saints and martyrs of Rome, and we have a tradition in the Sree family that when our children turn nine, they get to go with dad on the Rome pilgrimage. So this year it was Chiara, our nine-year-old daughter. It was her chance to go on the pilgrimage. Now, she had heard about this pilgrimage from her older siblings. She knew about the beautiful churches, the catacombs, she heard about Italian ice cream, gelato, and she knew all this stuff. But the thing she was most excited about was the great adventure of trying to get to the front row to get seats for the papal audience. Now, when you hear about a papal audience, an audience with a pope, that sounds really awesome, right, it sounds like maybe there'll be 10, 20, 30 other people there, but no, no, it's like 10, 20 or 30,000 other people that you're competing with, and so you have to have a strategy to navigate the crowds and try to get all the way up to the front. And so would this year be the year, because every year we've always made it to the front row. For 20 years, this pilgrimage has had a perfect record. Would the streak continue? Would Chiara get her chance?
Speaker 2:We got up early that morning and the whole group was there. We're waiting, getting ready, and then all of a sudden one of the lines opens up and our group was able to get through that first line. And then we're waiting for the next phase, and then the next line opens up and then we get through security and then our group is among the first people running into St Peter's Square and we got right up to the front row. We conquered and we said our Lady of Victory, thank you. I want to show you a photo here. This is Chiara and I, early in that morning when we were with the group and we were getting ready. We can throw that up on the screen. So there we are. And then the next photo this is us with some of the focus missionaries, and the next photo they can put up there. That's us there as we were celebrating our victory.
Speaker 2:I'm sharing this story with you, not about this, because this happens every year. It's about what happened next. We were there and all of a sudden one of the Italian guards came up to me and he said Le par l'italiano? And I said si par l'italiano, yes, I speak Italian. And he proceeded to ask me if my daughter Chiara, if she wanted to go back behind St Peter's to meet the Pope before the event began. So I asked her and she said yes. So she went off with the guard, her and a couple of other kids went back behind St Peter's to have a conversation with the Pope. I don't know what a nine year old talks about with the Pope, but that was really cool. And then we're waiting 10 minutes to go by, 15, 20 minutes and then all of a sudden the Pope mobile comes out and the whole event started and it turns the corner and it's coming down the front row and we see, in the back of the Pope mobile is my daughter Chiara. She got a magical ride in the Pope mobile. Let's put that on the screen too here.
Speaker 2:Life is full of surprises, but we've been blessed this week to have a chance to reflect on what I think is the greatest surprise in the history of the world. It's that story of salvation, that gospel message we've been walking through Is there. And just summarize that first point we looked at on Monday, that were made for relationship, that God chose to create us. That's just a marvelous thing to ponder that I didn't have to exist, I don't have to be here, and yet our God, who's infinitely glorious in and of himself and needs absolutely nothing, he nevertheless freely chose to bring us into existence so that he could share his life and his love with us. That's amazing.
Speaker 2:But then last night we also heard about the great rebellion. We heard about the day star. The shining one, the most brilliant of all of God's creation, chose to declare his independence against his creator, and he seduced us to join in on that rebellion. And, as a result, we find ourselves now slaves to this malicious spirit who hates us, that wants us to be a slave to our passions and forever be under the reign of death and eternally separated from the Father's love. That's what we learned from our good Friday priest, monsignor Shea.
Speaker 2:Tonight we get to start to turn our gaze toward the joy that will come on Easter Sunday, and tonight we're going to look at the next phase and what happens, how God didn't leave us alone, he didn't abandon us. It would be perfectly just if we rebelled against him and for him to say oh well, that's what you did, but that's not what God did. God chose to come and reconcile us to himself. He chose to rescue us, but he did so in the most surprising way, in the most unexpected way. He didn't come with great power and might. He didn't come like a superhero to come save the day. He didn't come to arm wrestle the devil and to show the enemy I'm stronger than you. No, that's not what he did. He came as a child, a baby. If you were there in Bethlehem, you probably look at this child and say you look like every other child that had been born. There's nothing, no big glow, no sense of the divine. It was just a child. And yet, when this child grew up and was 33 years old and he made his final journey to Jerusalem, the enemy knew something was up. He could tell, as the crowds were welcoming him, singing Hosanna to the son of David, proclaiming him as king, and he wanted to put this man to his death. And so what did he do? He stirred up the Sadducees and the Pharisees, two Jewish groups that normally don't work together. He got them to work together to conspire to bring Jesus to his end.
