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Good Friday 2024
Posted a year agoThoughts on this day from a Roman perspective...
I am a legionnaire. I love my nation. I love my century. A hundred brothers I can rely on. We have stood together, fought together, built together, and buried our honored dead. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. We have brought law and order from the northern countries to this desolate waste of a desert. If you safely walk a road, it is because the legion makes it so. If you till the land without fear of raiders, it is our garrison that keeps them at bay. If your daughters were not harassed by a pack of drunk idiots at the tavern, it is probably because we were in another area.
Some day I hope to have a small plot of land myself. Where I can raise my own family and live in peace.
But that is not today.
It all started earlier this week. Some big holy festival for the locals, celebrating their escape from the Egyptians, I think? Heh, Egyptians, we beat them a couple decades ago…
Anyways, that always stirs up the radicals. Zealots, they try hitting us, poisioning wells. Assassination attempts. They never learn. Rome isn’t going away any time soon.
So here comes the latest “savior” riding in on a colt in some poor man’s victory parade. You could hear them shouting all over the city. They can be happy. When they start shouting “Death to Rome.” Well then, lessons need to be taught, again.
So, who is this new guy? Weird sort. Rumors and stories had filtered in from the countryside, he’s some sort of a teacher? Son of a carpenter out of some random small town. Possibly illegitimate. Who knows? But he doesn’t seem to be the violent sort. He draws a crowd wherever he goes. Grapevine says he even helped out one of the centurions, healing the man’s slave, really? If he’s a pacifist, maybe he will be tolerable.
But, I was wrong! He rolls into town, then into the temple, and the first thing he does is makes a whip and starts beating the moneychangers and merchants in the courtyard, emptying the place out! Yeah, Roman coin isn’t good enough for the religious nobility in their sacred spot, but it is good enough for their pockets! This guy wasn’t having any of it.
It was only a matter of time. Last night the cohort was called out to make an arrest.
“Who?”
“The son of a god!”
“Which one?” Followed by laughter...
“The one that wiped out the Egyptian army. The one that killed 100,000 Assyrians in one night. The one who empowered a man to slay a thousand soldiers with the jawbone of an ass...”
Never underestimate your enemy. This could be a very long night or a very short night…
And the answer is, of course, yes. It was the hero of Sunday, his words finally catching up with him. You don’t talk crap on those in power and expect to not get negative attention. There was a bit of a scuffle at the beginning. Someone drew a sword and attacked one of the high priest’s servants, but that all came to nothing. In the end all his men fled and we had our prisoner to escort.
And escort we did, to the religious court, to Pilate, to Herod, back to Pilate again. Sometimes, I hate this job. The people that were calling this man a savior a few days ago now want his blood. The mob is a fickle thing. I can’t wait to be done with this area.
Beaten, flogged, humiliated, abandoned. I could almost feel bad for the guy. It could be worse, it could be me! (Ha!)
So we get the demigod to the top of the hill and nail him to the cross, with two other murderers. Normal people understand what is about to befall them. You learn all kinds of fascinating facts about your cultural and parental heritage, your fate in the next life, something about fleas in your armpits, and cursing, lots and lots of cursing.
And we got that from the two murderers. Nothing amazing to write about. But the demigod? We was weird, insane? I don’t know.
“Daddy, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing!”
That was new… Why would he say something like that? If he couldn’t resist Roman authority, his nation couldn’t resist Roman authority, what on Earth could his father do?
Crucifixion is a bad way to go. I’ve seen people last for days up on the cross before exhaustion and exposure finally kill them. The end always comes with a whimper, if that. They are completely drained when death finally comes for them.
This one was different. He was there three hours. He bore the mockery of the crowd, gave his mother to his best friend, I assume. Then he decided enough was enough. I could recognize “The debt has been paid.” And with a loud cry, he was gone.
The sky went black. Oh yeah, maybe daddy was not a random carpenter, or some other local, but in fact the God that slew armies when He saw fit.
The ground began to shake.
Well, crap. We just murdered the Son of God?
The wind picked up. People fled for their lives. All hades was breaking loose and we were at the apex. Many of my brothers fled, but the centurion remained. If he was there I was there.
The order came to break the legs of all the condemned. That ended the crucifixion. Without being able to stand, you couldn’t breathe and you suffocated under your own weight. I grabbed a sledge and went to the middle. Why did I pick Him?
The earth shook and I dropped my implement. I looked up at the cross, and the body being shaken like a ragdoll.
“He’s dead, sir!”
The centurion tossed me a spear. “Make certain!” Instinctively I turned and rammed it home into my target. The point sank in well over a hand’s length. I am about to be covered by the blood of the Son of God...
