Sometimes people are glad to be wrong about their assumptions. Easter morning was like that.
Here’s a transcript:
Well, now it is Holy Week. And there is a lot to think about.
I could be thinking about the Monday Thursday text, and indeed I will be. I could be thinking about the seven last words of Jesus, which we’ll read on Friday from noon to three, and indeed I will be. At the moment, though, I am thinking about the twentieth chapter of John’s Gospel (John 20:1-18, John’s account of the discovery of the resurrection.
Most of the time we tend to say that we’re talking about the stories of the resurrection, but we’re not. In most of the Gospels, the resurrection occurs outside of anybody else’s sight or awareness. They learn about it when they come in some of the Gospels to an empty tomb, or in John’s case to a tomb where there are a couple of angelic messengers saying that Jesus is not here.
In John’s Gospel, it’s Mary Magdalene who went to the tomb. She found it empty, rushed back to the city, brought Simon Peter and the disciple that Jesus loved. They looked at the empty tomb and went away. Mary then encountered this angelic messenger whose words didn’t seem to make any impression upon her.
She realized that there was somebody else in the garden with her. She assumed it was the gardener and asked him where Jesus was.
It was, of course, Jesus.
When he said her name, “Mary,” she realized who he was and rushed to embrace him.
The discovery of the resurrection.
It strikes me that there are so many assumptions people made on that first Easter Sunday. The first and the easiest and, frankly, the one that makes the most sense, is that everybody assumed that Jesus had died — as he had — but that he continued to be dead as he hadn’t.
That would be the assumption they were most grateful to find was incorrect.
Mary ran back to the city to find Simon Peter and the disciple that Jesus loved, assuming that they could do something to help. As, of course, they could not. Mary assumed that these words she was hearing weren’t meaningful to her, as they were. Jesus [Ed. Correction: Mary] assumed that this other person moving around the garden had to be a worker and she was wrong again.
And as glad to be wrong as ever a person was glad to be wrong.
The story of the discovery of Easter, the learning of the resurrection, the realization of what had happened: doesn’t it say something to us about the assumptions that we make about the world? How likely is it that the things that we firmly believe turn out to be wrong?
Perhaps the world is a more wondrous and miraculous place than we have let ourselves imagine.
Is not the world one in which Jesus of Nazareth lives again?
Happy Easter to you.
That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.
Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem was his first public act proclaiming he was the Messiah – and he chose the humblest possible way to do it.
Here’s a transcript:
This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, so I’m thinking about the twenty-first chapter of Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 21:1-11), Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
In Matthew, this was really Jesus’ first public proclamation that he was the Messiah. He had discussed it with his disciples, others had speculated about it, but here Jesus actually did something that people would recognize as a Messianic claim. Here Jesus did something that people would recognize as the act of a king.
It was still a somewhat peculiar choice. Jesus chose to have his disciples find a donkey, and in Matthew’s account they also brought a colt, so that he came into the city, matching not lots of other Prophetic or Psalmic descriptions of the arrival of a monarch. Instead, he emulated a prophecy of Zechariah. “Your king comes to you, humble and mounted on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
It is possible, even likely, that on the other side of the city another procession similar but much grander was going on. The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, would have entered Jerusalem at about this time: his annual visit to coincide with the Passover. That would have included trumpets, that would have included marching soldiers, that would have included the governor mounted on a great big horse.
On the other side of the city, Jesus entered to the accompaniment of cries of “Hosanna!” or “Save us!” His humble beast strode over people’s cloaks and branches that they laid in the road. It was a distinct, dramatic, and telling contrast to what would have happened on the other side of the city.
If it’s big and grand and showy we have to ask ourselves: just how Christian is it?
I come out of a tradition which includes significant influence from the Puritan part of the Protestant Reformation. The Puritans, in addition to concerns about clothing and modesty and all the rest of it, were very concerned about humility. Not always, I grant you, once they got into power.
Jesus, even as he made a proclamation of power did so in the humblest way possible. The twenty-first century since Jesus: so far, at least, it is not a humble age. It is not an age that values humility. It is not an age that rewards humility. Pride and hubris get the attention. Pride and hubris get the rewards.
But pride and hubris are not the ways of Jesus. They are not or should not be the ways of Jesus’ followers. Let us come into this Holy Week faithfully following the one upon a colt, the foal of a donkey, humble and coming to us and hearing our cries of “Hosanna,” “Save us,” “Help us.”
This is our prayer, O Jesus.
That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.
Thank you for joining us for this live stream (or recording, as the case may be) of worship for Maundy Thursday. May it bless you! You may need to click “Play” to launch the stream, which will be live just before 7:00 PM.
