Easter Day: He is Not Here. He is Risen. What About You?

Today's Scripture Readings

Acts 10:34-43 (NRSV)

Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Psalm 118 (BCP., p.760) 


1 Corinthians 15:19-26 (NRSV)

If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Luke 24:1-12 (NRSV)

On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

Blog Reflection

Alleluia. Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.

Every time I read those famous words of the Angel: "He is not here, but has risen" I get chills. Good chills.  Chills and tears.  The kind of chills and tears after a long terrible period of depression and anxiety that have given way to joy and happiness.

I wonder what those first women felt when they first heard the news.  They were eye witnesses to the horrible things that took place on Good Friday.  They saw the man who had warmly received them, and loved them so much crucified with nails driven into his hands and feet. They heard his cries: "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?"  And, "Into your hands, I commend my spirit."   Now, here they stand in front of the tomb.  An empty tomb with the stone turned over.  Only the linen cloths that once wrapped the crucified body of Jesus were left there.  An Angel said to them: "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again."   How could these words be true?

Perhaps the alternative Gospel Reading for Easter Day might give us some answers.

John 20:1-18 (NRSV)

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, `I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

 


Now here is something most interesting.  The men who had traveled with Jesus from Galilee all the way to Jerusalem, had no idea.  Did not Jesus tell them several times that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day rise again?  Yet, they still did not understand.   Only Mary Magdalene had the courage of faith to stay at the tomb, to weep and question God in this moment of revelation.  It is when she weeps for the missing body of Jesus that He comes to her and comforts her by seeing His resurrected body, and the news that He is alive.  In that moment, Jesus reveals to her and to us, that His Father is our Father and God.  Our Creator, Redeemer and Life-Giver.

Easter brings us the good news that Jesus is alive.  He is not dead.  Jesus has risen from the dead.   If we do not take the time to pray with tears over our sins, and seek God's mercy in Jesus Christ, and by the Holy Spirit try to live a holy life by loving our neighbor as ourselves, and to strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human person; the story of the resurrection remains just a story.  It is just something we celebrate year after year, but it doesn't actually change our lives. 

The resurrection was more than just an event in Salvation History.  The Paschal Mystery is to become transparent through us, so that we and the community around us may be transformed by the unconditional and all-inclusive love of God.  A love that sees beyond someone's "lifestyle" and sees the person as first and foremost a redeemed child of God.  To see that one's sexual orientation is not the whole of a person's life, but it is from there that they have been created to love other people. Whether in platonic, romantic or physical relationships. To consider the possibility, that gender is a vision of God's Being within all persons, and through it, can become the actual person that one was created to be   To know that holiness is a matter of how someone lives out who they are, not a matter of a moral code of rules and laws.  Love shared in a relationship of love, commitment and responsibility is what marriage is all about.  Whether it conforms to a standard of raising children and producing the next generation is for God to decide, not us.  To know that we are always being led into the way of all truth, none of us have actually arrived.

In the resurrection, violence, oppression, marginalization and poverty are absurd.  New life in the Risen Christ, means new life for everyone.  Regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, religion, political affiliation, job, physical/developmental/psychologically challenged, language, class, culture, etc., the Risen Christ is alive for all of us.  To give us in this moment of time and space, a chance to claim our citizenship as people loved and accepted by God and others.

Easter Day means a new beginning from where we were before Lent began.  In the Crucified and Risen Jesus, we have been redeemed and set free to live in the presence of God as holy people.  Holy in the way of realizing that God is God and we are not.  We don't have to compete to be the most respected, prestigious, wealthy or popular.  All we have to do is love.  In the Paschal Mystery, all God did through Christ, was love us all.  So should we do the same.  In the Risen Christ, loving is very possible.

Amen.

Alleluia. Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia

Prayers

O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten
Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection
delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die
daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of
his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for Easter Day, Book of Common Prayer, p.222).

Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus
Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of
everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the
day of the Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death
of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for Easter Day, Book of Common Prayer, p.222).

Holy Saturday: We Await the Rest of the Story

Scriptural Basis

Matthew 27:57-66 (NRSV)

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, "Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, `After three days I will rise again.' Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, `He has been raised from the dead,' and the last deception would be worse than the first." Pilate said to them, "You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can." So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

Blog Reflection

The last event to take place during the funeral of someone is the burial.  During the prayers for the dead at the place where she/he will be laid to rest is the one place where relatives and those who loved the individual just cannot hold back their tears. Why?  Because at the burial point everything seems so final.

There are many images of the dead being buried from many of the great movies.

The scene of the undertakers dumping the body of Mozart in the movie Amadeus into a grave of bodies for those who could not afford their own cemetery plot is chilling.

In the movie Fried Green Tomatoes there are two burial moments that are so moving.  One was for Buddy and the other for Ruth.  There was even a burial moment for Buddy Jr's arm.

