What’s the Buzz ~ Holy Week 2018 ~ Resurrection Sunday

Greetings Dear Reader,

So What?  What is all this about.  Instead a long commentary on what the Resurrection means I give you the chapter about it from Chronicles of Thanatos the Reaper.  I do want to say this clearly.  This day is for everyone.  It proclaims that the Father accepted the sacrifice of the Son.  Redemption is ours through faith in the payment.  Anyone who says you have to do anything else is lying.

Awakenings

Thanatos stands a silent vigil over the tomb of the Son.  The cold Jerusalem night takes its toll on the soldiers guarding the tomb.  Unaware of the Death Angel’s presence, they mock the Son and his followers.  The impetus for their mockery is their dissatisfaction at drawing guard duty over a corpse.  As one, they express their loathing for the Jews and their religious fanaticism.  Longinus, alone, remains silent.  He has seen too much this week to doubt what is to come. 

At the crucifixion, Patrius, his first lieutenant, gambled for the carpenter’s cloak and won.  He wraps the homespun around his armor to shield him from the chill of the night wind.  He also hopes that the zealous followers of the dead carpenter will try to steal his body.  At least that would break the boredom of cemetery guard duty.  Patrius begins to angrily pace in front of the sealed stone with growing impatience. 

Thanatos realizes that it is almost first light.  He gently glides down from his perch atop the tomb, coming to rest on a spot before the heavily waxed Roman seal.  Had Thanatos chosen to land just a few feet further away from the entrance to the tomb, Patrius would be pacing through him.  The Angel of Death waits in front of the tomb.  The time has almost come, but time is moving arthritically at the moment.  Waiting for time to pass can be quite burdensome for a being that is seldom concerned with its constraints.  Thanatos turns to regard the men who share his watch.  The pacing one, the one who thrust a spear in the Son, is irritating the Angel of Death.

Walking next to an angel does not go unnoticed by our spirit.  We sometimes choose to ignore our spirit’s call to our own detriment.  Patrius feels a chill run up and down his left side.  This last chill is too much for him to bear. 

He explodes in anger and outrage.  “Curse these Jews and their carpenter-gods,” growls the centurion.  “Imagine, Romans guarding the tomb of a dead man from Nazareth.  If the priests want him protected so much, why do they not post their own guard?”

Longinus considers the tomb and the rumors he has heard.  He cautions his friend.  “You may not know everything, Patrius.  We have seen much of the world, but we have not seen everything.  You saw the way the world seemed to react to this man’s death.  Be careful what you say.”  

Patrius retorts angrily, “Let anyone but you tell me to be careful what I say about these stinking Jews and their solitary god and I will guard their tomb as well.  Tell me this, if he were alive in there, who would move the stone for him?  It took eight of us to place it and seal it.  I saw the beating he took.  I put my own spear into his side.  This stone will not be moved by him, and I will gladly put my sword into anyone who tries from the outside.”

The time has come.  Thanatos takes on a mischievous grin.  Stepping into the world of men, he brings himself, in all his angelic brilliance, face to face with the centurion, Patrius. 

“Feel free to run me through.  Try to spit me on your spear as you did the Son,” growls the Death Angel.  While he speaks, the boulder in the cave mouth begins to vibrate and roll to the side.  The proud Roman seal crumbles under the stone’s vibrations.  Patrius’ eyes widen in shock and terror.  He and the rest of the Roman guard respond to the unrestrained fury of the Angel of Death as one man.  They faint dead away.

Thanatos does not give them a second thought.  Instead, he turns and moves into the tomb.  Forgetting himself, he runs to the Son who is just getting up from the stone slab where he had been laid to rest.  Just as morning breaks over the tomb, the Angel of Death wraps himself around the Son of God in an embrace bursting with the joy of life.  Only God can hug one of his beloved children so deeply and so well.  The Son drinks in the welcome and admiration.  Thanatos has stuck with him through the entire ordeal.  Others would soon return to him, but Thanatos had stayed.

Reluctantly breaking the embrace, the Son regards Thanatos.  “I have much to do before I see the others.  Stay here and comfort any that come looking for me.  They will need it.  Their faith is weak.”

Without anther word the Son departs.  The Death Angel resumes his vigil with joy.  Guarding an empty tomb is joyous when you are directed to do so by its living, former inhabitant.  His watch is soon rewarded.  He hears the familiar voices of the Son’s disciples approaching.  He overhears their concern at the moved stone.  As he expects, Mary Magdalene is the first to enter.  Salome and Mary, the mother of James, follow closely.

Thanatos takes on the appearance of a young man in white robes.  Mary Magdalene gasps when she sees him.  Instantly weeping over the assumed and imagined loss, she drops the spices she had brought to anoint the Son’s body.

Barely controlling her fear, she asks the only question in her heart, “Where have they taken my Lord?”

Thanatos takes a gentle step toward her and answers, “Why do you search for the living among the dead?  Do you remember that the Son told you about this?  He said that he must suffer and die, but that he would rise again.  He is risen just like he promised.”

