Friday the 14th

Barbara Crafton writes well. Sean of the South writes well. I know good writing, and I do not write well, but then I only started out writing to post a daily report of my health adventure, mid-October 2010, and it devolved from there, somewhat chronicling my journey from age 75 to age 90. 

Right then, what do I do well? Well, eat. Right now for example: recently online looking for something else, IDK what, maybe wondering why my favorite lobster source went out of business, I came across a website offering lumpfish black caviar at an astonishing price. Skeptical, I researched it a bit and found it thusly legitimate that with my magic mug of hot & black this morning I'm having a sizable mound of caviar on cream cheese smeared on saltines, three of them. I grant you, it's not Osetra or Beluga caviar, but it's a decent treat anyway, and it's distracting me from this morning's scheduled trip to the dermatologist for yet more surgery on my face. 

Surgery on my right lower eyelid isn't until early December. See what Father Nature is doing to keep me focused as I head deeper into nonagenarianism - - and what I'm doing in defense, to keep me distracted. Tiny black fish eggs popping deliciously on my tongue.

What might I prefer to write about? The incompetents whom we send to Congress to manage the country competently. My once-upon-a-Time joking remark years ago that politicians should be limited to one term in office, but that they could do a second term if they wished, after which they would be shot, no exceptions.

No, I'm not a violent person, it was tongue-in-cheek, probably the last Time they closed the federal government down. People are hurt by these idiocies, people who vote. But we will be right back to looming shutdown in a couple of months, so save your discretionary income, you'll need it again shortly. 

I mean, Congress gets paid and the military do not? Deployed soldiers, sailors, airman agonizing about their families back home who are living paycheck to paycheck. As I said once, again tongue in cheek, years ago, this is exactly why we have the Second Amendment, nomesane?

So, that from your priest (retired).

++++++++

No, I'm supposed to be thinking kindly thoughts. Here's our gospel reading for day after tomorrow:

Luke 21:5-19 (NRSV)

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."

They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, `I am he!' and, `The time is near!' Do not go after them.

"When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

"But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls."

+++++

From Luke's version of Mark's "little apocalypse"

That downfall, which Mark about 70 AD and Luke about 90 AD wrote in retrospect that Jesus had prophesied about 30 AD, did indeed come in 70 AD for Jerusalem and the Judeans: Rome putting down the Jewish revolt, pulling the Temple down, destroying Jerusalem, and executing Judeans on a horrific scale. So, what's Luke's gospel promise? "By your endurance you will gain your souls." What does that mean, how does Luke intend his readers (reader, Luke wrote to Theophilus) to understand it?

For comparison, at this point in the discourse, Mark (13:13 DLNT) and Matthew (24:13 DLNT) have Jesus say, "But the one having endured to the end— this one will be saved," by which they mean Jesus is saying that when the Son of Man comes at the End of Days those who have faithfully endured the persecution without abandoning Jesus (this is also the central message of Revelation) will be saved bodily into the new kingdom of God on Earth. 

Sourcing from either Mark or Matthew, Luke (21:19 DLNT) "Gain your souls by your endurance," seems to change the theology of salvation to mean not saving the body into the new kingdom of God on Earth, but saving the soul into the heavenly paradise of God; which seems to tie in to what Luke alone writes that Jesus said to the repentant thief beside him on the next cross (Luke 23:43 DLNT) And (Jesus) said to him, “Truly I say to you, you will be with Me today in paradise,” a theology of immediate translation of the self at death from living body to living soul and immediately into paradise, the abode of God that we call Heaven. This was not Paul's understanding of salvation, and neither does it seem to have been Jesus' understanding, but it does seem to be Luke's understanding.

What are the facts, the True Facts? IDK and neither do you, but read also the OT wisdom at Ecclesiastes chapter 3, with which I agree.

Enough, enough. Time to get ready to leave for the dermatology clinic. For their wonderful skill,

RSF&PTL

T90

 

clipart: the little apocalypse, pinched online

  .