Death with it sense of finality in this world leaves us with a sense of powerlessness.

How many people have died from HIV/AIDS, cancer, heart disease and many other illnesses?  The deaths of those we love or knew well strike at our core.   They remind us of our mortality.  Life is really very brief.

The reading from Lamentations so well speaks of the emotions that so many of us feel

Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24 (NRSV)

I am one who has seen affliction

under the rod of God's wrath;

he has driven and brought me

into darkness without any light;

against me alone he turns his hand,

again and again, all day long.

He has made my flesh and my skin waste away,

and broken my bones;

he has besieged and enveloped me

with bitterness and tribulation;

he has made me sit in darkness

like the dead of long ago.

He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;

he has put heavy chains on me;

though I call and cry for help,

he shuts out my prayer;

he has blocked my ways with hewn stones,

he has made my paths crooked.

The thought of my affliction and my homelessness

is wormwood and gall!

My soul continually thinks of it

and is bowed down within me.

But this I call to mind,

and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,

"therefore I will hope in him."

The death of Jesus though, has a whole different meaning for those of us who wait for Easter.  The story does not end here at the sealed tomb.

One of my favorite readings to date about Holy Saturday, comes from the Roman Office.  An ancient Homily on Holy Saturday.

Something strange is happening--there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness.  The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep.  The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and has raised up all who have slept since the world began.  God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

God has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep.  Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and the shadow of death, God has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, Jesus who is both God and son of Eve.  The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory.  At the sight of Jesus Adam, the first man God had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: "My Lord be with you all."  Christ answered him: "And with your spirit."  Jesus took Adam by the hand and raised him up, saying: "Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." (Liturgy of the Hours, Volume II Lent and Easter Seasons, pages 496, 497)

We do not know who is the author of this great homily.  But it is beautiful in it's descriptive language.

As I reflect on Holy Saturday, as we await Easter Day I have to stop just for a bit and ask us to reflect on the reality that just as there was hope for the first parents Adam and Eve, there is hope for all who have died.  Jesus Christ is the hope of all who live and all who die.   Among the many things Jesus did was to put a face on those who have died.  In Jesus death and the burial is not where the story ends.

Therefore, I must plead with our faithful conservative friends.  Please remember that Jesus Christ, not you, nor your literal interpretations of the Bible have the final say over the souls of LGBTQ people and many others.  It is the death and resurrection of Jesus that we await to celebrate tomorrow that ultimately brings salvation to all people, because of God's unconditional and all inclusive love.  May we all put away the rhetoric that is so destructive to those different from ourselves.  May we all put far from us any and all thoughts of violence and oppression that would make some privileged while others are to be targeted and destroyed.

In Jesus, God has forgiven all our sins and made us all worthy to share in the eternal life prepared for all God's people.  It is because of Jesus that every person has the hope to await our own resurrection on the last day.

Let us end our need to scapegoat.  Let us end the anti-Judaism that suggests that the Jews are responsible for the death of Jesus, and therefore violence and prejudice towards God's holy people in the Jewish faith is justified.  Let the culture war against Muslims stop.  May Muslims be recognized as among God's children who must be respected, loved and admired for their devotion. May the ill favored behavior towards LGBTQ people, women and people of different colors, races etc end because Jesus Christ died and rose for all.  Not to be scapegoated or changed at the core of who we all are. But, because God has loved us all and gives us every reason to love one another as Christ has loved each of us.

Prayer

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Holy Saturday, Book of Common Prayer, page 283).

Good Friday: The Loving Arms Of God Forever Outstretched

Today's Scripture Readings

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 (NRSV)

See, my servant shall prosper;
he shall be exalted and lifted up,
and shall be very high.

Just as there were many who were astonished at him
--so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of mortals--
so he shall startle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.

Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
They made his grave with the wicked
and his tomb with the rich,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him with pain.
When you make his life an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the LORD shall prosper.
Out of his anguish he shall see light;
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he poured out himself to death,
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Psalm 22 (BCP., p. 610)


Hebrews 4: 14-15 5: 7-9 (NRSV)

Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,

John 19: 16b-36 (NRSV)

So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'This man said, I am King of the Jews.'" Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written." When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it." This was to fulfill what the scripture says,

"They divided my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots."
And that is what the soldiers did.

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am thirsty." A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, "None of his bones shall be broken." And again another passage of scripture says, "They will look on the one whom they have pierced."