Welcome to the live stream of worship from Church of the Holy Cross for Maundy Thursday, March 28, 2024. You will find the service outline below, and you may download and print the PDF to follow more easily.
Maundy Thursday Worship Holy Communion and Tenebrae, March 28, 2024
Please note that audio and video of this service are being live streamed on the Internet and will be recorded. The right rear section of the sanctuary will not be captured by any cameras. Please be aware that in other sections you may be visible at times.
We Gather to Worship God
Prelude: According to Thy Gracious Word Kayleen Yuda
Please rise if you are able
*Call to Worship Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Leader: When Jesus sat at table with his friends, they gathered to recall the mighty acts of God which won the freedom of their oppressed people. People: This evening we recall the mighty acts of God which won our freedom from the oppressions of sin and death. Leader: Our Savior did not lead an exodus, or make himself a general, or guide a nation to a Promised Land. People: He gave his friends the bread and wine of Passover by which they might remember him, then walked into the shadows of betrayal and of death. Leader: This evening, let us fill our hearts with Christ, and join him at the table. People: This evening, let us fill our hearts with Christ, and join him in the shadows.
* Opening Hymn #345: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (v. 1-3)
* Please join me in the Prayer of Confession Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Giver of Life, from ancient time you call us to yourself. In ways too numerous to mention, we fail to respond. Forgive us, we pray. Our limited understanding of culture gets in the way of fellowship with those different from ourselves. Our limited vision of community gets in the way of your call to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to seek justice and peace for all. Replace our arrogance, Merciful One, with the humility and caring service Jesus modeled, for truly we are not greater than our Teacher and Savior. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Please be seated
We Share the Word of God
Scripture: John 13:1-17, 31b-35 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[c] 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.
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. 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.’
Reflection Rev. Eric Anderson
We Come to the Table of God
Anthem: Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley Doug Albertson Eric Anderson
Holy Communion Rev. Eric Anderson Rev. Sitau Ofoia
* Hymn #226: O Sacred Head Now Wounded (v. 1-2)
We Journey to the Shadows with God Service of Tenebrae
Lighting of the Candles
The Shadow of Betrayal: Matthew 26:20-25 Gloria Kobayashi
The Shadow of Desertion: Matthew 26:31-35 Hema Asiata
Hymn #218: Ah, Holy Jesus (v. 1-2; please remain seated)
The Agony of the Soul: Luke 22:39-44 Momi Lyman
The Unshared Vigil: Mark 14:32-41 Stefan Tanouye
The Love that Jesus Has for Me (v. 1-2; please remain seated) CCCAS Choir
“Father the hour is come”: John 17:1-6 Joyce Nakamoto
“That they may all be one”: John 17:15-22 Geoffrey Alama
Hymn #224: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (v. 1-2; please remain seated)
The Arrest in the Garden: John 18:1-5 Theone Albano
The Shadow of the Cross: Mark 15:16-20 Peter Braun
Hymn #229 Were You There? (v. 1-2; please remain seated)
The Word was God: John Rev. Eric Anderson
The Darkness
Please join me in The Lord’s Prayer Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Depart in Silence
Permissions:
According to Thy Gracious Word Gilbert Martin 1994 Lorenz Publishing Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence Text from the Liturgy of St. James, 4th cent. Trans. Gerard Moultrie, 1864 Tune PICARDY 17th cent. French carol Public Domain
O Sacred Head, Now Wounded Text attrib. to Bernard of Clairvaux, 12th cent. Trans. James W. Alexander, 1830 Tune PASSION CHORALE by Hans Leo Hassler, 1601 Public Domain
Ah, Holy Jesus Text by Johann Heermann, 1630 Trans. Robert Bridges, 1899 Tune HERZLIEBSTER JESU by Johann Cruger, 1640 Public Domain
The Love that Jesus Has for Me by J. E. Hall, 1851 Public Domain
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross Text by Isaac Watts, 1707 Tune HAMBURG by Lowell Mason, 1825 Public Domain
Were You There? Text and Tune: African-American spiritual Public Domain
We’ve waved our palms and sung in a joyful parade. Next Sunday we’ll raise our voices again in the Easter hymns. The tones of brass – both from bells and from trumpets – will cascade over us. We’ll rejoice in the resurrection story.
Have you found time in the last couple days to check out what Jesus did in the week between?
Jesus had a lot to say in that last week of his ministry. He nimbly avoided the traps laid for him by religious leaders eager to discredit him and to justify themselves. Jesus began to speak of hard times ahead for the residents of Jerusalem and for his followers. He sat at a table while a woman anointed him with perfume. Jesus said that she had prepared him for his burial.
Tomorrow night, Maundy Thursday, we will follow Jesus from the Last Supper with his disciples to the garden where he desperately prayed, then go to the palaces where he was tried and condemned. It’s called “Tenebrae” or “Shadows,” because the room gets darker and the shadows get deeper as the service, as the night, goes on.