The ground shook again, I could not move, the blade came free and out of the wound poured… water…
I fell to my knees under the cross, waiting to be destroyed.
Behind me the centurion removed his helmet. “Truly, this man was the Son of God.”
We were not destroyed. The wind died down, and the ground stopped moving. Quiet returned. We remained guarding the dead until word came from Pilate that someone had requested the corpse be taken down. We did as ordered.
Something tells me, this isn’t over, but only the beginning of something else. I don’t know what. Will I be ready for it?
I am a legionnaire. I love my nation. I love my century. A hundred brothers I can rely on. We have stood together, fought together, built together, and buried our honored dead. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. We have brought law and order from the northern countries to this desolate waste of a desert. If you safely walk a road, it is because the legion makes it so. If you till the land without fear of raiders, it is our garrison that keeps them at bay. If your daughters were not harassed by a pack of drunk idiots at the tavern, it is probably because we were in another area.
Some day I hope to have a small plot of land myself. Where I can raise my own family and live in peace.
But that is not today.
It all started earlier this week. Some big holy festival for the locals, celebrating their escape from the Egyptians, I think? Heh, Egyptians, we beat them a couple decades ago…
Anyways, that always stirs up the radicals. Zealots, they try hitting us, poisioning wells. Assassination attempts. They never learn. Rome isn’t going away any time soon.
So here comes the latest “savior” riding in on a colt in some poor man’s victory parade. You could hear them shouting all over the city. They can be happy. When they start shouting “Death to Rome.” Well then, lessons need to be taught, again.
So, who is this new guy? Weird sort. Rumors and stories had filtered in from the countryside, he’s some sort of a teacher? Son of a carpenter out of some random small town. Possibly illegitimate. Who knows? But he doesn’t seem to be the violent sort. He draws a crowd wherever he goes. Grapevine says he even helped out one of the centurions, healing the man’s slave, really? If he’s a pacifist, maybe he will be tolerable.
But, I was wrong! He rolls into town, then into the temple, and the first thing he does is makes a whip and starts beating the moneychangers and merchants in the courtyard, emptying the place out! Yeah, Roman coin isn’t good enough for the religious nobility in their sacred spot, but it is good enough for their pockets! This guy wasn’t having any of it.
It was only a matter of time. Last night the cohort was called out to make an arrest.
“Who?”
“The son of a god!”
“Which one?” Followed by laughter...
“The one that wiped out the Egyptian army. The one that killed 100,000 Assyrians in one night. The one who empowered a man to slay a thousand soldiers with the jawbone of an ass...”
Never underestimate your enemy. This could be a very long night or a very short night…
And the answer is, of course, yes. It was the hero of Sunday, his words finally catching up with him. You don’t talk crap on those in power and expect to not get negative attention. There was a bit of a scuffle at the beginning. Someone drew a sword and attacked one of the high priest’s servants, but that all came to nothing. In the end all his men fled and we had our prisoner to escort.
And escort we did, to the religious court, to Pilate, to Herod, back to Pilate again. Sometimes, I hate this job. The people that were calling this man a savior a few days ago now want his blood. The mob is a fickle thing. I can’t wait to be done with this area.
Beaten, flogged, humiliated, abandoned. I could almost feel bad for the guy. It could be worse, it could be me! (Ha!)
So we get the demigod to the top of the hill and nail him to the cross, with two other murderers. Normal people understand what is about to befall them. You learn all kinds of fascinating facts about your cultural and parental heritage, your fate in the next life, something about fleas in your armpits, and cursing, lots and lots of cursing.
And we got that from the two murderers. Nothing amazing to write about. But the demigod? We was weird, insane? I don’t know.
“Daddy, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing!”
That was new… Why would he say something like that? If he couldn’t resist Roman authority, his nation couldn’t resist Roman authority, what on Earth could his father do?
Crucifixion is a bad way to go. I’ve seen people last for days up on the cross before exhaustion and exposure finally kill them. The end always comes with a whimper, if that. They are completely drained when death finally comes for them.
This one was different. He was there three hours. He bore the mockery of the crowd, gave his mother to his best friend, I assume. Then he decided enough was enough. I could recognize “The debt has been paid.” And with a loud cry, he was gone.
The sky went black. Oh yeah, maybe daddy was not a random carpenter, or some other local, but in fact the God that slew armies when He saw fit.
The ground began to shake.
Well, crap. We just murdered the Son of God?
The wind picked up. People fled for their lives. All hades was breaking loose and we were at the apex. Many of my brothers fled, but the centurion remained. If he was there I was there.