Blog Reflection

The image of the Prodigal Son has been returning to me over and over again this past Lent.  First, by way of Henri J.M. Nouwen's book The Return of the Prodigal Son.   Second, I found this theme returning to me as I read two books by Esther de Waal.  The first of her books was A Life-Giving: A Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict.  The next book was Seeking Life: The Baptismal Invitation of the Rule of St. Benedict.  Last, but not least a book by Claudia A. Dickson entitled Entering the Household of God: Taking Baptism Seriously in a Post-Christian Society.   In each of the titles I have mentioned, the authors in one form or another refer to the outstretched arms of Jesus Christ on the Cross as the arms of God forever outstretched to receive the most wretched of sinners. Such was the meaning of the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

As I was doing my Lectio Divina today, I read the following amazing words in Thomas A Kempis' The Imitation of Christ.  "The Cross is always ready and waits everywhere, for you" (p. 93).

What is it like to look back on life and discover instances when we may have found the Cross waiting for us, and the arms of our loving Savior with His arms outstretched?

When I was a Church Music major at Eastern Nazarene College between 1988 to 1994, I saw the health of my Church Music Professor decline very rapidly.  It declined due to Lu Gehrig's Disease.  In February of 1994, he lost his battle with the disease and died.  When I began attending college in the Fall of 1988, he was a healthy man.  He had a Master's Degree in trombone, and a magnificent tenor voice.  When he conducted the Messiah every December, performed by the Choral Union, he was masterful, full of gesture and life.  By the time he died, he was lucky if he could raise his arms off his electric wheelchair to scratch his nose.

One summer while I was there, I needed help to pass my sight singing proficiency exam that was to be taken at the beginning of the next school year.  I had failed it four times.  The exam to be given me was my last chance, or I would not get my degree.  One day, I woke up really late for my on campus summer job.  I did not have time to take a shower.  I was miserable all day.  After work, I went to work with him on my sight singing practice.  I was just about in tears. Prof. Howard heard my story compassionately.   After I finished, he just about laughed himself to death.  He told me that if he had told his wife over the phone that he was about devastated because he woke up late, did not take a shower and all that, his wife would laugh for about 15 minutes.  He said that his wife would eventually say: "So what!!" My professor continued: "You were able to wake up and live another day.  You got to go to work without getting fired.  You were able to do what you could. You did what you were suppose to do."  Before I forget, I did pass the exam in the Fall.

I was thinking about this today as I was meditating on what Good Friday is all about. Here was a man, who was literally losing all the ability to move the muscles in his body voluntarily, yet he was telling me to cheer up and get on with life. He told me with no bitterness or sorrow for himself.  His main concern was encouraging me. 

On Good Friday, Jesus Christ is God's remedy for our sins.  God knowing that we could not accomplish our salvation unless God intervened on our behalf, did more than that.  God, in the Person of Jesus Christ, became the punishment our sins deserved.  He suffered a most agonizing death to restore us to friendship with God.  All that Jesus suffered on this most holy of days, was God acting in our place, so that God can look upon us all through the blood of God's Son and see us forgiven and liberated to live our lives in friendship with God and one another.  We are the one's who sinned by being so immature.  But, God through life and death of Christ showed us the Way (See John 14:6) back to God's Self.

It is not enough to come to this day after five weeks of fasting, prayer and alms giving to go back to the way we were.  As people baptized into Christ Jesus, we have shared in His death and resurrection.  By the power of the Holy Spirit that came on Pentecost because of Christ's resurrection, we are enabled by God's grace to grow in holiness through our relationships with others.  Including, but not limited to the marginalized, poor, oppressed, and the physically/psychologically challenged.   

The Cross is not the Christianists excuse for targeting women, LGBT people, Muslims, Jews, Native Americans, African Americans, Liberals, etc.  The Cross is not a progressives excuse to not forgive and pray for Christianists who chose to hate in the Name of Christ.  The Cross is not a reason for the conviction to justify the closing down of planned parenthood offices nation wide, or targeting abortion doctors to murder.  The Cross is not our emblem to deny health care to the sick and vulnerable.  Nor is it the justification for drone missiles killing whole families in Pakistan, or targeting Americans suspected of being terrorists.  The need for a Savior who died on the Cross, is not our scapegoat for not being good stewards of the environment, our possessions, our sexuality, our families and children.  The Cross on which Jesus died, does not mean the Judaism has been superseded by Christianity and therefore is no longer a valid bulwark of faith. 

The Cross is our reference point for "the path of God's commandments" so that "our hearts may overflow with the inexpressible delight of love" (vs. 49, Prologue of the Rule of St. Benedict, p.165).   The love by which the loving arms of God are forever outstretched to embrace all who long for God's mercy and salvation, is our reason and text book for embracing one another in charity and hope.  

As we pray throughout the day, let us all take time to ask God to recreate new hearts in us by the Holy Spirit (Psalm 51:11).   That we may love God, others and ourselves with a holy and life-giving love.   The kind that welcomes all, offers reconciliation and recreates the face of the earth.

Amen.

Prayers

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your
family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be
betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer
death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (Collect for Good Friday, Book of Common Prayer, p.221).


Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he
was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way
of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and
peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (Collect for Fridays, Book of Common Prayer, p.99).


Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on
the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within
the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit
that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those
who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for
the honor of your Name. Amen.  (Prayer for Mission, Book of Common Prayer, p.101).

Maundy Thursday: Be Ready to Wash Before You Eat

Today's Scripture Readings

Exodus 12: 1-14 (NRSV)

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. [Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.] This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

Psalm 116: 1, 10-17 (BCP, p. 759)

1 Corinthians 11: 23-26 (NRSV)

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

John 13: 1-17, 31b-35 (NRSV)

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you." For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean."

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord--and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, `Where I am going, you cannot come.' I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Blog Reflection


The only Gospel of the four with the narrative about the Last Supper that does not contain the institution of Holy Communion, is John.  In it's place is the story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.   The oral tradition that was passed on since, is that most likely Jesus washed the feet of the disciples before he instituted the Eucharist.

We don't do the washing of feet before every celebration of the Eucharist.  The once a year ritual on Maundy Thursday happens as a reminder to live out the meaning of the Eucharist in our every day lives.   When what we do at the Eucharist ends as we walk out the doors of our places of worship, so the Gospel story of the compassionate and loving Jesus, remains just another legend that happened in our imaginations.  It hasn't actually happened, because the story cannot be read from our daily lives.   This is why I really do think that when a church community limits the ritual of the washing of feet to certain chosen people, specifically those that limit it to twelve men, they do the larger Parish community a terrible disservice.

The ministry of Jesus is not limited to those in Holy Orders.  According to the Catechism or Outline of the Faith in The Book of Common Prayer on page 855, the Laity are an order of ministry, who's responsibility begins with the same calling as anyone in Holy Orders.  "To represent Christ and his Church..."   We represent Christ and the Church whenever we give of ourselves selflessly for the benefit of another.  If we are not willing to stoop down and wash the feet of those we worship with, how will we help those in need beyond the walls of our churches?

The reality of human life is, that all of us, regardless of who we are will need someone to help us at some point in time.  We all find ourselves in a tough spot.  We just cannot do it without someone's help.  Whether it is a need to pay a bill, find a job, go grocery shopping, make dinner or plan a meeting.  We all need to reach out and ask for help.  For some, asking for help is the most difficult thing to do.   For others, accepting the help of another person is even more challenging.

In the discourse of St. John's Gospel's account of all that Jesus says, is the new commandment to "love one another as he has loved us. No one has a greater love than to lay down one's life, for one's friend" (John 15: 12-13). We are all called at one point or another, to lay down our lives for someone else.  Whether that be by way of doing for another, or allowing another to do for us.

The Sacrament of Holy Communion which is at the heart of our worship as Episcopalians, is how God poured out God's Self in the Person of Jesus, as he gives of himself as our Savior, and as our Spiritual nourishment.  By the giving of himself in the bread and wine, to become the Body and Blood of Christ, God becomes for us the means of new and unending life, through the outpouring of God's grace and mercy.   We become partakers in God's work of redemption and salvation as recipients and participants.

We also become disciples who are called upon to take up our own cross and follow Jesus in deed and example. We seek out those who experience prejudice, violence and oppression and work for justice, equality and open up possibilities for hospitality and reconciliation.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people along with many others who are marginalized in the Church and society are among those whom God challenges the followers of Jesus, to go to and bring healing, holiness and wholeness.  Even to the point of washing their feet and allowing others to wash ours.  We are to look beyond a person's clothing, behavior, race, culture, sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression, gender, language, immigration status, employment or economic status, health, challenge etc., and see the face of Christ who has loved us, and gave us the new commandment to love one another as we have been loved.

In conclusion, in The Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 53 On the Reception of Guests, he writes about receiving all guests as Christ.  After being received with the kiss of peace, guests in Benedict's monastery got their feet washed by the Abbot and the whole community.  After washing the feet of their guests all recited the verse: "God, we have received your mercy in the midst of your temple" (Psalm 48:10).

Where might Benedict have learned the idea of seeing a guest as Christ?

In the Dialogues of St. Gregory, the only record we have of the life of St. Benedict outside The Rule, Gregory tells the story of Benedict's time in Subiaco.  Benedict fled his liberal arts education to find solitude in a narrow cave in Subiaco.  One Easter Sunday, Romanus, a monk in a near by Abbey was getting ready to eat his Easter Dinner when it dawned on him that Benedict was still in the cave praying, fasting and seeking God.  He wrapped up some food and ran to the opening of the cave.  Upon finding Benedict, they said a prayer of thanksgiving, then ate their meal together.  Romanus said to Benedict: "Today is the great Feast of Easter."  Benedict replied: "It must indeed be Easter since I have the joy of seeing you."  Esther de Waal in her book: A Life-Giving Way: A Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict writes: "In the face of the first person he sees, Benedict finds the first fruits of the resurrection and of the new world to which he is called" (p. 172).