Speaker 2:The Bible tells us that the devil entered into Judas, one of Jesus' own disciples, and got this disciple to betray Jesus. And the Scriptures reveal that the devil sifted all the other apostles like wheat, as all but one abandoned Jesus on good Friday. This is what happened. Jesus, the one who came to rescue us, the one who came to free us from the enemy, finds himself captured. He finds himself condemned. He finds himself humiliated, beaten, scourged and suffering the most torturous kind of death known in the ancient Roman world the death of crucifixion. My friends, this does not sound like a successful rescue mission. This sounds like a failed rescue mission.
Speaker 2:How does Jesus' death on the cross, free us from the power of the enemy? I'm gonna turn to one biblical passage for that answer. It comes in Paul's letter to the Philippians, chapter two. He says this and he emptied himself and became one of us. It was the devil we heard last night that's grasping from more, and he got us to grasp beyond our reach. But Jesus, the Son of God, he became man, became one of us. And then Paul goes on in this letter and he says and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross, even died for us, and therefore, god has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that the name of Jesus, every name, is bowed in heaven and on earth and under the earth. By entering into the depths of our humanity, into the depths of our suffering, and even entering into the depths of death itself, jesus was able to offer himself, in a way, as a gift of love on our behalf to free us.
Speaker 2:Now, what I wanna do right now is just, really briefly, I wanna share with you just a couple basic insights from the Catholic tradition about the cross, and what I'm gonna share with you is pretty basic, but it's foundational. This is what we share with our missionaries over and over again and the training we do in focus. But it's so important, even though it's basic. It's so important because so many Catholics do not understand the cross. So many Catholics might say, oh, jesus died for my sins. And if you ask, well, how, how does that solve the problem? How does that free us from the enemy? How does it restore us to the Father? Most would not be able to answer that question. I want you to leave here being able to answer that question. So, really quick, walk with me here. So we saw last night again, we joined the enemy's rebellion and so we have a broken relationship with our God and in any relationship that's broken you need to repair it. It needs to be restored.
Speaker 2:Think about a human relationship, like in my marriage. If I do something and I hurt my wife, I say I'm sorry, I say please forgive me. I wanna make amends. Or maybe I put my hand on her hand and said oh, I'm sorry. I put my arm around her. I shouldn't have said it that way, honey. I wanna express an act of love to make up for my lack of love. If it's really serious, maybe I go out and buy her flowers or her favorite chocolate. Again, I wanna perform an act of love to make up for my lack of love. But here's the problem when we sin against the infinitely good and holy God, we can't just buy flowers or a chocolate, because we incur an infinite debt of love.
Speaker 2:Many of the great saints have explained we have to offer an infinite gift of love when we sin against the infinite God. But no human being can perform an infinite act of love because we're finite human beings. Only God can perform an infinite act of love, which is why God became man in Jesus. You see, jesus is fully human and fully divine. As fully human, he can represent us, he can perform an act of love on our behalf. But because he's fully divine, his act of love takes on infinite value. If I wanted to try to save the world, then I just said okay, I'll go and get crucified. That would do absolutely nothing.
Speaker 2:But because of who Jesus is, some of the saints are quoted as saying just one drop of Christ's blood is enough to cover all the sins of all humanity, because he's offering an infinite gift. That's why the Catechism says it is love to the end that gives the cross its redemptive value. I like how St Catherine of Sienna beautifully put it. She said the nails could not have held Jesus to the cross if love had not held him there first. Love is at the center of the cross and that's why we want to have the cross always on our mind, always on our lips, always on our heart. That's why at Good Friday, in the Liturgy, they hold up the cross. They unveil it and they hold it up and they say behold the wood of the cross on which hung the salvation of the world, to remind us this is what Jesus did for us. When we look at the cross and we see a suffering, we see this is how horrible our sins are, that this is what Jesus had to do to save us. But we don't see just that. We see the beauty of his amazing love, that he would chose to go and rescue us in this way. But we also see what he calls us to. And so I want to give you just a few practical reflections here on how we can remember the cross and live out the cross.
Speaker 2:I want to think about Simon of Cyrene. Do you remember Simon of Cyrene, the fifth station of the cross? I remember as a kid going to Catholic schools, we had stations across in length that beat those little booklets and they'd say things like oh, simon, he was a model of Christian service. He helped Jesus carry the cross. We should help other people with their burdens and have compassion. And I remember as a little sixth grader thinking that doesn't make any sense. I remember thinking it's not like he volunteered that day. Oh, he was forced to do it. It's not like he woke up on that Friday morning and said, oh, it's Friday, prison ministry day. Okay, I got to go find a prisoner, you know, to go help. No, jesus didn't do this out of compassion, he did it out of compulsion. Why does he get Christian service of the year award?