On Friday Jesus died on a Roman cross. Our sanctuary will be open from noon to three for you to spend time in prayer as we mark the last three hours of his earthly life.
You may not need to participate in any of these services. Your Lenten practice or your regular prayer life may have connected you deeply enough to Jesus that these are either unnecessary or give you too much pain.
But if you want to better appreciate the heights of Easter joy, spend some time with the depths of Holy Week. Come into the shadows. Gaze at the cross.
I’m thinking about plenty of Scripture during Holy Week, but is there any text more important than Jesus” command to love one another?
Here’s a transcript:
It’s Holy Week, so I’m thinking about a lot of Scripture. For Easter, I’m thinking about the twentieth chapter of John (John 20:1-18); for Good Friday, I’m thinking about the texts that we call “The Seven Last Words of Jesus;” and for Maundy Thursday, I’m thinking about the thirteenth chapter of John (John 13:1-17, 31b-35).
That particular reading comes in two parts. The first part concerns Jesus washing his disciples’ feet before they actually began the meal of the Last Supper. Washing feet was not an unusual thing to do in the first century, but it was unusual for a teacher, a leader, to wash the feet of his students and followers. Simon Peter thought it was so wrong that he protested and declared that Jesus would never wash his feet. Jesus insisted, and Simon Peter gave in.
Jesus then told his disciples to remember that he, their teacher, had done this humble and powerful thing for them.
Later he gave them a new commandment: To love one another. “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” He said those words after washing their feet.
In human relationships, it is easy to stand upon dignity and upon some sense of self-worth which is not self-worth, it’s just simply pride. Self-worth is a good thing. The awareness that we are valued by God, that we are valuable living beings: this is a good thing. But to believe that our self-worth disconnects us from the grime of the world, that it somehow or other separates us from cleaning up around the world, that it keeps us somehow secure from taking care of one another: that’s no longer self-worth. That’s hubris. That’s pride.
On that night, Jesus told his followers to lay aside their pride, to maintain their self-worth but to lay aside their pride. Once that is out of the way, then it is indeed possible for human beings to love one another, to meet one another’s needs, to value one another’s souls, to stand with and walk with and move with and support with one another in the course of our lives through the world.
“A new commandment I give you: that you should love one another. As I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.
We don’t usually think of God or Christ needing anything, but “The Lord needs it” were the words Jesus used to explain his disciples taking the colt for Palm Sunday.
Here’s a transcript:
Holy Week begins this Sunday. If that seems awfully early to you, well, that’s because it is. I’m thinking about the eleventh chapter of Mark’s Gospel (Mark 11:1-11), his account of the events of Palm Sunday.
I’m sure you know the basic outline. Jesus sent some of his disciples to find him a colt to ride before entering Jerusalem. They found it. He mounted it. As he rode up into the city people came out and spread cloaks and green branches they cut in the fields across the road in the way, and they shouted and cheered, “Hosanna to the son of David.”
Mark’s version ends a little anticlimactically. After Jesus had arrived in the city he looked around for a little bit, and then left.
It’s not the end of the story, however, but the beginning that intrigues me this year. When Jesus’ disciples were asked to go find that colt they said, “What do we tell people if they ask us why we’re taking the colt?” And Jesus said, “Just tell them that the Lord needs it.”
Now “Lord” has a number of layers of meaning in the first century, but we tend to use it (and it was used then) to refer to, well, to God and to Jesus. That this implied a divine authority. And we’re not used to thinking of the Divine as needing anything. Indeed, theologically we maintain that God does not need. God gives.
But that’s not the way they thought of the Divine in the first century and it’s not necessarily the way that we should entirely understand our relationship with God. Maybe not in terms of need, but maybe in terms of being full participants in a relationship. It’s not a real relationship if one person is always receiving and another is always giving; that’s not how things work. And to expect it to be that way between us and God is to essentially leave ourselves entirely irresponsible.
I don’t think God wants us to be irresponsible. I think God wants us to be, if not equal partners, at least partners in the relationship that we have with the Holy Trinity, with the Holy Spirit, with the Creator and especially with our Redeemer.
“The Lord needs it.”
The Lord needed a colt on that Sunday morning. The Lord needs us to be a part of the healing of the world. The Lord needs us to be a part of making the things that are not so good better. The Lord needs us to resist the evils of the world. The Lord needs us, maybe not to lean upon, but to carry some of the burden. Because otherwise we are mere automatons, robots carrying out the programming of our Maker.
Instead, God made us with the ability to choose, to choose poorly and to choose well. Choose well and be a part of God’s salvation.
That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.
