Notes for Chapter 5 of Death on a Friday Afternoon

The Fifth Word from the cross:

"I thirst."

1. "Reflections on this Fifth Word ..... traditionally refer to the Church's missionary impulse, an impulse driven by Jesus' thirsting for souls." (p. 145). Surely Jesus was literally thirsty as he endured the physical agony of the cross. Do you think this is all that he intended to convey by saying "I thirst" ----- or are Neuhaus and those to whom he refers in this quote accurate in thinking that he meant more (much more)? (Or is it to be taken with the previous cry of the "derelict" -- "My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?" -- cf. Psa. 63:1 = "You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.")

2. In a circular argument -- illustrated by Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity -- the author says "those who kneel at his cross share his thirst, which is both a thirst for him and for all for whom he thirsts." What does he mean in saying that in serving others ("Jesus in distressed disguise") we offer a drink and "our thirst is quenched. I thirst. I quench." (p. 146).

3. A significant paragraph (pp. 152-153) begins with this statement: "Along the way to the kingdom, to share in the cup is to share in his suffering." It ends with this statement: "The Church is sent to all the world, hyssop in hand." What does the author mean?

4. The Church believes that the gospel is "quite simply, 'the truth.' It is the true story about the world and everybody in the world. That is an insufferably arrogant assertion, unless it is true." ............. "The Church imposes nothing. She only proposes. But what she proposes she proposes as the truth." (p. 156). Is it arrogant to believe/assert that the gospel is exclusively true?

5. "The way of the Christian life is cruciform. Jesus did not suffer and die in order that we need not suffer and die, but in order that our suffering and death might be joined to his in redemptive victory." (p. 159). Without his drinking the dregs of his cup of suffering (Gethsemane and Golgotha), there could be no redemption for the world. What then does this mean to those who are his followers? What, if anything, does it say to you regarding the way the gospel is commonly presented and understood.

6. "It is not that Christ did not do enough, but that he invites us to participate with him in the salvation of the world." (p. 160). How so? Does this say anything about how we should pray? Does it say anything about the times when we pray to be relieved of suffering and are met with silence?

7. Neuhaus views the urgency of the Christian mission being to "alert the world to its story, which is the story of the amazing grace by which it is redeemed." (p. 160). That does make it urgent. But it's a different kind of urgency than that of the missions conference Neuhaus attended as a seven year old boy. What's the difference?

8. "The crucial point is that those who are saved without knowing the name of Jesus the Christ are nonetheless saved by Jesus the Christ." (p. 167). Respond to that assertion. Is it "the crucial point?" Is it true?

9. If it is assumed that those who've never heard the gospel are saved in their ignorance (It would seem people can't be held responsible for obeying that which they've not heard), Neuhaus yet argues that there is an urgency to our telling the gospel to the world? He makes his argument with the following statements: "Our very humanity is at stake in our bearing witness to the truth." (p. 168) "Possessing the truth and sharing the truth are not two things, but one." (p. 168) ".....the more we give the more we possess." (p. 169). "..... love is either shared or lost." (p. 172). "Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is ignorance. What others have a right to know they also have a need to know, if in fact it is the truth about their lives." (p. 172). "The driving motivation of evangvelism is the irrepressible desire to communicate what shall be on he basis of what already is, ......" (p. 176). Respond to these statements.

10. "The Greek word that speaks of Christ emptying himself is kenosis, and authentic missionary work, whether with the neighbor next door or in a distant and exotic culture ......., is always kenotic." What does he mean? Do you agree?

11. What does Neuhaus mean by the following statement? ".... the proclamation of God's love in Christ is the most important thing the Church does, because it is what she does uniquely."

12. Respond to the following statement: "Every Christian participtes in the mission of the Church, but, high-voltage mission festival rhetoric notwithstanding, not every Christian has the specific call to be a missionary." (p. 178). What specific call does every Christian have? (cf. the 4 sentences on p 180 which begin as follows: "The Christian life is about living ........") and the following statements on p. 182: "Christ thirsts for those who throw away their lives in the everydayness of duties discerned and duties done." "Through such lives his mission is advanced, often in ways that elude our sure perception."

13. According to Neuhaus, why does God send out missionaries? (p. 182). What do they find when they in their mission work "come upon the most forsaken" of people? (p. 183).