Episode Transcript  

One

The Best of the Jews 

Today is Good Friday, the day Jesus died to save us. But have you ever wondered why God waited so long to send the Savior?

After the fall of Adam and Eve, twenty generations go by with humanity hell bent on self-destruction, marked by pride, hatred, and bloodshed, resulting in a catastrophic flood and the division of the world into isolated nations that can’t even talk to one another. Then God called Abraham, who had a son, Isaac. Isaac and Rebekah had Jacob. Jacob then had twelve sons through four different women. Not a good idea. Ten of those sons conspired to kill their younger brother, Joseph, which ended with Joseph in Egypt as a slave. Genesis ends with all Twelve Tribes enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years. But we are all enslaved to self-destructive tendencies, and we won’t admit it.

Through Moses, God set Israel free. Joshua takes them into the Promised Land, and through the Book of Judges, they win and build the Promised Land. In 1000 BC, God promised to give David an Everlasting Kingdom. But Solomon, his son, the most intelligent man who ever lived, was addicted to Power, Greed, and Lust: seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. And Solomon burned his own sons to the demon Molech. And so, begins the self-destruction of Israel. 

His son, Rehoboam, causes a civil war in Israel. A house divided cannot stand. In 722 BC the ten northern tribes of Israel were conquered by the Assyrians and lost forever and the place where they lived became known as Samaria. In 586 BC the two southern tribes conquered and exiled by the Babylonians (modern day Iraq). The Jewish temple was destroyed, the Ark of the Covenant lost forever. And the Kingdom of Israel ends. 

Two

Seventy years later (515 BC), the remaining two tribes of Jews returned from Exile and they rebuilt the Temple 

In 167 BC, a Syrian madman named Antiochus Epiphanes conquered Israel and outlawed the Jewish religion. In 164 BC, the Jewish family of the Maccabees led a guerrilla war to fight for their religious freedom, and they defeated the Syrians and started the Hasmonean Dynasty. They ruled what was left of Israel. But they eventually turned on one another through a lust for power by plotting, intrigues, murder, and assassinations. Finally, in 67 BC, the death of the last Queen of the Hasmoneans, Alexandra Salome, plunged Judea into a civil war between her two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, vying for power.

Things were so out of control in Jerusalem that Rome intervened in 63 BC. The Roman General Pompey entered Jerusalem and the Temple and the Holy of Holies, and what did he find? NOTHING! It was empty, just like they were empty!

That is how the Old Testament ends, not with the Chosen People saving themselves and building a glorious kingdom, but with the Jews killing each other in a bloody civil war. Now the Kingdom is Lost. The Ark of the Covenant is lost. And the Temple is Empty. They’ve ruined it all. They’ve hit rock bottom.

Three

Maybe the Gentiles fared better?

Rome stood as the pinnacle of human achievement, the most civilized and virtuous of the Gentile kingdoms. Yet beneath its gleaming marble and disciplined legions, chaos festered. Rome was at war, always at war. From without, it battled the Greeks, Parthians, and Carthage. From within, its own leaders tore it apart, consumed by relentless ambition. The Republic, once a beacon of law and order, became a stage for endless civil wars waged by generals hungry for power.

Pompey, fresh from his conquest of Jerusalem, turned his armies on Julius Caesar, his former ally. The two clashed in a brutal struggle, leaving Rome fractured. Victory was Caesar’s, but his triumph was short-lived. On the Ides of March, 44 BC, the blade of betrayal struck him down. His death unleashed another storm of ambition, as Mark Antony, Caesar’s trusted general, and Octavian, his named heir, plunged the Republic into yet another bloody war. For over a decade, Rome bled as Antony and Octavian tore through its armies, each seeking total domination. Mark Antony’s love for Cleopatra entangled him in Egypt’s intrigue. Trapped and defeated, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide, leaving Octavian the last man standing. In 30 BC, he took the name Caesar Augustus, the first emperor of Rome.

But Augustus did not bring peace. The world was not healed; it was simply too tired to keep fighting. Exhaustion, not salvation, silenced the swords. Beneath this fragile calm lay a world rotted by lust for power, wealth, and pleasure. Humanity, Jew and Gentile alike, had plunged into a pit of intrigue, deceit, seduction, assassination, adultery, and greed. It was as if all of creation had hit rock bottom, unable to lift itself from its addiction to sin and self-destruction.

Four

Why Christ Waited So Long to Come

Why did God wait so long to save the human race? The answer is found in Jesus’ words, that those who are well have no need of a physician and that He came not to call the righteous but sinners.

Why did God wait so long? Because the world needed to learn by experience that it was powerless to save itself. Only then would we be open and ready for the Savior of the world. The human race had to be given enough time to realize that its best was not enough, that even when it reached its most impressive levels of virtue, it couldn’t sustain it. We can’t save ourselves. We need a Savior.

Do you know that your best is not enough? Christ did not come for the righteous, He came for sinners. He came for the people who have tried their best, and their best has failed. If that’s you, and only if that’s you, Good Friday is really good! Because only those whose best has failed are ready to be saved. 

Five

Jesus instructed St. Faustina to begin a Novena to His Mercy on Good Friday. He said to her, “I desire that during these nine days you bring souls to the fountain of My mercy, that they may draw therefrom strength and refreshment and whatever grace they need in the hardships of life, and especially at the hour of death. On each day you will bring to My Heart a different group of souls, and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy, and I will bring all these souls into the house of My Father.  You will do this in this life and in the next.  I will deny nothing to any soul whom you will bring to the fount of My mercy.  On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My bitter Passion, for graces for these souls.”

Faustina answered, “Jesus, I do not know how to make this novena or which souls to bring first into Your Most Compassionate heart.”

Jesus replied that He would tell me which souls to bring each day into His Heart.

Novena Day One

“Today, bring to Me all mankind, especially all sinners, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy.  In this way, you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me.”

Most Merciful Jesus, whose very nature it is to have compassion on us and to forgive us, do not look upon our sins but upon our trust which (58) we place in Your infinite goodness.  Receive us all into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart, and never let us escape from it.  We beg this of You by Your love which unites You to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Oh omnipotence of Divine Mercy, Salvation of sinful people, You are a sea of mercy and compassion; You aid those who entreat You with humility. 

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon all mankind and especially upon poor sinners, all enfolded in the Most Compassionate heart of Jesus.  For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, show us Your mercy, that we may praise the omnipotence of Your mercy forever and ever.  Amen.

Suggested Resolutions:

Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you.

• It’s easy to get caught up in our own effort, but remind yourself that you can’t save yourself by setting everything aside for ten minutes every day and just being present to God.

• As we begin this nine-day novena leading up to Divine Mercy Sunday, put an image of Divine Mercy in a prominent place in your home and end each night with a Divine Mercy Chaplet.

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