The order came to break the legs of all the condemned. That ended the crucifixion. Without being able to stand, you couldn’t breathe and you suffocated under your own weight. I grabbed a sledge and went to the middle. Why did I pick Him?
The earth shook and I dropped my implement. I looked up at the cross, and the body being shaken like a ragdoll.
“He’s dead, sir!”
The centurion tossed me a spear. “Make certain!” Instinctively I turned and rammed it home into my target. The point sank in well over a hand’s length. I am about to be covered by the blood of the Son of God...
The ground shook again, I could not move, the blade came free and out of the wound poured… water…
I fell to my knees under the cross, waiting to be destroyed.
Behind me the centurion removed his helmet. “Truly, this man was the Son of God.”
We were not destroyed. The wind died down, and the ground stopped moving. Quiet returned. We remained guarding the dead until word came from Pilate that someone had requested the corpse be taken down. We did as ordered.
Something tells me, this isn’t over, but only the beginning of something else. I don’t know what. Will I be ready for it?
Good Friday
Posted 3 years agoToday is Good Friday, the end of Holy Week, and almost the end of the Lenten season. There is a lot I need to consider today. So easy to retreat into the box of distractions and wander aimlessly...
What are you willing to die for? This is something I really need to ponder today. And when I say die, I don't mean on the battlefield surrounded by heaps of the slain, or tying a bomb to one's face and walking into a public area...
No...
When the stormtroopers knock on one's door at 2:00 in the morning, invite them in, and go quietly with them, knowing what is about to happen...
I'll be watching the Passion of the Christ this afternoon. The film brings tears to my eyes, as I consider the pain it portrays, and it's implications for my life. Asking me these questions:
Would you die for a friend?
Would you die for someone you liked / respected?
Would you die for someone who was ignorant towards you?
If someone died that you might live, how would you relate to that person for the rest of your life?
Is death the end of all things?
What if it isn't?
I'll need to think on this today, and Sunday...
What are you willing to die for? This is something I really need to ponder today. And when I say die, I don't mean on the battlefield surrounded by heaps of the slain, or tying a bomb to one's face and walking into a public area...
No...
When the stormtroopers knock on one's door at 2:00 in the morning, invite them in, and go quietly with them, knowing what is about to happen...
I'll be watching the Passion of the Christ this afternoon. The film brings tears to my eyes, as I consider the pain it portrays, and it's implications for my life. Asking me these questions:
Would you die for a friend?
Would you die for someone you liked / respected?
Would you die for someone who was ignorant towards you?
If someone died that you might live, how would you relate to that person for the rest of your life?
Is death the end of all things?
What if it isn't?
I'll need to think on this today, and Sunday...
Dust thou art and to Dust thou Shalt Return.
Posted 3 years agoToday is Ash Wednesday. The beginning of Lent, the ramp up to the Easter season. It is a time of reflection for those that follow Jesus.
According to Psalm 90: “Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away. ”
This verse hits home to me as I come off another major arthritic attack, and watch my blood pressure creeping into dangerous levels. I have seventeen years left, possibly even less looking at the mortality rate on my mother's side. It is a sobering thought. This is stuff you generally don't think about when you are in your teens – 20's.
What have I actually accomplished with my life? Have I been useful to anyone, or anything? When I am gone will the world be better, or worse off because of me? Will anyone even notice me gone? What happens to me after I die?
Those are not easy or simple questions. But I have the next forty days to ponder them.
According to Psalm 90: “Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away. ”
This verse hits home to me as I come off another major arthritic attack, and watch my blood pressure creeping into dangerous levels. I have seventeen years left, possibly even less looking at the mortality rate on my mother's side. It is a sobering thought. This is stuff you generally don't think about when you are in your teens – 20's.
What have I actually accomplished with my life? Have I been useful to anyone, or anything? When I am gone will the world be better, or worse off because of me? Will anyone even notice me gone? What happens to me after I die?
Those are not easy or simple questions. But I have the next forty days to ponder them.
I asked for a bonus...
Posted 4 years agoSo...
My boss screwed up our annual evaluation and it cost us 20% of our pay raise. (It sounds a lot worse than it is, only comes out to about $.10 / hour. Still, its the thought that counts...)
Additionally I've been given aditional travel responsibilities every day that require me to beat my car every day for about $.75 / day reimbursement. I'm sure that will cover the wasted gas, new exhaust system and overall wear of the engine. Because starting your car, driving 1/4 mile and turning it off is super healthy for an internal combustion engine. Maybe if I had a Tesla or something electric I wouldn't care as much.
