Palm Sunday: makarioi

For me, this isn't early of a Sunday morning, Sundays I get up at three a.m. to give myself plenty of Time to prep for the morning ahead. Sermon work if I'm the designated preacher for the day, usually some sort of major rework and finish what I'd planned to say. In homiletics classes at my seminary, we were required to get into the pulpit with a full manuscript, two copies, hand one to the professor as we headed to the pulpit, so the manuscript is still my way; which is fine, because I can no longer hold together a ten or twelve minute homily or sermon without the paper in front of me.

Other Sundays, as today, finish prepping for our adult Sunday School class. This is Palm Sunday, Lectionary Year C, so we're reading from the Gospel according to Luke - - which we call the evangelist who wrote it, er heißt Luke, whoever he might actually have been; like the other three canonical gospels, it's anonymous. Here's Luke's account of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem:

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After telling a parable to the crowd at Jericho, Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, "Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it.'" So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" They said, "The Lord needs it." Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,

"Blessed is the king

who comes in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven,

and glory in the highest heaven!"

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out."

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So, that's what we're about at church this morning. Of course, the joyful morning suddenly clouds over as we read what's called "The Passion of the Christ".

Anyway, what I have in mind for our class is checking out what the gospels say Jesus did during his Holy Week adventure, including the anomalies we find as we look from gospel to gospel - - Matthew has Jesus ride into Jerusalem astride two donkeys - - Luke has Jesus serve two cups of wine at the Last Supper - - in the synoptic gospels the Last Supper and Crucifixion are on Passover, in Gospel John it's the Day of Preparation, when the lambs are slaughtered, and Jesus the Lamb of God one of them - - Luke has Jesus go before King Herod - - &c ... 

And also maybe we'll explore beyond the veil, taking off from Jesus telling the repentant thief on the next cross, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise" - - whether it signifies regarding author Paul versus author Luke as regards our own Easter? It all should be interesting, and fun - - a small group Bible discussion such as ours is no good unless it's fun, and ours almost invariably is fun.

So, I'm just sitting here. Sunday mornings I stop work at five o'clock and we have breakfast, which varies. Sometimes it's Linda's scrambled cheese eggs, the best, soft and moist. Today, two small slices of leftover roast pork, each topped with a fried egg, cooked over medium. Either more hot black coffee or ice water or iced barley tea. Some Sunday mornings, back to bed for fifty or forty minutes, and a quick nap if that happens. Then shower and we try to leave for church by six-fifty-five or so, getting us there right after seven o'clock.

Other mornings, my lifelong morning habit back into Navy days was up at four o'clock. Later, when we lived in Apalachicola, one of life's highlights, waking up as roosters started crowing all over town, going downstairs for coffee and often breakfast of oysters baked on whole wheat bread toast, still a sometime favorite.

Whoever lives, "stays" as in "Where do you stay?" in the rectory at Trinity, Apalachicola is truly blessed, "makarioi" is the NT Greek word, happy, as we were for fourteen years. One day soon, we intend to drive back over just for the day. Oysters at The Station, and Linda likes to do a little shopping in a couple or three or four establishments.

The oysters, of course, are no longer Apalachicola Bay oysters, they're trucked in from all over. In fact, I can get equal or sometimes better oysters here. Gene's Oyster Bar, for example. Sometimes at Hunt's Oyster Bar.

But back to my mornings, these days we try to sleep late, maybe to five o'clock, now and then even to six o'clock a.m. All because Life Is Good.

Time for breakfast. 

Hope to see folks at church.

RSF&PTL

T