Can all of us as we celebrate this Easter Triduum make a priority to see the face of the Crucified and Risen Christ in those whom we meet, and wash their feet?


Prayers

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he
suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood:
Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in
remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy
mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.  (Collect for Maundy Thursday, Book of Common Prayer, p. 221).

Wednesday in Holy Week: My Friend Who Shared My Bread Betrayed Me.

Today's Scripture Readings

Isaiah 50: 4-9a (NRSV)

The Lord GOD has given me

the tongue of a teacher,

that I may know how to sustain

the weary with a word.

Morning by morning he wakens--

wakens my ear

to listen as those who are taught.

The Lord GOD has opened my ear,

and I was not rebellious,

I did not turn backward.

I gave my back to those who struck me,

and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;

I did not hide my face

from insult and spitting.

The Lord GOD helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

therefore I have set my face like flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

he who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?

Let us stand up together.

Who are my adversaries?

Let them confront me.

It is the Lord GOD who helps me;

Psalm 70 (BCP, p. 682)


Hebrews 12: 1-3 (NRSV)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

John 13: 21-32 (NRSV)

At supper with his friends, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, "Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me." The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples-- the one whom Jesus loved-- was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "Do quickly what you are going to do." Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the festival"; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once."

Blog Reflection

A few years ago, I found myself experiencing the betrayal of someone I trusted.   A person who at one point appeared to be supportive of me in what I was doing.  We would engage in conversations, and there was nothing I could have said that he didn't find some thing good.   He was supportive.  He complimented me.  He encouraged me in what I was doing.  All seemed to be going well until a group of individuals began spreading stories about me. Eventually, one of them got close enough to the individual I trusted, to persuade him to go against me on everything.  Suddenly, there was nothing I could have said, done, tried to do that he would approve of.   He committed himself to working against me.   The individual I am speaking of is a former employer.  More than that, he is a Priest.

Many months after I was terminated I would find myself praying the words of Psalm 41: 9. "Even my best friend, whom I trusted, who broke bread with me, has lifted up his heel and turned against me."  I prayed these words many times.  They helped me feel like God might be hearing my pain from within.  There are many people who when they betrayed me drilled a hole in my heart.  But, a Priest who has the affect on the soul and the job, can really drive a mean bit into me.  However, God was closer to my pain than any thing that Priest could have done to me.   That is why the Psalms are so important to my life.

As I read this Gospel story of Judas betraying Jesus, I can go back to that time in my life and say with confidence, that through Jesus, God walked with me through that dark time.   Jesus showed me how to love someone that He knew was about to betray him.  He did not make excuses for Judas, nor did he condone his actions.  But, when the chips fell and later came the kiss of death in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus still loved Judas.  

As the marriage cases go before the Supreme Court this week, one of the most difficult things I experience is how the rhetoric from the anti-equality side gets racked up a notch.   All of the great LGBT news blogs serve up the horror of what the president of the National Organization for Marriage says about homosexuality.  Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council threatens a revolution if the Supreme Court votes in favor of marriage equality.   The worst and the nastiest becomes unbearable.   More conspiracy theories about homosexuality being the cause of diseases and natural disasters come out about this time, and they are each designed to take down our self esteem a bit.

Jesus Christ was not about setting down moral laws or even canons.  The work and mission of Jesus was bringing the Good News of God's love for the marginalized and those experiencing injustice and oppression.  Jesus healed the sick, gave sight to the blind and hope to many in despair.  Yet, the more people loved Him, the more jealous the prestigious got.  It was not enough to let Him say what needed to be said.  They had to work with one of Jesus' own disciples to be able to bring Him down.   Yet, it was not the Jewish religion, nor the Jews who killed Jesus.  It was our envy of each other.  Our selfishness and desire for power.  It was our sins that put Jesus on the cross.  The sin of betrayal in Judas, is quite possible for any one of us.  None of us are immune.

We are all invited by Jesus today, to follow Him. We can respond to our opponents with the same hate they send our way.  We can blame God and religion. We can even ditch all forms of organized religion.   Jesus offers us another way. A way that is also the truth and the life. Jesus and his way of life, is what leads us to the heart of God. The heart of God that loves with compassion.  The compassion to disapprove, but still leave us to our own choices. Yet, always ready and willing to forgive the repentant heart.

Holy Week helps us to meet ourselves and confront ourselves in and through Jesus Christ.  It also helps us to experience God's forgiveness and hopefully learn to forgive others.

In our faith tradition, we have a cloud of witnesses who have shown us great examples of God's transforming grace.  Even with all their human weaknesses.  Can we all learn from their examples?   Can we be good examples for others?

Amen.


Prayer

Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be
whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept
joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the
glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Prayer for Wednesday, Book of Common Prayer, p.220).

