Jesus, an Upstander, and Me

Jesus-Miracles
An Upstander- Holocaust
Decision Making
...and me-Morality
The Healing of a Centurion's Servant Mt 8:5-13
Why are miracles important?
Miracles are important because they are signs that God is still watching over us. God does not judge and when one is in need, He will provide the aid for that person. It is important for people to realize that no matter what happens, God is always with us and miracles are His way of showing that we are still in His heart.
According to American Heritage Dictionary, the term Holocaust means "the genocide of European Jews and others by the Nazis during World War II."
Upstanders in the Holocaust
Pope John Paul II
Non-Jews who risked their lives to protect another human being
When looking at the decision Jesus made, readers realize that Jesus still cured the centurion's servant. He chose to heal because he saw the faith the centurion had, not because the centurion was a soldier who could have ended his life at any time. What influenced Jesus' decision was the faith one had in Jesus and God.
The upstanders during the Holocaust made a very difficult decision, no matter which position they were in. These upstanders chose to risk their lives to help those in need. What had influenced their decisions are all different yet they had one common goal: to protect all humankind. Their decision could have been influenced by the relationships they had established or events that they had experienced. In the case of Pope John Paul II, he tried to make amends because as a child, he had befriended many Jewish children and that influenced his decision to help, or at the very least, reconcile with the Jewish population.
Our morality can also affect the decisions we make. As we gain more wisdom, we begin to establish our own values and principles that help us make a decision. As a child, our decisions were made from what our parents told us was the right way. However, as we grow in wisdom, we begin to make our own decisions with the morality we have established.
The Three Stages of Morality
Childhood
Adolescence
Mature Adulthood
"The set of values & principles that guide his/her choices and determine what kind of person he/she is becoming."
           -"Morality", 01/09/09
Trailer for "Valkyrie" (2008)
In this movie, one man is willing to risk his life in order to take down the one man who held all the power in Germany. Although the July 20th plot did not succeed, this act was still courageous and I view it as an act of an upstander. The main character, played by Tom Cruise, wanted to take down Hitler because he disagreed with Hitler's views. Throughout the movie, the main character must continue fighting for what he believed was right.
Jesus healed the servant based on faith therefore, he created yet another miracle. This passage signifies the importance of miracles in our lives. They are something we should treasure and praise. Very rarely do we notice miracles anymore simply because we have new technology to eradicate those miracles. What we fail to see is that there are still miracles occurring around us. It does not have to be a person curing another with a few words and a blessing; it can be the trees that surround us, the birth of a child, miracles are all around us. The importance of a miracle is to treasure them as they are and learn to accept that there are, in fact, many miracles around us.
Background info: This clip is about Pope John Paul II when he was known as Karol. It protrays his feelings about the German occupation and towards the Jewish community.
Side note: This clip is about 11 minutes long and there is a scene where blood is shed.
"Karol, un uomo diventato Papa" (2005, TV series)
In this clip, we are shown how the Pope was an upstander in his younger days. We see the horrors of what the Germans did and also how Karol reacted to those incidents. Finally, we also see how Karol fought back against the oppressive Germany and the difficulty in trying to fight back peacefully.
Why is morality important?
Morality is important because it is the basis on the decisions that we make. What can influence our morality can also influence the decisions we make whether good or bad. Morality is essential to our daily lives also because it shapes who we are. As we progress into the mature adulthood stage, we began to form our own values & principles which provide us our identity.
How is morality applied in our world today?
Morality is seen everywhere. It is in the decisions we make for others, for ourselves, or the decisions others make for us. We use morality on a daily basis and it is something we cannot avoid. Our words, our body language, our feelings are all based on the "set of values & principles" in which "guide [our] choices."
The morality of childhood is based on outside sources such as parents and role models. The morality of a child is to obey the rules given and those with this stage of morality typically are not capable of seeing the right and wrong of choices.
The morality of adolescence is often described as "in-between". It is a mixture of both external and internal sources. This stage is about letting some of the established values and principles go but also including new ones. In this stage, group membership is important as it offers security and belonging.
The morality of mature adulthood comes from within. To reach this stage, it includes personal experience. The rate of reaching this stage is different for each person as morality of mature adulthood is something only one person can establish.
Works Cited
Gospel Stories, Gospel Choices. Notre Dame High School: 2008.

"Holocaust." Def. 2. The American Heritage Dictionary. 4th ed. 2001.

by Deanna