So instant is their belief in his words that they rush out of the tomb to tell the apostles.  Thanatos regards the cave one last time before departing.  The empty, winding sheet, so like his own mantle, now resembles an abandoned cocoon.  This cold, dark chrysalis had held the lifeless body of his own true King.  From that lifelessness, he has witnessed the birth of endless life for any who would follow his example and embrace the risen Son.

Happy Resurrection Sunday, Dear Reader.

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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What’s the Buzz ~ Holy Week 2018 ~ The Glass Turns

Greetings Dear Reader,

Waiting has become an acquired necessary skill for me. It is not something for which I have a taste and often I dislike it greatly.  It is a requirement in life.  In waiting there are great lessons to be had.

If you have ever turned and hour glass over to restart it, there is that moment where everything is shifting. The sand moves from bottom to top.  Time itself is turned upside-down.  There is that instant where one waits for the time to move again.

This is the moment we are in today.  We wait as Jesus is in the tomb.  We mourn the death and wonder what is next.  Literally everything hangs in the balance as we wait.  There is no random chance to be concerned with.  There is no second plan to review. 

Either Jesus will rise or he will not.  There will be life or we will all perish.  All the faithful can do is wait.  All that belief can buy me is hope.  I cannot make the sand flow again.  Time is full and I must wait.  The world is in need of the promised resurrection.  I cannot force the issue.

The hand that will turn the hours glass is the Father.  I have the advantage of knowing that he will.  Today, however, I remember the value of waiting.  I ponder the not knowing if I were there then.  I choose to have faith that it happened and is real. 

It was Friday with all its darkness and pain.  It is Saturday with the mourning and waiting that holds either hope or despair.  I do not assume that I would be faithful were I there on this day.  I would likely be hiding with the others; exercising fear instead of faith.  It was Friday, today is Saturday, but Sunday is coming…

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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What’s the Buzz ~ Holy Week 2018 ~ Into the Darkness

Greetings Dear Reader,

We are the ones who kill.  We are the ones who took things from good to bad.  We invent new ways to destroy each other.  We are the ones who need forgiveness and redemption.

When we come to this day there is nothing to mitigate our guilt.  I am as guilty as Pilate, the Sanhedrin, and the Romans with whip and hammer.  God’s blood is on my hands.  His beating and humiliation are caused by my failure to love him as I should.  I may share the guilt with others but it never lessens mine.

Then there is the rest of the truth.  The vital kernel of the truth that makes it all necessary.  I need this death to live.  I cannot have my failures forgiven if Christ does not die for me.  I cannot earn forgiveness.  I cannot buy it.  Nothing I do will repair the rift my sin creates.

Then the Father sends the Son knowing that this is how the end begins. This is the last bit of sand that needs to fall through the pinch before the glass can be turned.  This is the long day and night of redemption.  This has been the plan all along.  No one takes the life of Jesus.  He lays it down freely.  He came to rescue us from ourselves. 

We can plan our meals and pick out our pretty floral bonnets. However, what I must carry is truth of the dying God.  The God who became like me, so much like me, so that he could rescue me from my own failures.  It is in this truth that I arrive at the cross and await the resurrection.  It is in this moment that I look upon the full cost of my own sin.

Now we wait.  We wait in sorrow and hope.  We wait in faith and fear.  It is Friday…

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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What’s the Buzz ~ Holy Week 2018 ~ He Is Not Like Me

Greetings Dear Reader,

To me this day is one of the darkest days in all of history.  We excel as a species in abandoning those who love us.  We are experts at betrayal and treachery.  We are the ones who destroy and deny.

Now imagine that you are the one being handed over.  Imagine that you know all of the plans of your friends.  You even know what they will do when pressed about your friendship.  You know who will deny you.  You know where you will go and what will be done to you.  You have full knowledge of the plan and your part in it.

If this is me I fight for things to be different.  If this is Jesus he tells them he knows, reminds them of his love, and carries on with the Passover Meal.  He has the power to destroy them with a thought.  Instead he reminds them to have faith and that he needs them.

Judas leaves to set up the arrest in the Garden.  Jesus goes to the garden to pray.  He allows the grief and sorrow to be real. He asks if there is any other way whilst his friends snore away their meal.  He sweats blood.  The down payment of our redemption is made.  The angels come to comfort him. 

Again, I am no better than his abandoning friends.  I have no prideful place to stand saying I would be more faithful or loyal.  I wish that I were but I must deal in truth.  As I move toward the cross and the resurrection all that I can do is express gratitude. 

I am obligated to see the horror that unfolds and understand my place in it.  If I do not see that my failures are part of what caused all of this then I am lying to myself.  This is not a call of a martyr’s guilt.  It is a raw recognition of my part in the death of Christ.  It is my place to accept this, be humbled by it, and continue to follow in faith.  He is not like me.  I long to be like him.

A Little More Like Me – Kenny Rogers

It was an April night and I was right

Been out on the town

The show was at the palace

So we all went on down

We all had a ball 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 weird and we all feared

He wasn't one of us

He didn't drink, he didn't smoke

And he didn't even 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 springish each day

The clouds were gray

Looked like it might rain

Thought about the night before

And I was so ashamed

When I heard what they had done to him

A stranger I had known

But as drunk as we all got last night

It's a wonder we got home

He was a little weird and we all feared

He wasn't one of us

He didn't drink, he didn't smoke

And he didn't even 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

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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What’s the Buzz ~ Holy Week 2018 ~ What’s Your Price?

