And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man? (John 12:32–34)
" + "In 1983, Colleen McCullough's international bestseller, The Thorn Birds, was made into an Emmy award–winning miniseries, starring Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, and Barbara Stanwyck. The Thorn Birds is an epic saga of hopes, fears, struggle, ambition, death and forbidden love in the Australian outback. The miniseries, like the novel, weaves the story of the unattainable, forbidden, and enduring love, spanning nearly four decades, between a Roman Catholic priest (Catholic priests take a vow of celibacy), Ralph de Bricassart, and Meggie Cleary.
" + "Ralph de Bricassart first meets Meggie when she is a young girl. Largely ignored by her parents and siblings (except her older brother Frank), Meggie finds refuge in Father de Bricassart's company. When circumstance and family drama drives Frank away from home, Ralph tells Meggie the story of the thorn bird to help her cope with the loss of Frank. Ralph told Meggie:
" + ""... for each of us there comes a time, when he must search for the thing he thinks he needs no matter what it costs ... There's a story, a legend, about a bird that sings just once in its life. From the moment it leaves its nest, it searches for a thorn tree. And, it never rests until it has found one, and then it sings, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. And, singing, it impales itself on the longest, sharpest thorn. But, as it dies, it rises above its own agony to out–sing the lark and the nightingale. The thorn bird pays its life for just one song, but the whole world stills to listen. And, God in His heaven smiles ... The best is bought only at the cost of great pain."
" + "For de Bricassart, who eventually becomes a cardinal in the Catholic Church, the love that blossoms between him and Meggie is the thorn on which he impales himself. He and Meggie share one weekend together, a weekend, which produces a son, Dane. Yet, Meggie conceals Dane's paternity from both father and son. In spite of this, Dane follows in his father's footsteps and becomes a Catholic priest as well. Yet, de Bricassart's inability to choose between God and the world is what ultimately kills him. His straddling the fence, that is, living a life half devoted to God and half given to Meggie, prevents him from being truly faithful to either God or Meggie. Ralph de Bricassart's idolatry and hyprocrisy cause him more pain than simply choosing to put God first and live his life accordingly.
" + "We, who know how the Christian Story ends, still struggle to find solace in the truth that Jesus' being lifted up from the earth not only signifies his agonizing, sorrowful crucifixion, but also his glorious exaltation. We struggle to find solace in Jesus' words: "No man taketh . . . [my life] from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father" (John 10:18). This same Jesus says that in order to serve him, we must follow him. This is the condition by which we share in his resurrection. So, it seems that we must be "born again" to die (John 3:3, 7). This is the thorn (not to be confused with Paul's thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12:7), which we, who are Christian, must seek. But, our thorn is life, not death.
" + "We, like the crowd listening to Jesus, question Jesus' call to follow him into death: 'Doesn't Christ abide forever?' For many of us, Jesus is only the Savior, who gives us an escape from death. He is not the Lord of life and death, who beckons us to follow him to Calvary. We struggle to see God's glory in denying self, mortifying our members, or tribulation. We struggle to see any glory in putting God first and rejecting the temptation to idolize ourselves, our husbands or wives, other family members, friends, organizations, ideals, etc. For some of us, God's way is not enough. Like de Bricassart, we want more. We still struggle with the belief that God's way is the way of the weak. Unfortunately, many of us still fear that God's way means losing, submitting ourselves to continuous defeat; God's way does not mean that we gain anything.
" + "Yet, this is precisely Jesus' message to us. It is by hating our lives in this world that we keep them unto life eternal (John 12:25). But, what does this mean? It means recognizing that God's plan is always bigger than the individual. It means recognizing that on our own, as individuals, we forget the tremendous power we possess as a community of faith. This is the strange fruit our dying to ourselves produces in our midst. It provides us with an awesome opportunity to speak life in the face of sin, temptation, and death without uttering a single word – through a ministry of presence: a smile, a hug, a shoulder to cry on, and a listening, non–judgmental ear. Our dying to ourselves allows sympathy and empathy. More, such also provides us with an opportunity, as community, to boldly proclaim our living hope in Jesus Christ, a hope which embraces our fears, our anger, and our doubts.
" + "Corporately, we remind one another that our life is the life of the Crucified, namely that "we are crucified with Christ: nevertheless we live; yet not us, but Christ lives in us: and the life which we now live in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave himself for us" (Galatians 2:20). Christ's life, ministry, passion, death, and resurrection reveal this truth to us.
" + "In The Thorn Birds, Meggie reveals the truth about Dane's paternity to de Bricassart only after Dane dies – drowning in an attempt to save two young girls from the same fate. The revelation breaks de Bricassart's heart. Dying shortly thereafter, his heart finally failing him, de Bricassart recounts the story of the thorn bird to his love, Meggie, one last time:
" + ""Long ago, I told you a story, a legend, about a bird that sings only when it dies . . . driven to the thorn with no knowledge of the dying to come. But when we, when we, press the thorn to our breasts, we know. We understand, and still we do it. Still we do it."
" + "As Christians, we must seek after the knowledge of the Son of God and the understanding of the holy. We must resolve to live in the light of the Resurrection, to boldly profess that Jesus Christ lives. Our living as a people of faith must communicate that Jesus Christ lives in each of us. Though death is all around us, we must own up to our fears and anxieties and call out to God in prayer as Jesus did. In so doing, we are reminded of God's continual care in the midst of it all – that God has glorified, is glorifying, and will glorify again.
" + "Though there is so much around us, calling us to straddle the fence, we must not be distracted. We must tire of pulling the splinters out of our backsides, and we must choose Christ. By focusing on our Hope, Jesus Christ, we embody Jesus' judgment of the world. In so doing, we anticipate the "glory that shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).
" + "Though Satan continues to use what we see to convince us that God is a liar, we must believe that God is Integrity. We must remember that Christ not only led the way, but he prepared the way. The Son of Man was lifted up, signifying the death we must all die. And, we must remember that Jesus got up, meaning that He is still with us. We are not alone or abandoned. Christ's spirit indwells each of us as it indwells His church. And, the church as community is a reminder of Christ's continual presence, a reminder that in the midst of it all, Christ came that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly (John 10:10).
" + "We, like the thorn bird, pay our lives for just one song, sung in Christian fellowship and community. In our singing, that is our living, we take up our crosses and follow Christ. Facing death and dying, our focus on Christ allows us to out–sing sin and death. If we sing truly and sincerely, the whole world stills to listen; and, God smiles.
" + "So, the question is: 'Are we going up?' Are we going up – not to escape this world or our Christian responsibility to co–labor with God to transform it, because we recognize that God promises that the meek shall inherit the earth and that Jesus prayed for us that we might remain here – but to join Jesus Christ in the baptism of his death (Matthew 5:5; John 17:15)? Are we going up to join Jesus Christ at Calvary, because we recognize that this is the only door to Resurrection? Are we going up such that we change the altitude of our attitudes by setting our affections on things above (Colossians 3:2)? Are we going up!?! May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all!
";