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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
Sunday Jan 26, 2025
Sunday Jan 26, 2025
We come at last to the big culmination of Jesus's earthly ministry. The goal of his life. The event he has set his face like flint toward. The event he has been marching forward to reach: the crucifixion. No one expected the Messiah to die on the cross. But we will look back and see that the signs were there in the Old Testament, left there like windows through the walls of the maze looking to the cross — the ladder, up and out.
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Sunday Nov 24, 2024
Sunday Nov 24, 2024
Today we will hear the famous words of Pontius Pilate as he presented Jesus Christ for his accusers to see. "Ecce Homo," translated to, "Behold, the man." His words tap into the heart of who Jesus Christ is and who we are. As they reach back to the origins of the human race. But we will also hear him say words that reach forward to the very end of the human race. "Ecce Rex Vester," translated to, "Behold, your king." But frankly, it's hard to see a king for the ages in the small town carpenter, crowned with thorns and bleeding from a severe flogging, standing before people who are demanding that he die. Is it delusional to look at this suffering figure and think you are looking at the king of everything?
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Sunday Nov 17, 2024
Sunday Nov 17, 2024
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."