Tuesday of Holy Week: Run Towards Justice and Equality

Today's Scripture Readings

Isaiah 49:1-7 (NRSV)

Listen to me, O coastlands,
pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The LORD called me before I was born,
while I was in my mother's womb he named me.
He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me away.
And he said to me, "You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
But I said, "I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the LORD,
and my reward with my God."
And now the LORD says,
who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honored in the sight of the LORD,
and my God has become my strength--
he says,
"It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
Thus says the LORD,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
the slave of rulers,
"Kings shall see and stand up,
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the LORD, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

Psalm 71: 1-14 (BCP, p. 683)


1 Corinthians 1: 18-31 (NRSV)

The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

John 12: 20-36 (NRSV)

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

"Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say-- `Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?" Jesus said to them, "The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light."

Blog Reflection

Holy Week continues to unfold.  The tensions between Jesus and those opposing him is growing.  Where does it all go from here?

St. Paul gives us a glimpse into the compassion of God.  He tells us of how God can turn what looks like one thing, upside down to be something completely different.  The cross, an instrument of shame, torture, death and foolishness if you do something to get put on one if all you see is the cross.   When we look upon the cross and see Jesus nailed there and all of his life slowly, but surely being suffocated out of him, what looks like a defeat and loss for Jesus, is the gain for the hope of salvation.   It is because of Jesus' death on the cross that it is our hope and salvation.   Emmanuel, "God with us" shows how God is with us in Jesus Christ even to the last breath of life.  In the midst of our shame, injustices, oppression, experiencing betrayal and the loss of everything that we had clung to.   God does not abandon us.  In Christ, God's arms are out, waiting for us and ready to embrace God's prodigal children.

Jesus is telling his disciples about a grain of wheat falling to the ground and dying.  If it does not, no new life can come from it.  New life comes from surrendering the old.  Glorifying God often means letting go of our own glorification among people.  Letting go of our giving in order to receive in return.   To just giving, because it is for the benefit of the other that we have given.

St. Benedict makes use of the last sentence in today's Gospel reading in the Prologue to The Rule.  He makes two changes to the text.  He writes:

Run while you have the light of life, that the darkness of death may not overtake you. (RB 1980: p.159).

St. Benedict's text creates a sense of urgency with the word run.   To have the light is a matter of life, and the danger of darkness is the possibility of death if we do not take advantage of the moment before us.

These words highlight the necessity of doing now what must be done in the Name of Jesus Christ. 

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing the arguments in the Prop. 8 and DOMA cases.   An article appeared in The New York Times that suggests what the ruling on those cases could mean.  These cases are not just about marriage equality.  They represent a movement in both the Church and society that has been progressing away from seeing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as disordered or dangerous.  Now LGBT people are being more and more viewed as good people who want the opportunity to make a life time vow of love, commitment and responsibility to each other in marriage.   Nothing in there is a threat to the marriage between a man and a woman for the purpose of raising children.  Nothing that recognizes marriage as a matter of the love shared between those who are in it, regardless of gender, threatens the family or civilization.  All this means is that society will stop seeing people with same-gender sexual orientation are no longer second class citizens when it comes to civil marriage.

The time to address the need for social change for a better and safe society on the issue of economic equality, dangerous weapons regulation, and better health care, education and possibilities for people in need, is now.  Today we have the light of day.  Tomorrow, we may never know what we will have missed.

As we continue to go along on this Holy Week, may we all pray together that we will make now the reason to run while we have the opportunity.  That we will run with the Light of Jesus Christ to create atmospheres of new life for all who live in darkness and the shadow of death.

Amen.

Prayers

O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an
instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life:
Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly
suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior
Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Prayer for Tuesday of Holy Week, Book of Common Prayer, p. 220). 

Monday of Holy Week: Today Anointed. On Friday Crucified

Today's Scripture Readings

Isaiah 42: 1-9 (NRSV)

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my spirit upon him;

he will bring forth justice to the nations.

He will not cry or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

a bruised reed he will not break,

and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;

he will faithfully bring forth justice.

He will not grow faint or be crushed

until he has established justice in the earth;

and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

Thus says God, the LORD,

who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people upon it

and spirit to those who walk in it:

I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness,

I have taken you by the hand and kept you;

I have given you as a covenant to the people,

a light to the nations,

to open the eyes that are blind,

to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

from the prison those who sit in darkness.

I am the LORD, that is my name;

my glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to idols.

See, the former things have come to pass,

and new things I now declare;

before they spring forth,

I tell you of them.

Psalm 36: 5-11 (BCP, P. 632)


Hebrews 9: 11-15 (NRSV)

When Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!

For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.