Speaker 2:Well, luke's gospel gives us one little detail that serves as a window into Simon's soul and what was really happening that day. Just one little detail, just one little word, because in the Bible every word is there for a reason, and it tells us that when Simon carried the cross, he carried the cross behind Jesus. That was really important for Luke, luke's gospel. Luke wanted to emphasize Simon didn't carry the cross in front of Jesus, he didn't carry it to the left of Jesus, he didn't carry it to the right of Jesus, no, he carried it behind Jesus. Why do we need to know that? Because in Luke's gospel, what does Jesus say? If you want to be in my disciple, you must do what? Pick up your cross and follow me. What's Simon of Cyrene doing? Picking up the cross and following Jesus. What is Luke subtly showing us? That Simon of Cyrene was a disciple. What Luke is subtly showing us is what many of the early Christians knew, is that Simon of Cyrene had a conversion through this encounter with this unexpected cross.
Speaker 2:And my question for you tonight is you go to adoration? I want you to. As you're praying, I want you to think about what are the crosses you're carrying in your life right now. What do you do when unexpected crosses come your way? When there's a friendship that goes sour, there's a dating relationship and it breaks up? You don't get the grade, you don't get the position on the team, you don't get the job you were hoping for For those in the adult world. Your car breaks down, your kid breaks down, one of your friends lets you down, your spouse hurts you. What do you do in those moments?
Speaker 2:The message of the cross reminds us that, while there's always going to be suffering in this world, I think sometimes as Christians we could think that we can avoid all suffering. You know that if I just am faithful and I say my prayers and I go to the liturgy and I'm a good Catholic, that I won't have many troubles in life. We are all going to face the cross. The question is will we allow those crosses to change us, to transform us in the way God wants us to? Because on every cross there's like a spiritual gem that God wants to give us to help us to grow and be transformed. St Paul reflects this idea in Romans 8.28 when he says in all things God works for good and those who love him. Do you really believe that In all things, no matter what's happening out here in your life right now or what you fear might happen in the future, do you really believe in all things, god works for good and those who love him?
Speaker 2:Maybe God allowed me to make a failure. I made a big mistake, I failed at something and I hate that because I'm vain and I'm always worried about what other people think. Now I'm wondering oh, that's embarrassing. What are they going to think of me now? Maybe God allowed me to experience that failure so I could grow in humility and not be so worried about what other people think. That's good for me. God could use that for my good.
Speaker 2:Or maybe I struggle with perfectionism. I like to have everything perfect and everything responsible and I'm all ordered and almost when I drop the ball here and, oh, I feel really bad about myself. Maybe God allowed that to happen so that I learned to find my identity not in my perfectionism but in the Father's love, which cannot be earned, which is not based on my performance, but can only be received. Maybe God allows me to experience suffering so I can have more compassion on others who's suffering. Maybe I'm going through a period of darkness I don't know what's happening in my life because God's wanting me to trust Him more and to walk by faith and not by sight.
Speaker 2:No matter what's happening out here, god can always use it for good in here. So whatever cross you're facing in life, whatever burden maybe you're carrying into this conference this week, don't ever waste those crosses. Know there's a spiritual gem waiting for you, that in all things God can use it for good. So this evening, take that to Jesus. Ask the Lord about that cross in your life right now, or that fear in your life right now. Ask the Lord right here before the blessed sacrament. Lord, what are you trying to teach me? What is it you're trying to show me about myself? How is it you're inviting me to grow? Because in all things God will work for good and those who love Him.
Speaker 2:In closing, I want to turn to one last scene. You all want to go to a party. Let's go to a party. We're going to go to the wedding at Cana. Let's go to the wedding at Cana. You know the story they're right out of wine and Mary's the first person to notice. She goes to the one person who can make a difference, and that's Jesus, and she says to him they have no wine. And then Jesus says these strange cryptic words woman, what is this to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.
Speaker 2:Have you ever wondered about those words? They seem kind of harsh, don't they? I mean, in our context today, you know, I would think of it as, like in the modern American teenager, kind of like being a little rebellious here. Like, imagine some mom says hey, johnny, it's dinner time, come down and help set the table. And then imagine Johnny coming down and saying hey, woman, what's this to you and to me? I mean, my hour has not yet come. I've got 30 minutes on my Xbox. Mom, if I talk that way to my Italian mom, I'm in trouble. You don't have to be a Bible scholar to realize whatever these words mean. They're nothing negative.
Speaker 2:How does Mary interpret the words? Positively or negatively? Did she say to Jesus now don't you talk that way to me? Or did she start breaking down? Oh, don't embarrass me in public. No, what does she do? She says she gets the servants do whatever he tells you. She interprets these positively. How does Jesus interpret his own words? Does he say hey, wait, mary mom, don't go get those servants. I never said I was going to do anything. No, he performs the miracle.
