What’s the Buzz ~ Holy Week 2018 ~ Acceptance and Rejection

Greetings Dear Reader,

We live in a world where popularity is a curse.  We create and embrace celebrity so that we can in turn destroy what we have created.  For those who do not know it, Palm Sunday celebrates when Jesus rode into Jerusalem for Passover the week he was crucified. 

When Jesus rides into Jerusalem he is lauded by thousands.  They shout for him to prevail as the heir of David.  They shout for him to prevail as the heir of the one who comes in the name of the LORD.  The city is crowded with Jews from all over who have come to Jerusalem for Passover.  There is no honest interpretation of these events that can leave out that Jesus is being lauded as the true King of the Jews.  In that one moment of popularity he threatens the political, social, and religious status quo. 

In five days the same people will call for his death.  They will shout that he be crucified.  The Romans and the Jews will work together to unjustly kill him.  Most of his friends and family will desert him.  The hero will be toppled to the hunger of the voracious crowd.

We have perfected this in our culture on both the public and private scale.   We build up people and profess our faith in them.  We promise support and loyalty.  Then we create a reason to abandon those promises.  We sideline, give-up on, or even betray people.  Innocent or guilty they become offerings on the pyre of our disapproval.

I am not allowed to do this even to those who are brazenly guilty.  I should not even engage in talking about those who seem to have fallen.  My opinion is of no value.  I should not think that my judgement matters.  It is only my pride that causes me to be quippy about the demise of another.

There is much to learn from the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  Most of it is grand and vital.  For me one of the lessons is that I must not join in the tearing down of others.  Posting insults to those in trouble is neither loving nor acceptable.  I never want to be guilty of shouting “hosanna” on Sunday and “crucify him” on Thursday.  It is not who we are to become.

Hosanna – Jesus Christ Superstar

CROWD:

Hosanna

Hey Sanna Sanna Sanna Hosanna

Hey Sanna Hosanna

Hey JC, JC won't you smile at me?

Sanna Hosanna

Hey Superstar

CAIAPHAS:

Tell the rabble to be quiet, we anticipate a riot.

This common crowd, is much too loud.

Tell the mob who sing your song that they are fools and they are wrong.

They are a curse. They should disperse.

CROWD:

Hosanna

Hey Sanna Sanna Sanna Hosanna

Hey Sanna Hosanna

Hey JC, JC you're alright by me

Sanna Hosanna

Hey Superstar

JESUS:

Why waste your breath moaning at the crowd?

Nothing can be done to stop the shouting.

If every tongue were stilled

The noise would still continue.

The rocks and stone themselves would start to sing:

CROWD AND JESUS:

Hosanna

Hey Sanna Sanna Sanna Hosanna

Hey Sanna Hosanna

CROWD (alone):

Hey JC, JC won't you fight for me?

Sanna Hosanna Hey Superstar

JESUS:

Sing me your songs,

But not for me alone.

Sing out for yourselves,

For you are bless-ed.

There is not one of you

Who cannot win the kingdom.

The slow, the suffering,

The quick, the dead.

CROWD and JESUS:

Hosanna

Hey Sanna Sanna Sanna Hosanna

Hey Sanna Hosanna

CROWD (alone):

Hey JC, JC won't you die for me?

Sanna Hosanna Hey Superstar

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Week ~ Worth Dying For – Palm Sunday, An Evening in Bethany

Greetings Dear Reader,

The Pharisees told Jesus to quiet the crowd.  He explained that if they stopped the rocks would take up the song.  He explained that they were worried about the wrong thing.  It is true that they recognize the Son, the Messiah.

He will weep for them.  I wonder if we can truly put our minds in the place of Christ on that evening.  He retires to Bethany to rest.  What does he discuss.  The disciples must have been full of talk about the crowd and the cheering.  Even up to the end they were expecting him to overthrow Rome.  They were expecting him to act God-like in a big way.

What does Jesus ponder as he sees the ones who have seen so much see so little?  Can he already feel the weight of the cross?  Perhaps Judas is already pushing him to act.  Perhaps this is one of the times the apostles argue about who will be the greatest in the kingdom.

The evening in Bethany requires rest and preparation.  The week is just beginning.  Things are just unfolding.  They will unfold as they should but not as the people expect. Tonight I take the time to rest with Jesus and let him know that as much as possible I understand.  I wonder if he stayed with Lazarus.  I wonder if that would be a glimpse of the shadow that is to come.  Lazarus, at this point had experienced what Jesus had not.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Week ~ Worth Dying For - Palm Sunday

Greetings Dear Reader,

Where I live the days promises to be bright and warm.  The prognostication for the entire week is for partly sunny skies and warm temperatures.  Spring brings to life the green of the world and the smiles of friends and family. 

