Hosanna!

Today is Sunday, the twenty-eighth of March, 2021. Palm Sunday.

Peace be with you!

Day 23,026

Seven days until Resurrection Sunday. Holy Week begins today.

I will begin with my weekly WW report. I lost another .6 yesterday. Just a tad under what I was hoping for, but a loss is a loss. I am 64.2 pounds away from my goal weight. At the rate I’m going, It will be 2023 before I get there. Hahaha!! But you know what? There is absolutely no rush, is there? There is no deadline.

My current step goal is to get below 200 pounds. That could happen this year, but I’ll have to average better than .8 of a pound per month. But I’ve lost 10.4 pounds so far, this year. That’s an average of 3.5 pounds a month. If I keep that up, I will make it this year, maybe around November.

So, yesterday, C picked up a couple of sirloin steaks when she went to get groceries. I got this new sous vide cooker with my reward points from work (I hit a ten year anniversary last November), and was wanting to try it on steak. We cooked some chicken with it a week or so back, and that didn’t turn out great. Rookie mistakes, though, I think. Steak looked simple.

There were two steaks, weighing in at roughly a pound, total. About an inch and a half thick. I put them in a Ziploc bag (we don’t have a vacuum sealer . . . yet) and got as much air out as I could. I also found four frozen corn on the cobs, covered them with “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” spray, and put them in another Ziploc. Oh, I also sprayed the steaks with ICBINB and put “Seven” seasoning (from Saltgrass), as well as some onion powder and garlic powder on them.

I got this nifty plastic box for the sous vide . . . holds twelve quarts of water, and it came with a nice rack to put the food in, to keep it from floating. I put all of that in the box, which promptly overflowed because I had put too much water in it. It’s a learning process, you know. Based on the instructions that came with the cooking box, I set the sous vide for 129 degrees for medium rare, for one hour, and let it do its magic.

After an hour, I put the steaks in a hot pan, with just a tad of olive oil in it, and seared each side for a minute or two. Here is what I got.

Do I even need to tell you how delicious this was? Even the corn was cooked perfectly (although it could have been warmer). It was, quite literally, the best steak I have ever cooked. We already have plans to do this again, next Saturday.

Speaking of plans, we are starting to try to figure out what we are going to do for our anniversary vacation, this year. We thought about Cancun, we even thought about Hawaii (someday), but we have decided to do something drivable, this year, and put off anything involving flying until at least next year.

So Galveston is looking good, again. We’ve started looking at some beach houses, down there, and are finding some nice ones. Plus, I need to go back to Murdoch’s and get some Hawaiian shirts, since I can wear them again!

We have our Zoom church gathering in a little while, at 10:15. We’ll be starting with Psalm 20, this morning. So I guess I should get on with things. I’m sure we will have Applebee’s for lunch, and, since we had steak last night, I will make the traditional weekend burgers for S and me this evening.

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL AND PRAYERS

This new day You give to me
From Your great eternity
This new day now enfold
Me in Your loving hold

You are the star of the morn
You are the day newly born
You are the light of our night
You are the Savior by Your might

God be in me this day
God ever with me stay
God be in the night
Keep us by Thy light
God be in my heart
God abide, never depart.
(David Adam)

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah.
(Psalms 67:3-4 ESV)

Today I am grateful:

• for my coffee
• for the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world
• for the King who comes in the name of the Lord
• for the way Your Word is fresh and new every day
• for the way music stirs my soul

Scriptures and Prayers from Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year

PALM SUNDAY

INVITATION

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
(John 1:29 NIV)

I’m pausing a moment to quietly reflect on the amazing truth that my sin has been taken away by the Lamb of God.

BIBLE SONG

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.” A psalm of David.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.
Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises.
In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.
To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the LORD,” they say, “let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”
(Psalms 22:1-8 NIV)

BIBLE READING

After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.'”
Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
They replied, “The Lord needs it.”
They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
(Luke 19:28-40 NIV)

DWELLING: SILENCE AND MEDITATION

As I remind myself that I am in the presence of the Lord, I read through these passages again, allowing the Spirit to direct me to particular words or phrases that move my soul.