John 12: 1-11 (NRSV)

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me." When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

Blog Reflection

The Gospel for today is the one I wrote a reflection on for the Fifth Sunday in Lent just a week ago.   It is interesting to be at this Gospel again today, because at Vespers this past Saturday, the Gospel reading was the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

Today we are with Jesus as his feet are anointed by Mary and prepared to walk towards Jerusalem to be welcomed on Palm Sunday (yesterday).  We are reminded today that his journey took him to Calvary.  

In his work The Imitation of Christ St. Thomas A. Kempis in Book 2 Chapter 12: On the Royal Road to the Cross wrote: "In the cross is the height of virtue and the perfection of all sanctity" (p.92).   What begins as an act of kindness on the part of Mary, prepares Jesus for the agonizing journey that will take him to his death and ultimately his resurrection. 

In the cross is what it means to be obedient to God's will out of love for God and neighbor.  To surrender oneself so that God may transform, even if it is through pain and suffering.  Even if it means being famous for all the wrong reasons. Yet, through the cross we are brought face to face with God's unconditional and all-inclusive love.  A love that empowers us to love others.  For the cross is about being open to God through others. As Jesus stretched out his arms and his hands were nailed to the wood of the cross, so God's arms and heart are always open to receive all of us in the totality of the delight of God's love.

As all the news reports tell us that tomorrow the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the legal challenges to Proposition 8 in California, and DOMA in several state cases, both sides of the debate are raising money, organizing rallies, candle vigils and more.  It is all very exciting.  It also shakes the nerves of both sides of the discussion.  Through it all, comes some of the grossest rhetoric towards LGBT people and their relationships with each other. 

Holy Week is our opportunity to be reminded that we too might be found in the crowds to decide if Jesus should be crucified and Barabbas is to be set free.  As we prepare for what will take place tomorrow, as well as the events of this Holy Week, we would do well to pray with compassion for our opponents as well as ourselves.  Reminding ourselves that we have as much a responsibility to them as our brothers and sisters in Christ, as we do to each other.  Jesus set the example for us by crying out, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).  This just after they finished driving the nails in to his hands and feet hanging him there to suffocate to death.

We too are anointed by the Holy Spirit to carry out the mission of Jesus in our baptism and confirmation.  We are also to remember that it is only through the Paschal Mystery that we will find the strength and fortitude to continually offer ourselves to the service of God and others.

Amen.


Prayer

Almighty God, whose dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he
was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way
of the cross, may find it none other that the way of life and
peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.  (Prayer for Monday in Holy Week, Book of Common Prayer, p. 220).

Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday 2013

Today's Scripture Readings

Luke 19:28-40 (NRSV)

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."

 
Psalm 118 (BCP., p.760)

Liturgy of the Word

Isaiah 50: 4-9a (NRSV)

The Lord GOD has given me

the tongue of a teacher,

that I may know how to sustain

the weary with a word.

Morning by morning he wakens--

wakens my ear

to listen as those who are taught.

The Lord GOD has opened my ear,

and I was not rebellious,

I did not turn backward.

I gave my back to those who struck me,

and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;

I did not hide my face

from insult and spitting.

The Lord GOD helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

therefore I have set my face like flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

he who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?

Let us stand up together.

Who are my adversaries?

Let them confront me.

It is the Lord GOD who helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

Psalm 31 (BCP., p.623)

Philippians 2: 5-11 (NRSV)

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death--

even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Luke 22:14-23:56

Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, "Certainly this man was innocent." And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. 

Blog Reflection

Every year that I write a blog post about Palm Sunday, I begin with the words: "Oh! The fickleness of the human heart."

The joyful reception of Jesus on this day.  The Hosanna's that ring out from them and us during the grand hymn: "All Glory, Laud and Honor."   The celebration of Christ as a King.  Hmm.   Where have we thought of that before?

Here we have another comparison between the Last Sunday after Pentecost, the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, and now the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday.  A moment of triumph, before we go into a period of horror, death and mourning.  The difference here is, the triumphant mood lasts only up to we enter the Liturgy of the Word, that begins the Narrative of the Passion of Christ.  In it's own way, is this not very much like the two faced attitudes of most of us?   We laugh and celebrate the inauguration of Pope Francis I and the enthronement of Justin Welby as the new Archbishop of Canterbury.   Yet, the first news to hit the air waves to question or criticize anything they have done that we will disagree with, and the triumph because shouting, swearing and in some cases, character assassination.

The stories that will be heard this Holy Week leading up to Easter Day, are the stories of all humankind.  In one way, or another. 

All of us know what it is to be received warmly by our friends, family and acquaintances.  When we begin a new job, the boss welcomes us.  The receptionist welcomes us. The office manager welcomes us. Our co-workers welcome us. Once the lunch break is over on the second day, suddenly we are everyone's new pest. There is nothing we can do right.  Most if not all who welcomed us are complaining behind our backs. Passing judgement on what kind of a person and/or worker we are. Based on their limited information.