Amidst the emergence of all this life I turn my focus to a death.  Frist, however, there is the celebration.  There is the vast throng welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem and the King.  They will not last.  The scent of death is already in their greeting.  They already want the great healer and miracle worker to overthrow the Romans. They want him to destroy their enemies.  

We know their praises will not last.  Some of the very ones cheering will be jeering in a week.  Cries of Hosanna will become cries to crucify him.  Love does not endure when it is selfish and self-centered.  Hatred springs readily from us when unjust expectations are not met.

We so desperately need to see that it is all done for us.  He tolerates our failure to see him as he is.  He loves us through our vain use of his name.  He endures the suffering to show us that we are worth dying for.

I will cheer the ride for the right reasons.  I will see him on the foal and celebrate who he is.  I will, however, do it with a moist corner to my eye.  I will yearn to be someone worth dying for.

Someone Worth Dying For – MIKESCHAIR

You might be the wife,

Waiting up at night

You might be the man,

Struggling to provide

Feeling like it's hopeless

Maybe you're the son

Who chose a broken road

Maybe you're the girl

Thinking you'll end up alone

Praying God can you hear me?

Oh, God are you listening?

Am I more than flesh and bone?

Am I really something beautiful?

Yeah, I want to believe,

I want to believe that

I'm not just some wandering soul

That you don't see and you don't know

Yeah, I want to believe,

Jesus help me believe

That I am someone worth dying for

I know you've heard the truth

That God has set you free

But you think you're the one

That grace could never reach

So you just keep asking,

Oh, what everybody's asking

Am I more than flesh and bone?

Am I really something beautiful?

Yeah, I want to believe,

I want to believe that

I'm not just some wandering soul

That you don't see and you don't know

Yeah, I want to believe,

Jesus help me believe

That I am someone worth dying for

You're worth it, you can't earn it

Yeah, the cross has proven,

That you're sacred and blameless.

Your life has purpose!

You are more than flesh and bone

Can't you see your something beautiful

Yeah, you gotta believe, you gotta believe

He wants you to see,

He wants you to see that

You're not just some wandering soul

That can't be seen and can't be known

You gotta believe, you gotta believe

That you are someone worth dying for

You're someone worth dying for

Someone worth dying for

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Week 2016 - The Cost of the Day – Doubt – Closing Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

All over the world those of us who believe are celebrating the resurrection today.  Christ is risen indeed.  We celebrate the things won that first Resurrection Morning.  We claim the preeminence of Jesus over all things because of this event.

This particular Resurrection Sunday is difficult for me.  In a couple of hours I will journey to a church I love to celebrate an event that I love and cherish.  Too many people that I love will not be with me.  They no longer celebrate the resurrection. 

I am also without them on one of the most painful days of the year for me.  Today is also my Daughter Rachel’s birthday.  My hallelujah is in full force today.  It is, however, cold and broken.  I miss her more than I can articulate.  Resurrection Sunday and her birthday will only collide a few times in my life.  It makes the day doubly difficult for me.

It has caused me to turn my mind to the cost of the day.  We broke God.  We beat him and humiliated him.  We killed him and put him in the ground.  Then when he counted on us to watch and wait we hid and doubted.  I say we to all of this because I refuse to abdicate my personal responsibility in all of this.

The women who arrived at the tomb came to embalm the dead.  The apostles did not believe their account when they reported a risen Christ.  Thomas proclaimed loudly that he would not believe without seeing.  People who had seen it all doubted. 

They had seen Jesus created food and wine.  They were there when he healed the sick.  They were present when he taught, admonished, and loved everyone.  They saw him raise the dead.  The cost of the day is that even though he told them he would return to them they did not believe it. 

The cost of this day is doubt amidst incontrovertible evidence.  The cost of the day is that those who know Jesus still reject him.  Those who have seen him change lives choose a life without him.  God’s blood bought us all the chance to believe and live.  It saddens me on the joyous day to ponder the doubt with which it is met.  