Greetings Dear Reader,

Through my years as a professor I have had occasion where students offered to bribe me for a grade.  I would respond with this: “I am not foolish enough to believe that I do not have a price.  I do have one.  If, however, you could afford it you would not be in school here.”

We all have a price.  Mine is high enough that no one can afford it.  Today is called Spy Wednesday.  It is the day that we think that Judas met with the Sanhedrin to arrange to hand over Jesus to them.  Most use the word betrayal.  I have written about this and have a novel in the works that maps out my thoughts about Judas.

Just yesterday Jesus reminds us of the vast need for faith and forgiveness.  I wonder if we have all forgiven Judas.  I wonder if we understand that his price was not that much different than ours.   I may be hard to buy as a teacher but I have sold other aspects of honor and truth in the past far too cheaply to judge anyone.

My sin is no less or greater than his.  My failures make me just as guilty.  I must approach the cross and the resurrection with full honesty that I am as bad as Judas when it comes to sin.  So are you Dear Reader.  We are all guilty of handing over Christ for something.

I must leave behind the things that I value more than my place with Christ.  I must abandon the things that I treasure that are not connected to the Gospel.  In any moment I can be tested in this. The practice of doing well and faith will see me through the moment.

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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What’s the Buzz ~ Holy Week 2018 ~ Fig Trees and Pretense

Greetings Dear Reader,

When Jesus comes upon a fig tree in full leaf, he rightly assumes that is has fruit even though it is not fig fruit season.  The tree is telling everyone that it has fruit.  It is “acting” as if it has the thing it is supposed to produce.

Jesus condemns the tree.  It dies.  He uses the lesson to teach his followers faith.  It is significant for so many reasons but the fact that he seizes on faith and forgiveness matters.  He knows that the tree has no fruit.  He knows that the faith of his followers will be tested.  He knows that they will have need to forgive in so many ways.

If we hold out that we follow Christ and do not have faith and forgive then we are only holding a pretense.  We are showing that we are something we are not.  It is putting out the leaves without having the figs. 

When I fail to forgive and fail to live by faith I am only pretending to follow Christ.  I am only making a pretense of embracing the love and compassion of the Father.  As I move toward the cross and the resurrection I move toward a place where I need forgiveness.  I must also forgive and have faith that doing so will be the right path.

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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What’s the Buzz ~ Holy Week 2018 ~ A Spring Cleanse

Greetings Dear Reader,

One of the areas of focus during Holy Week is the cleansing of the Temple.  The commercialization of faith never turns out well.  The actions that Jesus takes is twofold.  The focus unfortunately is on the running out of those using God’s house for their own business.  They are making it harder for the poor to access the Temple.  Just as the Pharisees have built a spiritual hedge around faith the money changers and merchants have built an economic one around access. 

The process went something like this:  All Jews were required by the Law of Moses to bring sacrifices to the Temple at Passover.  The Law included provision for the poor.  At the Temple, however, the road blocks were in place.  First you had to buy an “approved” animal instead of bringing your own.  You also had to buy it with “Temple Coins”.  So, the guy traveling from Nazareth who wanted to offer the doves he could afford was forced to exchange his common coin for approved Temple coins.  This of course carried a fee.  Then he had to buy the expensive Temple approved doves at the high Temple instated price. 

We did not invent red tape.  This is what Jesus disrupted when he cleansed the Temple saying, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”  When this story is told, however, what he did next does not get the same attention: “And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.”

Jesus did not just create a void.  He filled it.  He removed the abscess and filled it with life.  My temple needs cleansing almost daily.  I need to see where my faith is commercial instead of accessible.  I must focus on moving toward the cross and the resurrection having thrown out avarice and embraced healing.  I also need to realize that those entrenched in the religious system will cling to their system over truth.  Perhaps what Jesus does next is an example to follow as well: 

“But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ they were indignant, and they said to him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?  And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.”

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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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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What’s the Buzz ~ Holy Week 2018 ~ Opening Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

The grains drift through the pinch of the hourglass and the world spins into spring.  As winter fades and most holdouts no longer have the excuse of snow and cold the last of the Christmas lights come down near me.  There is one small tree in a yard that proudly shines on and it brings me a smile every time I see it. 

Now the week in which we remember the ultimate purpose of the incarnation of Christ is upon us.  As a Christ follower this is the linchpin on which our faith swings.  It is the place where the fullness of time turns.  In this week we see the plan clearly and understand where we are headed in following Christ.

Each year I strive to truly focus on the significance of each day of holy week.  The lessons it has for me go beyond my faith.  They are universal.  As I walk through the week this year I wish to dive deep into what I must become in light of the events so long ago. 

Even if you do not share my faith you may find things to carry with you in this Dear Reader.  Please walk with me through this week of horror and hope. I need the company and there are things we should discuss.  Tempus fugit.

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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