In many ways, are the events of Passion, Palm Sunday not like a young man or woman growing up in a typical American home?  Their parents encourage them.  They push them to become the best they can be at whatever they do. They encourage them in all of their friendships and relationships. Teachers, Pastors, community leaders watch for the perfect person who gets all the best grades in school. Becomes the latest champion on the minor league baseball team. Wins the local spelling bee. Let that young man or woman break the news to those closest to him/her that he/she is attracted to members of the same-sex or thinks he/she may be a transgender person, all the fame and goodness in that guy/girl disappears in a moment.

Let a young girl announce to her father who attends "pro-life" rallies on Good Friday that she is pregnant and her boyfriend took off.  Suddenly, the father who opposes abortion, rather than helping his little girl through the fear and trauma of her situation, kicks her out.  With federal funding being taken from clinics that can help her, job training programs, day care centers, health care programs, not to mention the shame of family and friends, what choices will she have?   What if she was raped and has no recourse over her rapist?

People in our civilized society speak every day of "accepting people as they are."  Yet, there is always something about another person's race, religion, employment situation, health, etc that becomes a reason to push them to aside or treat them differently.  The person that loves others in a very different way, is the person that no one in town wants to know any further.

Holy Week, including today, is about our human relationships.  Much more importantly, about our relationship with God.  Not so much as our relationship with God just in our prayers, fasting and penances which we have engaged in this Lent.  It is our relationship with God as we encounter the Holy One in the person who is different from ourselves.  It is so easy to love God in the silence of our own personal prayers.  It is so difficult to love Jesus in another person.  It takes us so much effort to see others as Christ, Himself.

In The Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 71: Mutual Obedience, he writes:

Obedience is a blessing to be shown by all, not only to the abbot but also to one another as brothers [and sisters], since we know that it is by this way of obedience that we go to God. (RB 1980, p.293).

In A Life-Giving Way: A Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict Esther de Waal writes:

The importance of obedience to God, to authority, and to our brothers and sisters is something that has concerned Benedict throughout the Rule.  Obedience depends on listening so totally and openly to the other that through them we discern the face, the voice of Christ himself.   This is the root of what obedience that we show to one another. (p.229).

In the stories that we will read this Holy Week and the Liturgies we will participate in, we will again be brought face to face with the reality of our humanity.  We will again meet Jesus experiencing human suffering, resentment, bias, injustice, yet accepting God's will through it all, so that by the way of His death on the Cross, there might be the Resurrection. "By his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5 CEB). We will be given the opportunity to again realize what our Baptismal Covenant (see Book of Common Prayer, p.292-294) calls us to with regards to our relationship with God, our neighbor and ourselves.  We will also be confronted with the opportunity to decide if we too are open to obedience to God's will, no matter what it requires of us in the end, or are we just too good to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Jesus? (See Mark 8:34).  Are we willing to wash the feet of Jesus in the person we despise the most?  If we find ourselves on either side of Christ on the Cross, will we mock Him with the thief on one side, or on the other, asking to be received into His kingdom, recognizing that we are sinners and that without the mercy of God in Christ Jesus we have no hope?

Will we as Christians be drowned in antisemitism as Christians read and hear Gospel stories of the Passion that suggest that the Jews are responsible for the death of Christ?  Or will we admit that it was the sins of all of us, including our sins against other religions, including, but not limited to Jews, Muslims and many others by which God loved us so much, that God did not spare God's own Son? (See Romans 8:32 NRSV).

Our responses to Jesus in corporate worship are awesome, powerful and life-giving.  Only if, we are willing to greet Jesus with the same abandonment of our will as we reach out to Christ in the woman who is losing her right to choose.  In the LGBT teen who is being bullied.  In the LGBT couples all over the country watching the Supreme Court as they hear testimonies about Prop 8 and DOMA this upcoming Tuesday.  Do we see and hear Christ in the children losing their education funding through the Sequester?   Are we willing to reach out to help the families of Newtown, PA, Colorado, Virginia, Arizona, etc., and do something about the out of control gun violence?   Do we help Christ in the poor, sick, disenfranchised and those who are not so theologically brilliant?

This Holy Week, let us all agree that even though we disagree, that we can look for Jesus not only in our worship and prayers, but also in our relationships with each other.   May we realize that Jesus is working in and through our lives through communities as well as within our individual selves.  May we respond to Him with "not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). 

Prayers

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the
human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to
take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross,
giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant
that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share
in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen. (Collect for Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday, Book of Common Prayer, p. 219).


Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our
salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation
of those mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and
immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (From the Service of Palm Sunday, Book of Common Prayer, p.270).


Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he
was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way
of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and
peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Collect for Fridays, Book of Common Prayer, p.99).


Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on
the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within
the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit
that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those
who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for
the honor of your Name. Amen. (Prayer for Mission, Book of Common Prayer, p.101).