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Benedictine College is proud to present The Extraordinary Story, a podcast about the life of Christ written and hosted by Tom Hoopes. Jesus Christ, God Himself, entered the confusing maze that is our world to show us who we are and to give us his cross as a ladder up and out. This is his story and ours. Benedictine College is transforming culture in America through our mission of community, faith, and scholarship. Visit us at benedictine.edu
Episodes
4 days ago
4 days ago
We will see Jesus Christ get arrested in this episode, and then we'll follow him as he's tried first by his own people, the Jewish leaders, and then by the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate. We will ask and answer the question, why was Jesus silent before his accusers so often? And what was Pilate's wife's dream? And if Judas is in hell, what might be his greatest regret for all eternity? But most importantly, we will see Jesus reveal more about His kingdom that he came to establish.
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Sunday Nov 10, 2024
Sunday Nov 10, 2024
Jesus continues his epic project of re-edenizing the world, this time in a literal garden, but not the garden of Eden - the Garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane means "oil press." And we see Jesus here in the Mount of Olives, being crushed like a grape in the fingers of Satan for our sins. We will see what the greatest failure of the apostles was, and how we can make up for it a little, and we will see the remarkable things St. John Paul II and Saint John Henry Newman say about the sufferings of Jesus Christ in his agony in the garden.
Sunday Nov 03, 2024
Sunday Nov 03, 2024
Today we're going to look at the institution of the Eucharist and the institution of the priesthood and the foundation of the whole sacramental system. Here is where Jesus Christ brings the life of God in eternity and unites it with our lives here in the maze. Here is where God makes us his family, so that we can live in a new way, starting now and lasting forever. Everything that's happened in the story to this point has led up to this moment, and this is what he has spent the last days of Holy Week preparing us for.
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Sunday Oct 27, 2024
Sunday Oct 27, 2024
Jesus has been saying, "My hour has not yet come." Today he'll say, "My hour has arrived." It is Holy Thursday, and on this great and ominous night filled with huge moments in salvation history. The first thing he chooses to do is wash the feet of his apostles. Now, why did he do that? And why is it significant that Judas left right after he did that? And what does it mean for us when washing feet is no longer quite the thing it apparently was back then? We'll find out this week on The Extraordinary Story.
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Sunday Oct 20, 2024
Sunday Oct 20, 2024
It's Wednesday of Holy Week, the day before the big days. The chief priests hold a special meeting. They want to find a way to arrest Jesus without alarming the crowds of people in Jerusalem. It's hard because Jesus knows their plans and is steering clear. They're stuck and they can't find a way. And then there's a knock on the door and a man is ushered into the room. He asks, how much will you give me if I hand him over to you? We will review why Judas would want to betray his master, and it's important that we do, because it's the same reason you and I may want to betray him also.
Sunday Oct 13, 2024
Sunday Oct 13, 2024
The veil drops and we see the Kingdom of Christ for what it is. Angels and thrones and icons all around us. And we ourselves for what we are. Either sheep seeing the true worth of our neighbor or goats. We also get to see some sweet payback when Jesus, tired of the Pharisees trying to trap him, verbally traps them instead.
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Sunday Oct 06, 2024
Sunday Oct 06, 2024
This week on the extraordinary story. Jesus stages an intervention for the Pharisees. And for me, too. In a way, we will discuss the seven woes of the Pharisees and a surprising hero who is the opposite of what they are.
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Sunday Sep 29, 2024
Sunday Sep 29, 2024
In this episode of The Extraordinary Story, we are with Jesus during the last week before his death, where we learn how two challenges from his opponents provoked Jesus to share wisdom that has changed the course of history. We will discover who asked him to pay taxes, and why his answer addresses the fundamental problems of alienation in the world today. We will also address what it means to "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
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Sunday Sep 22, 2024
Sunday Sep 22, 2024
As Jesus faces his imminent death in the final week of his earthly life, he reveals that the end goal of history is marriage. We'll learn in what way Jesus considers his relationship with us a marriage, why we wont be married to our spouses in heaven, and how to fight the darkness that threatens to swallow us whole while we wait for the wedding.
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Sunday Sep 15, 2024
Sunday Sep 15, 2024
As the incarnation of of Son of God approaches its most dramatic moment, Jesus urgently decides to... tell some stories. In this episode, we'll learn why the stories Jesus tells in the last week of his life actually are very urgent, and why Jesus focuses here on stories about work. Along the way, we'll learn what kind of "boss" God is, what kind of work he expects us to do, and what's at stake if we fail.