Tomb Saturday

It was a dark and sad day for the Disciples of Jesus. Their Rabbi was dead and laying in a borrowed tomb and they were hiding from the authorities. What must they have been thinking? Perhaps “How could Judas have done that?” or “What went wrong? Jesus should have been crowned King by now!”

Sadness and sorrow griped their hearts. What now?  It was the sabbath so they could not escape the city until the next day as no one travels on the sabbath. How could they know that the glory of the Resurrection was about to be theirs?

Many of us have had dark days in our lives when it seems that all is lost. Now we look back and think. “I should have known it would work out.”  We do not think that at the darkest times because we are too absorbed in the pain. The old phrase, “This too shal pass.” is often a crutch that get us through to the dawn that is to come.

Good??? Friday

Have you ever wondered why Christians call the day Jesus the Christ died on the cross “Good Friday”???

How could a day full of painful agony and the death of Jesus be called good?

Perhaps the origin comes from the term “God’s Friday” in the same way that good-bye comes from “God be with ye” and was slurred over time.  All that aside as speculation we can consider that because we now know that Resurrections Sunday follows the events of that Friday, and knowing that Jesus’ death and resurrections accomplished salvation for all of us, then the term “Good Friday” is most understandable.

Today is a day to contemplate the fact that our sins were nailed to the cross with Jesus. Because of His sacrifice we are forgiven. This is a day of prayer and meditation.

Maundy Thrusday

I always thought that the term “Maundy Thursday” sounded strange. It comes from the Latin term mandatum novum for the foot washing ceremony.

On this day Christians celebrate two very special ceremonies that Jesus instituted during his last Passover meal with his disciples.

The first was the washing of feet. Now this was the job of the lowest servant or person in the house. No one had undertaken the task as they had just argued about who was the greatest among them. Jesus, their Rabbi and leader, used this opportunity to teach them about being servant leaders.

The second was the sacred meal Christians call Eucharist, Communion, and Lord’s Supper. It was a simple act of blessing bread, breaking it and sharing it with the command, “This is my body broken for you take and eat.” Jesus then took a cup of wine blessed it and said, “This is my blood shed for you, take and drink of it all of you and do this in remembrance of me.”

This is also the night that we remember that Jesus was betrayed for 30 pieces of sliver and the Passion of Jesus began.

Corruption In Holy Places

With all the trouble in the Roman Priesthood in what seems to be worldwide corruption many people are upset and should be. The Roman church is not the only one to suffer from leadership corruptions most every religious group has had to deal with it from time to time. Humans in positions of power sometimes yield to temptation.

When Jesus ran the money changers and dealers in sacrificial animals out of the temple during that first Holy Week the evidence points to the Levites - priestly families - who were involved. They had been accused of cheating people many times but they were people in power. I think that the common people cheered when Jesus did that.

It is sad that so many faithful clergy are tarnished by a few corrupted clergy.

CENSUS???

CENSUS

I received my 2010 Census and mailed it back in. Then I began to think about the big census in the bible. It is found in the Book of Numbers chapter one. The census is one taken by Moses counting the men of military age who left Egypt with him.

Of the 12 tribes there were 603,550 men

Of the Levites there were 8,580 men

Total men of age 612,130 men

But that did not count all the people for there were women and children that did not get counted. Not all men would have been married or have children. Some men would have several wives and lots of children so we can only get a rough estimate. There were also some non Hebrew slaves with them.

There may have been three to four million people in the group that left Egypt with Moses. Add into that the goats’ cattle and other assorted critters and you have a huge crowd trudging through the wilderness and camping out.

Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday when Christians remember and celebrate the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem to people shouting Hosanna and proclaiming Jesus as the expected Messiah.

This is the start of  Holy Week - Praise the Lord