On the day that Jesus was crucified, at around noon, the sky went dark. It was, at the same time, the darkest time in human history, and the brightest. For while God incarnate was dying, hope for humanity was being born. Jesus, in an unthinkable moment, felt the presence of the Father being ripped from him. I can only imagine . . . actually, no I can’t . . . what that felt like. His cry, at the moment, only gives us a hint.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

There have been a few times, maybe just a couple, when I felt forsaken by God, but only for a moment, and that moment didn’t last very long. But it was the worst feeling I have ever experienced.

At that moment, on that dark afternoon, Jesus was utterly alone. And somehow, David was inspired to write that in a psalm several hundred years before it happened.

And just a few days earlier, crowds had lined the streets of Jerusalem, laid down palm branches in the road and shouted “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Those same voices would, just days later, shout “Crucify Him!”

Despised and rejected. Forsaken by God; forsaken by His own people.

Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

Father, while I rejoice at the effects of that day, my heart fills with shame at my own treatment of the Son of God, the Lamb of God. For, while He took away my sins along with the sins of the world, somehow, I manage to continue to pile them on. Nevertheless, You keep forgiving, and I am grateful for this. My shame is turned into joy, as Your mercies appear, new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness, Lord, unto me! “As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.”

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Your Name. 
May Your kingdom come, and Your will be done, 
on earth as in heaven. 
Give us today our daily bread. 
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. 
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; 
for Yours are the kingdom and the power 
and the glory forever and ever. 
Amen.

Mighty God,
we look for salvation and security in many different places.
We confess we're tempted to seek out a pumped-up Savior of power who would flex rippling muscles.
Prepare our hearts to welcome our humble servant-King,
Jesus,
finding in him all we need for our salvation.
Amen.
(Heidelberg Catechism 30)

BLESSING

In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”
(Revelation 5:12 NIV)

And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
(Mark 11:9 ESV)

Marci Alborghetti has this to say in this morning’s reading from Daily Guideposts 2021:

“When He entered Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday, almost everyone in that adoring crowd would soon need His forgiveness. Peter, who gleefully helped Him onto the donkey, would deny Him three times. Judas, part of the parade, would betray Him. The apostles, basking in His glory, would abandon Him. The crowds would ignore Him, some even screaming for His crucifixion.

“But . . . Jesus had done nothing to hurt those who would need His forgiveness. Quite the opposite: He’d done everything to save them, us. Yet He rode on, greeting them, knowing they’d turn on Him, knowing we’d continue to sin against each other and Him, already forgiving, always forgiving.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
“Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'”
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them,
“It is written,
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?”
And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
(Matthew 21:4-17 ESV)

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”
And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”
And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”
“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.”
And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
(Luke 7:36-50 ESV)

“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.”
(Revelation 2:18 ESV)

This is how Christ is introduced to the congregation at Thyatira in their portion of John’s letters to the churches.

“The eyes like a flame of fire burn as they penetrate. This is no casual survey.”

Jesus really sees into us as His burning eyes survey us.

The feet, like burnished bronze, “are solid and strong. They will not crumble under opposition.” Interestingly, bronze, an alloy made from copper and tin, has a higher melting point than either, thus being able to withstand the heat from the burning eyes of flame.

“He sees through all facades, evasions, masks, and fogginess – sees into contradiction, opposition, hostility, and indifference.”

While our initial response may be to run and hide, we need not do this. “There is mercy and generosity in the honest, unflinching gaze of our Lord. If his look burns, it is the fire of love, and it burns so that it may warm us.”

(From This Hallelujah Banquet, by Eugene H. Peterson)

My Jesus, I praise You for the way Your burning eyes of flame see into the depths of my soul. The initial reaction is to shy away, to try to hide, but we cannot hide, so there is no point in that. I humble submit to the examination of Your holy eyes, that You may see what needs to be cleansed within me, each day. I praise You for Your mercy and generosity, Jesus!

May I experience, today, and every day this week, Lord, fellowship with the risen King Jesus. May everyone experience spiritual renewal and refreshment this coming week.

I pray for peace in our nation, peace in our world. I pray for racial injustice to end, and I pray for the pandemic to be over. Above all else, though, I pray for Your will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven. For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
(Psalms 16:11 ESV)

Grace and peace, friends.