denarius

Watching and waiting for Ukraine's vaunted spring offensive against Russia in a war that was politically, diplomatically avoidable, but that has devolved into an unspeakable, outrageous horror. Hoping it isn't spread into more nations and World War Three, but which I think it already has done.

Putin should go, but dictators insulate and protect themselves, and history shows that they can be difficult and costly to put down. An incompetently executed and self-aggrandizing plot against Hitler and aftermath, ramifications, far-reaching, summary brutally vengeful cleansing. Ides of March against Julius Caesar, which I recall some sort of Shakespeare reenactment in our class at Cove School, the most famous lines being "Et tu, Brute" and "Then fall Caesar," which history refutes with the suggestion that what Caesar actually said, if anything, was in Greek, "kai su, teknon" "and you, child" but also that he actually fell in silence.

Who or what can dispatch the latest Russian tyrant? All tyrants are sociopathic narcissists and the only way to get rid of them is assassination, a dreadful style of changing government.

Why this ramble?

Yesterday, looking for a "whose image is this?" Roman coin to go along with the story of the dog named Caesar, I came across the Ides of March coin minted by Brutus in gold, but especially in a silver denarius, apparently to pay his troops. Heads (obverse) is an image of Brutus with an inscription, and Tails (reverse) are knives as used in the assassination, a cap that symbolized freedom, and the inscription Eide Mar for the assassination date.

What was Brutus doing minting coins? Apparently it wasn't all that extraordinary in that day and age, Brutus was a "moneyer" and minted other coins as well. So, wandering further, in my early morning predawn darkness I read online a history of Brutus, and histories of the wars and insurrections that he and his contemporaries were involved in both before and as the aftermath of their assassination of Julius Caesar on 15 March, 44 BCE.

The gold Ides of March coin has its own history, which I also explored this morning in several online sources.

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Most shocking this morning, that an illegal immigrant who had already been caught and deported several Times, can get hold of an AR-15 type weapon, that in a rage he used to murder his neighbors. The pro-gun faction in America could bolster their side and gain public support simply by proposing gun controls designed to effectively keep weapons out of the hands of such people. IDK why that is so difficult and impossible in America.

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Meantime, our gospel for this coming Sunday, Easter 5, Year A. It's still Easter, but we seem to have run out of post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, so this, from Gospel John:

John 14:1-14

Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.”

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

Jesus said to him, “I AM the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”

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A challenging gospel passage to preach on, especially the promise, "I will do whatever you ask in my name . . . If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it" a promise totally disproved in the mind of every person who has lost a beloved one in spite of prayer for healing and restoration. The promise that Gospel John has Jesus make is patently up for target practice in any Sunday school or Bible study gathering.

In my own Time, late Spring early Summer 2000, a boating accident that injured William Hall, 8 years old, who had just finished second grade at our school. I visited William and his mother and stepfather in the ER immediately, laid hands on William as we prayed earnestly for his recovery, and I prayed vehemently in the short Time after, until he died. The memories still bring me down. I was Interim Rector at Grace Church, PCB at the Time, and I remember sharing my stunned anger and grief with my congregation in a sermon, "Can the Faith of Tom Weller Survive the Death of William Hall?"

And I will confess, that it did not. Whatever trust, innocence, and naivete characterized my Faith up to that point was destroyed, no, my Faith did not survive William's death. In retrospect, I might mix metaphors and say that my Faith was refined in trial by fire, evolved and decades later is still evolving exceedingly different. It's been years, and I've grown into it; but my own experience of William's death was fully as shocking, destabilizing, and disillusioning as were my initial critical (exploring in depth) studies of the Bible in theological seminary, and years later in EfM. We can long for the innocence of The Old Time, but it never returns, and life goes on, changed and changing. Would we have life evolving, or no life at all? Or would we have ignorance instead of disillusionment?

RSF&PTLAnyway