Love Crucified Arose – Michael Card

Long ago, He blessed the earth

Born older than the years

And in the stall the cross He saw

Through the first of many tears

A life of homeless wandering

Cast out in sorrow's way

The Shepherd seeking for the lost

His life, the price He paid

Love crucified arose

The risen One in splendor

Jehovah's sole defender

Has won the victory

Love crucified arose

And the grave became a place of hope

For the heart that sin and sorrow broke

Is beating once again

Throughout Your life You've felt the weight

Of what You'd come to give

To drink for us that crimson cup

So we might really live

At last the time to love and die

The dark appointed day

That one forsaken moment when

Your Father turned His face away

Love crucified arose

The One who lived and died for me

Was Satan's nail pierced casualty

Now He's breathing once again

Love crucified arose

And the grave became a place of hope

For the heart that sin and sorrow broke

Is beating once again

Love crucified arose

The risen One in splendor

Jehovah's sole defender

Has won the victory

Love crucified arose

And the grave became a place of hope

For the heart that sin and sorrow broke

Is beating once again

Love crucified arose

The One who lived and died for me

Was Satan's nail-pierced casualty

Now He's breathing once again

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Week 2016 - The Cost of the Day – Separation and Waiting

Greetings Dear Reader,

Death is an involuntary separation.  Someone we love is gone.  We can neither control death’s arrival nor undo the impact.  The sorrow and grief beset us.  Depending on what we believe we hope or do not hope.  We see a way past death or we do not.

Jesus is in the tomb.  He is dead.  He has promised that the grave cannot hold him.  His friends have fled.  They are in hiding fearing for their own lives.  They have forgotten to hope. Part of the cost of the day is hopelessness.  Instead of anticipation this death brings doubt and fear.

They wait but they do so in fear.  The cost of the day is searching for possible paths outside of following Christ.  The separation and pain cause them to doubt and hide.  They are in dire need and do not know where to turn.

Everything hangs in the balance.  The cool dark of the tomb holds the result of man’s sin; my sin.  It holds the hopes and fears of the entire world.  It holds the human body of the Son of God.  The cost of the day is that no matter what happens tomorrow doubt, fear, and hopelessness will not be erased. 

The cost of the day is that no matter what happens next belief will be tenuous.  People will embrace Christ and then abandon him.  They will encounter death without hope.  People will still choose the limbo of doubt and waiting for something to happen.  They will choose the unknown over the promise. 

The day has the most hideous cost of all.  God’s blood dries on a post on Golgotha but even that is not enough for some.   Humans who know in the depth of their soul that Jesus is all he claims to be will refuse to believe without further proof.

We paid for the party with our dearest blood but for some people that is not enough.  The cost of this day seems too much for me at times.  Then again, it is not my cost to pay.  So I wait; separated from the King I love whilst others doubt, mock, and reject him.

 A Little More Like Me – Kenny Rogers

It was an April night and I was driving

Went out on the town

The show was at the palace

So we all went on down

We all had a bomb as I recall

But now it seems absurd

As the madness raged upon the stage

He didn't say a word

He was a little weak and we all fear

It wasn't one of us

He didn't drink, he didn't smoke

And he didn't cuss

You'd see him now and then

With a bunch of men hanging around the sea

And I'm sure I would have liked him more

If he were a little more like me

It was a spring each day

The clouds were gray

Looked like in my dream

Thought about the night before

And I was so ashamed

When I heard what they had done to him

Stranger I had known

But as drunk as we all got last night

It's a wonder we got home

He was a little weak and we all fear

It wasn't one of us

He didn't drink, he didn't smoke

And he didn't [Incomprehensible]

You'd see him now and then

With a bunch of men hanging around the sea

And I'm sure I would have liked him more

If he were a little more like me

And I'm sure I would have liked him more

If he were a little more like me.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Week 2016 - The Cost of the Day – Dearest Blood

Greetings Dear Reader,

The cost of the day is nothing less than the beating, torture, and murder of the Son of God.  We come to the turn of the tide in this day.  We see that the fullness of time is about to begin to pour itself out.

First, however, we need to see the blood.  The drops of grief born blood from the garden last night are the first in the rainstorm that will come as Pilate has Jesus beaten.  As the thorns sink into Jesus’ head more blood falls down his face.  The blood joins the blood on his face as his beard is ripped out and his face is torn with punches.

All the way back to Cain man has shed blood out of anger, jealousy, and greed.  Today the Romans and Jews act on behalf of the entire world to draw blood from God in the same way.  Remember that in these moments of bitter cost to God he loves the people who are doing it to him.  God’s blood covers the ground where he is beaten and tried.