So beware when dealing with passive-aggressive people in positions of power. He gave me a bonus, alright... His disease. He tested hot for Covid last week, and I'm feeling all his symptoms. Got the test yesterday to confirm one way or the other.
The fact that the temprature just went below freezing and it started dumping snow outside, and I'm required to keep the driveway and walkways clear isn't helping anything...
Well, at least I go the week off...
My boss screwed up our annual evaluation and it cost us 20% of our pay raise. (It sounds a lot worse than it is, only comes out to about $.10 / hour. Still, its the thought that counts...)
Additionally I've been given aditional travel responsibilities every day that require me to beat my car every day for about $.75 / day reimbursement. I'm sure that will cover the wasted gas, new exhaust system and overall wear of the engine. Because starting your car, driving 1/4 mile and turning it off is super healthy for an internal combustion engine. Maybe if I had a Tesla or something electric I wouldn't care as much.
So beware when dealing with passive-aggressive people in positions of power. He gave me a bonus, alright... His disease. He tested hot for Covid last week, and I'm feeling all his symptoms. Got the test yesterday to confirm one way or the other.
The fact that the temprature just went below freezing and it started dumping snow outside, and I'm required to keep the driveway and walkways clear isn't helping anything...
Well, at least I go the week off...
Fighting the creeping Ick *Updated*
Posted 7 years agoBeen sick since Wednesday. Temp soaring as high as 104. It has not been a pleasant experience... Spent Thursday, Friday, and most Saturday in bed, but no real sleep. Chest pains stopped Sat afternoon and temp started dropping. Actually slept Saturday night, which helped enormously. I'll try to get into work tomorrow. Maybe if I'm lucky I can make it to the office and barf on the boss's laptop. That shouldfinally force him to upgrade to what the rest of us are using!
*update*
Well, I think I am mostly over this, a little stuff left deep in my lungs, that will work its way out eventually. My appetite is back, and I'm back on the job. Thanks to all who wished me well and prayed for me! =^^=
*update*
Well, I think I am mostly over this, a little stuff left deep in my lungs, that will work its way out eventually. My appetite is back, and I'm back on the job. Thanks to all who wished me well and prayed for me! =^^=
2017
Posted 8 years agoEgad, where did 2017 go? Heck, I remember looking up to 2000 and expecting the great crash of all electronics. Ah, well, another year to move forward. This will be the first Christmas without mom. That changes a lot. My sister mentioned this, we had a lot of family traditions that revolved around her and her Polish heritage; Midnight mass at the Polish church, the wigilia Christmas Eve dinner, the carols…
What do we do now? It is like the anchor broke free. We are free to change whatever we want and make our own traditions. But so what? What direction does one go in? I don’t want to fall prey to Consumer Christmas which is all about buying and deals at best, gifting yourself at worst.
Is it even about family? I love the getting together, and the sharing of memories, but now so many are gone… What happens if I am the last one left?
Why do we even care about this day in the first place?
I love the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. The cartoon was so progressive for its time. It followed, no, it made a formula that was completely contradictory to what conventional wisdom said a cartoon should be. From using a Jazz artist for the background music, to actual children to do the voice acting, to the most radical thing of all: Actually reading the Gospel on national TV.
It hit the nail on the head. This is a messed up, depressing world we are living in. But there is hope beyond it. It is not unattainable, and the means by which we can obtain it. That all began in a noting town in an obscure part of the Roman Empire… No it didn’t start there, it started with a promise at the dawn of time, but the climax started there. A new hope for everyone in this world, and beyond it…
Happy Christmas!
What do we do now? It is like the anchor broke free. We are free to change whatever we want and make our own traditions. But so what? What direction does one go in? I don’t want to fall prey to Consumer Christmas which is all about buying and deals at best, gifting yourself at worst.
Is it even about family? I love the getting together, and the sharing of memories, but now so many are gone… What happens if I am the last one left?
Why do we even care about this day in the first place?
I love the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. The cartoon was so progressive for its time. It followed, no, it made a formula that was completely contradictory to what conventional wisdom said a cartoon should be. From using a Jazz artist for the background music, to actual children to do the voice acting, to the most radical thing of all: Actually reading the Gospel on national TV.
It hit the nail on the head. This is a messed up, depressing world we are living in. But there is hope beyond it. It is not unattainable, and the means by which we can obtain it. That all began in a noting town in an obscure part of the Roman Empire… No it didn’t start there, it started with a promise at the dawn of time, but the climax started there. A new hope for everyone in this world, and beyond it…
Happy Christmas!
