Life In Greencastle

Thursday – The Last Supper & Jesus in the Garden   It was just before the Passover Feast.  Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.  Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.  - John 13:1   Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  - John 15:13   . . . It is now Thursday - the Thursday!  The Thursday of Passover.  The Thursday of the Seder meal, but there is more than the usual air of significance that surrounds this occasion.   The clouds left today, and a hotter wind from the south has replaced yesterday’s cooling air, leaving many ready to recline around the table and within the comforts of good friends.  Jesus and the disciples are no different, and thankfully an appropriate accommodation has been secured within the city walls of Jerusalem.    John and Peter came earlier, but now the res...

Wednesday – The Anointing at Bethany While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.   When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. ‘Why this waste?” they asked.  ‘This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.’   Aware of this, Jesus said to them, ‘Why are you bothering this woman?  She has done a beautiful thing to me.  The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.  I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her. -Matthew 26:6-13 . . . Wednesday is a quiet day as a cooler wind blows from the Mediterranean and the sky is full of heavy gray clouds. A light r...

Tuesday – Wolves & Sheep Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priest and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him.  But not during the Feast, they said, “or the people may riot.” - Mark 14:1,2 . . . It is now Tuesday.  Jesus and the disciples once again rise with the sun coming over the Mount of Olives and casting light onto Jerusalem.  They see the city where the Lord’s anger burned a short while ago.  They pack up only what is necessary, talking very little and eating even less.  They are headed back into a hive of treachery and threat.  Their minds and stomachs turn at the prospect of resistance and confrontation.  Yesterday, Jesus forced the events and strode out of Jerusalem leaving men guessing, questioning and preparing – preparing to strike back.  It was only Sunday that the people gladly followed in his wake, but now the crowd...

Monday – Jesus in the Temple Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them, "My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers." The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant. "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read,                         'From the lips of children and infants                      ...

Palm Sunday – Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!" - Matthew 21:6-9 It is Sunday, a Sunday filled with expectations for life to emerge and to flourish. The sun is bright; the air is gentle and warm.  A boy runs up alongside a donkey carrying a modest load:  one quiet man, his face tanned, his feet calloused and his hands relaxed in his lap upon the beast.  The boy glances up, squints, and raises a palm branch into the air.  The sun’s rays neglect clear vision of this man.  So instead of waiting for a re...

For those who missed out on Sunday, we opened up our Manna & Mercy class with a bit of Old Testament Bible Trivia!  Here you go ... "What then is this bleating of ___________ in my ears?" "O my son _____________!  My son, my son ____________!  If only I had died instead of you!  O ____________ my son, my son!" Ezekiel and the valley of ____ _________. Jeremiah buys a  _________ while Israel is under siege. "When [Elisha] turned around and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord.  Then two ___-_______ came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys." "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in ______ ______." "This also is vanity and a chasing after ______." Isaiah and the six-winged _______ in the __________ of the Lord." "But he was wounded for our _____________, crushed for our ____________." "For surely I know the ______ I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plan...