His blood drips as he carries his cross leaving a trail from trial to the place of the skull.  His blood covers the cross.  His wrists and feet take the nails and there is more blood.  He hangs.  He forgives.  He speaks.  It is finished. 

One more time the Romans shed his blood.  The spear confirms that he is dead.  Blood and water stream from the side of the Water of Life.  The cost of the day is a dead God, a dark sky, shaken earth, and a ripped curtain in the temple.  We have complete access to the Father now by faith.  We paid for the party with our dearest blood. 

Known by the Scars – Michael Card

Mother Mary cried as she held heaven her arms

For the shadow of the scar she saw was clear

As her own bewildered baby lay weeping for the world

Whose frightened tears would free us all from fear

The marks of death that God chose never to erase

The wounds of loves eternal war

When the kingdom comes with its perfected sons

He will be known by the scars

For a time He sought to tell the world He was the Way

That God the father had a human heart

With His own holy hands He sought

To touch and heal their scars

But they chose to tear those gentle hands apart

What was there to wipe away the tears

Firm the holy eyes of God

As He looked upon His one and only Son

Who'd never sin, no nigh, yet was crucified

The marks of death that God chose never to erase

The wounds of loves eternal war

When the kingdom comes with its perfected sons

He will be known by the scars

And after they had slain Him and laid Him in the grave

And the ones He loved had fled into the dark

Then His love and power raised Him

God won the victory

But they only recognized Him by the scars

The marks of death that God chose never to erase

The wounds of loves eternal war

When the kingdom comes with its perfected sons

He will be known by the scars

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Week 2016 - The Cost of the Day – One Last Glimpse

Greetings Dear Reader,

Judas has gone to do quickly what he has to do.  Jesus knew they would come for him in th garden.  Once again the irony is not lost on me.  Sin began in a beautiful garden.  The first drops of God’s blood fall to the ground in this garden. 

In the first garden the Lord feels rejection for a second time.  In this garden the separation process from friends, family, and Father begins.  He closest friends will reject him for a time.  It is no wonder that we feel so wounded by rejection.

The cost of the day is that we run away from the one who comes to rescue us.  The cost of the day is that we leave Jesus alone in the garden.  We do not stay awake and wait with him.  We do not pray with him.  We do not comfort him.

The cost of the day is that he is in so much pain over what is to come that he sweats blood.  God’s blood soaks into God’s creation as Judas brings the soldiers to arrest him.  The angels attend the event forbidden to protect their King.  The cost of the day is their frustration and sorrow.

The cost of the day is a final glimpse of his power.  Jesus asks them for whom they are searching.  They say Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus responds, “I am HE.”  They fall down.  In that final glimpse of his power before the crucifixion the cost of the day is that they see him for who he is and still choose to take him.

We know who Jesus is but we make him pay the cost over and over of proving himself.   Every time I fail to do what is right I reject him again.  The cost of every disobedience is to place him back in that moment in the garden; rejected and alone.

In the Garden – Michael Card

Trembling with fear, alone in the garden

Battle before the final war

Blood became tears, there in the garden

To fall upon the silent stone

There in the darkness the Light

And the darkness stood still

Two choices, one tortured will

And there once the choice had been made

All the world could be saved by the One in the garden

The light of the dawn, was seen in the garden

By gentle eyes so sadly wise

The angels appear, they come to the garden

Clothed with sighs, they realize

The One they adored from the start

Will be broken apart

By the ones He had come to save

So they're here simply now to be near

He's no longer alone, they sit by him and moan.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Week 2016 - The Cost of the Day – Blood Money

Greetings Dear Reader,

Traditionally this is known as Spy Wednesday.  The Priests in Jerusalem are charged with representing the Father to the people.  They have spent decades creating a system of laws around the law that burden the people and rob them.  They have stolen the freedom that exists within the Law of Moses by overburdening it.

Then Jesus comes.  He is the Messiah.  He heals the sick, feeds the hungry, and raises the dead.  He calls into question the actions of the ruling priests.  He challenges the system they have put into place and demands that they attend to the heart of the law.  He insists that they love God and each other.

As Jesus prepares for the Passover meal and weeps for the city he loves those responsible to represent him plot to kill him.  His friend Judas meets with the priests.  They plan how to take him quietly away from the crowds that claim to love him.

