#st michael

JOKE-OGRAPHY: 1. In this Bible story, Jesus is arrested by Jewish priests who've become jealous of Him. The priests aren't allowed to kill Him since they're technically living under Roman rule and Roman laws, so they hand Him over to the local governor, Pontius Pilate, and tell him that Jesus claimed to be the king of the Jews. This, they hope, will make Pilate think Jesus is trying to start a rebellion against the Romans. Pilate questions Jesus in a pretty simple but dramatic interrogation, beginning by asking Him if He's really a king, to which Jesus replies that His kingdom is not of this world; if it were, His servants would be fighting to free Him. 2. In this cartoon, the first part of the comic sticks to the Bible story, but when Jesus mentions His servants fighting for Him, Pilate tries to clarify by asking, "So you have no servants to fight for you?" But Jesus wasn't saying He doesn't have servants; He was saying they aren't going to fight a physical war to free Him because His kingdom is not a physical one, nor can any physical kingdom hope to threaten it. As Jesus implies this, His actual servants -- the angels -- pester Him to let them beat up Pontius Pilate for Him, but He tells them to calm down since that's not part of the plan. 3. Gabriel (the angel with the blue cape) says, "Pontius Pilate? More like, 'I'm gonna PUNCH THIS Pilate!" PONTIUS is often pronounced PUNCHIS (at least where I'm from), which sounds a little like PUNCH THIS, so Gabriel is just making a play on Pilate's name and saying he's about to clock him if Jesus gives the go-ahead. 4. Michael (the militant soldier angel in the red cape) gives a declaration that sounds a lot like Matthew 8:8. In that verse, a Roman centurion begs for Jesus's help, saying, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my daughter shall be healed." In Mass, we mirror this quote before receiving the Eucharist, except that "roof" refers to the roof of our mouths, since we're about to consume the Eucharist, and instead of "my daughter," we say "my soul." In this cartoon, Michael mirrors the Mass version of the quote, but ends it with "and his soul shall be BROUGHT TO HEEL (i.e. forced to submit)."