Speaker 2:He ends up making so much wine. If you look at what the biblical quantities are, it's about 120 gallons of wine. If that's no, I can't wait to see what yes would look like. But if you look at what Jesus' words are really about, it reveals something beautiful about the cross. You see, first of all, he calls his mother woman, and there's no evidence of any Jew in Jewish literature calling his own mother woman. They call her people mama, but never your own mom. You don't have this in ancient Greek, ancient Roman texts. This is the only instance.
Speaker 2:So Jesus has some woman in mind when he calls Mary woman, and that's the first woman of the Bible, eve. She's called the woman and there's a great prophecy the one day she'll have a son who will go and crush the head of the serpent to defeat the enemy. And Jesus is referring to his mother as that woman. And then he says my hour is not yet come. The hour in John's gospels, the hour of the cross, the hour of the passion in John 12. He enters Jerusalem for the last few days of his life and he says the hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. When the Son of man is lifted up from the earth, he'll gather all men to himself and the ruler of this world will be cast down. Who's the ruler of this world? Google, the enemy, the devil, and so the hour and the woman.
Speaker 2:The theme goes together. It's about the defeat of the devil, but what's most important for us is the mysterious words in between. It's in Greek, it's Tiamoi Kaisui. It means what is this to you and to me? It describes two people looking at the same thing, but from a different perspective. Mary's coming and saying they have no wine, and Jesus comes back and says what is this wine to you and what is it to me? For you, it means one thing you want me to provide beverage for the feast. But for me, I see something much more in here.
Speaker 2:Now, the key background to this is to know that when Jesus was just a 40 day old baby, he was brought to the temple in the scene known as the presentation, and the prophet Simeon foretold that one day, one day, this child, he said to Mary one day your child will grow up, be hated, opposed and killed and a sword will pierce your soul also. And for 30 years Mary has had to live with the burden of that prophecy, knowing one day her child will grow up and begin his public ministry and it will be the beginning of the end. And here at Cana she goes to Jesus and says they have no wine. And then Jesus comes back and says what is this to you and to me? To you it's about more beverage for the feast. For me it's so much more, because if I perform this miracle, it's my first public miracle. People are gonna start believing in me. It'll be the beginning of my public ministry.
Speaker 2:Are you sure that's what you want, mom? Because if I perform this miracle and change the water into wine, then you're no longer mom. You're not just mom, you are woman. You're the woman of Genesis 315. And I'm the son embarking on my mission to crush the head of the serpent. And if I perform this miracle, mom, and change the water into the wine, my hour's not yet come, but the clock starts ticking on my life. If I perform this miracle, it will be the beginning of the end.
Speaker 2:Are you sure that's what you want. Mom? Have you ever thought of Mary's choice at that moment? If that were me, I'd be like we don't need wine, that's fine Lemonade, we'll serve lemonade. Yeah, because I'd want to hold him for myself. I want to keep Jesus for me, but that's not what Mary does. Mary doesn't skip a beat. With full knowledge of what this means, she commissions Jesus to begin his public ministry and immediately tells the servants do whatever he tells you. She presses the button and can never turn back, and she's letting go of her son at that moment.
Speaker 2:My friends, tonight, as we go to adoration, I want you to think about the various things in your life and I want us to be inspired by Mary, who gave everything as willing to follow Jesus all the way to the cross, she gave everything. She even gave up her son there at Cana and then fulfilled on Calvary three years later. As you go to adoration, I want you to think about your life as, like these different books I have in my hand, think of these as different parts of your life, and maybe there's some parts of life you've already given to Jesus. You take some time. You give him a little bit of you came to this conference and you do Catholic things, but maybe you're sensing God is inviting you to pray more consistently, not just when it's convenient, when it fits your schedule, but you need to make a commitment to pray every day. And you've known this for a while.
Speaker 2:And today Jesus is asking you to put this on the table for him and give him your commitment to have the virtue of prayer, consistent prayer. And that's hard for you, but you're like okay, lord, I wanna do that. But maybe there's other parts of your life saying okay, but I don't have to change anything over here, but maybe there's something you're doing. There's something you're doing and deep down you know you shouldn't be doing it. You know what's not right and you keep rationalizing and making excuses. Maybe God's inviting you to give him that part of your life as well.
Speaker 2:And now we go, okay, good, all right, oh, you want this too. Lord. See, jesus doesn't want us to give him just parts of our lives. He wants us to give him everything. Not that he takes it away, but he wants us to put it all in his hands, because God's hands are trustworthy. Jesus' hands are trustworthy. When I'm clinging to my life and my plan, I will never be happy. Let's be like Mary and give Jesus everything, and tonight let's be inspired by her words to do whatever he tells you and whatever cross that he may be calling us to. God bless you all.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for listening, friends. For more content from this podcast, please click the link in the episode description.