The cost of this day is loyalty and honor.  The price for it is thirty pieces of silver.  The price of innocent blood is paid by the priests to arrange the shedding of the most innocent blood.  Our dearest blood is sold along with obedience to the Creator.  I believe that Judas had the misguided motive to push Jesus into acting like God.  I know that the priests charged with the defending the Father are intent on killing his Son.

The cost of the day is our most precious blood.  The price is more sin.  The price is betrayal of office, charge, and friendship.  The violation of trust is so complete.  The stage is set for the party that will cost the very life of God.  Do not for a moment think that we are guiltless. 

I am the priests defending my position and power over honor and good.

I am Judas thinking that I know the plan better than the Father and the Son.

I am the silver trying to put a value on God’s blood.

I am the benefactor of it all.

Blood Money – Andrew Lloyd Webber

Judas:

Now if I help you

It matters that you see

This sorta kind of things are coming hard to me

It's taken me some time

To work out what to do

I waited the whole thing up

Before I came to you

I have not thought at all

about my own reward

I really didn't come here

Of my own accord

Just don't say I'm

Damned for all time!

I came because I had to

I'm the one who saw

Jesus can't control it

Like he did before

And furthermore I know

That Jesus thinks so too

Jesus wouldn't mind that I was here with you

I have not thought at all

about my own reward

I really didn't come here

Of my own accord

Just don't say I'm

Damned for all time!

Annas, you're a friend

A holy man and wise

Caiaphas, my friend

I know you sympathise

Why are we the prophets?

Why are we the ones?

Who see the sad solution

Now what must be done?

I have not thought at all

about my own reward

I really didn't come here

Of my own accord

Just don't say I'm

Damned for all time!

Annas:

Cut the protesting

Forget the excuses

We want information

Get up off the floor

Caiaphas:

We have the papers

We need to arrest him

You know his movements

We know the law

Annas:

Your help in this matter

Won't go unrewarded

Caiaphas:

We'll pay you in silver

Cash on the nail

We just need to know

Where the soldiers can find him

With no crowd around him

Then we can't fail

Judas:

I don't want your blood money

Caiaphas:

Oh, that doesn't matter

Our expenses are good

Judas:

I don't need your blood money

Annas:

But you might as well take it

We think that you should

Caiaphas:

Think of the things

You can do with that money

Choose any charity

Give to the poor

We've noted your motives

We've noted your feelings

This isn't blood money

It's-

Annas: (spoken)

A fee

Caiaphas:

A fee nothing more

Judas:

On Thursday night

You'll find him where you want him

Far from the crowds

In the garden of Gethsemane

Chorus:

Well done Judas

Good old Judas

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Week 2016 - The Cost of the Day – Nard and First Stones

Greetings Dear Reader,

Jesus is dining with a wealthy man who ignores custom and gives insult by doing so.  A woman comes with expensive perfume and washes Jesus’ feet with it and her tears of redemption.  The wealthy man judges her and he judges Jesus for allowing her.

The cost of the day is realization that pride and position has nothing to do with following Christ.  It was the woman whom Christ honored.  It was the rich man whose insult and neglect is recorded for all time. 

The cost of the day is that a bit of propriety dies whilst a woman prepares Jesus for death and burial.  The redemption story unfolds in front of people who ignore it for their own puerile interests.

As the day unfolds Jesus will withdraw and teach.  As the day ends he will prepare for the Passover meal and what is to come after it.  The lesson we need in pride and pretense has been taught.  Woman of dire need and hard circumstance are forever told that there is a Man; a God-man who accepts them and will not treat them with disrespect.

He translates the cost of the day to us all.  I can follow him knowing that he loves me in the way he loves the woman washing him with her tears.  I can know that he loves the foolish rich man as well.  He longs for us all to love him and each other.  

You see he feels both of their pain.  He feels all of our pain.  The cost of the day for him is the many facets of our sin revealed at the dinner table.  Another meal will reveal even more.

Father – Terry Talbot

The alabaster case of oil is open

And washing the feet of Jesus

The sweet perfume is poured

I am like the cask I must be broken

So from my life can pour

A life unto my Lord

Father break me

Take me through the fire

Father hold me, mold me

Just as you desire

I am just a cup to overflow your will

But first I must be empty to be filled

I saw myself as only drifting

Lost upon the waters

Sinking like a stone

Then your tide washed around me

I was lifted

If I follow the morning star

I’ll be sailing home

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Week 2016 - The Cost of the Day – Cleansing the Temple

Greetings Dear Reader,

”Jesus said, ‘Scripture says, My house will be called a house of prayer, but you're turning it into a gathering place for thieves!’"

The people in Jerusalem are there for the Passover celebration.  They are living the ceremony that is a symbol of the covenant God has made with them.  Everyone is required to gather in Jerusalem and observe the beginning of the liturgical year.  They all bring their offerings for sin. 

It seems simple enough but then we are humans and we can complicate and corrupt anything.  A system was in place to extort people.  The dove or lamb brought from miles away by a faithful believer would be judged not good enough by a priest.  They could buy one for a price at the temple that was approved. They had to exchange their money for the approved temple coin. 

They system is designed to make money off of the faithful and increase the wealth of the priests.  Jesus arrives at this scene.  He is there to visit the house of his Father.  He there to see the place where all the people for whom he will die are called to come and pray.

The cost of the day is pain and sorrow.  The cost of the day is a world where things are not good.  The priests rob the people they are sworn to serve.  They are the only people who Jesus speaks of with derision.  They have sold their honor and duty for money.

The cost of the day is sorrow for the Son as he sees how far from his intent his people have strayed.  The price he will pay for their wandering is dear.  The pain he feels is deep and constant.  His anger is righteous and true.

As I journey toward the cross with him I must assure that I do not steal from his people. I must assure that I live out the gospel with honor and integrity.  Man will not rob God.  The world will see that anything man has done to corrupt the teachings of Christ are all man’s doing and not the character of Christ.

I must follow with integrity.  The cost of the day is too high to ignore.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Holy Week 2016 - The Cost of the Day – Opening Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

It is Palm Sunday.  We celebrate the day that Jesus made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem.   I plan to view Holy Week this year recounting the cost of the day for Jesus.  We do not ponder this enough.  At least I know that I do not.  

We view Palm Sunday as a day of celebration.  Jesus rides into Jerusalem to celebration and praise.  Thousands of people cheer him.  The religious rulers insist that this is dangerous.  The crowd calls him blessed and verifies that he comes in the name of the Lord.  They call him King.  They worship him.

This all looks so amazing in the moment.  The problem is that they have it backwards.  They will make him king IF he will defeat their enemies.  Jesus message is that they must accept him as king for their enemies to be defeated.  They could have done so.

Jesus knows differently.   He knows he rides into the city to die.  The cost of the day for him is that he is being lauded for the wrong reasons.  He created everyone there and they do not see him clearly or really hear his message.  They want to use him to get what they think is their right. 

We need to see Jesus in this moment as one willing to ride to his death for all of us.  The only triumph about this day is that we catch a glimpse of how it should be.  The cost of the day is the understanding that we should not celebrate the entry but prepare our hearts and minds for the horror to come. 

Time is full.  Since a birth in a cattle shed some three decades ago all of creation has waited.  In seven days the glass will be turned again and things will resume their march toward the real triumphal entry.  For now, however, we have a very difficult week to get through.  Please walk with me Dear Reader.  All of creation hangs in the balance.

Hosanna – Andrew Lloyd Webber

CROWD:

Hosanna

Hey Sanna Sanna Sanna Hosanna

Hey Sanna Hosanna

Hey JC, JC won't you smile at me?

Sanna Hosanna

Hey Superstar

CAIAPHAS:

Tell the rabble to be quiet, we anticipate a riot.

This common crowd, is much too loud.

Tell the mob who sing your song that they are fools and they are wrong.

They are a curse. They should disperse.

CROWD:

Hosanna

Hey Sanna Sanna Sanna Hosanna

Hey Sanna Hosanna

Hey JC, JC you're alright by me

Sanna Hosanna

Hey Superstar

JESUS:

Why waste your breath moaning at the crowd?

Nothing can be done to stop the shouting.

If every tongue were stilled

The noise would still continue.

The rocks and stone themselves would start to sing:

CROWD AND JESUS:

Hosanna

Hey Sanna Sanna Sanna Hosanna

Hey Sanna Hosanna

CROWD (alone):

Hey JC, JC won't you fight for me?

Sanna Hosanna Hey Superstar

JESUS:

Sing me your songs,

But not for me alone.

Sing out for yourselves,

For you are bless-ed.

There is not one of you

Who can not win the kingdom.

The slow, the suffering,

The quick, the dead.

CROWD and JESUS:

Hosanna

Hey Sanna Sanna Sanna Hosanna

Hey Sanna Hosanna

CROWD (alone):

Hey JC, JC won't you die for me?

Sanna Hosanna Hey Superstar

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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