Holy Week 2024

Overview

Revised Common Lectionary 3-28-2024: Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday

THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2024 | LENT

HOLY THURSDAY OR MAUNDY THURSDAY

YEARS ABC

Old Testament Exodus 12:1–4 (5–10) 11–14

Psalm Psalm 116:1–2, 12–19

New Testament 1 Corinthians 11:23–26

Gospel John 13:1–17, 31b–35

Good evening,

Here we are again - Maundy Thursday. In John, Passover hasn’t happened yet, for Jesus is the sacrifical lamb to be sacrified at Passover - one that lived among us and to be slaughtered for the benefit of all of us. No institution of the Lord’s Supper here, but fellowship, lasts bits of teaching, and Jesus serving his disciples. Compared to the rest of the events of the Holy Week, it is fairly low-key and intimate. The quiet before the storm.

It sets the tone for what his disciples, his proto-followers and future church fathers (except forJudas, who would meet a bitter end after letting his betrayal to sink in), should do - to serve one another and love one another and by that they shall be recognized by others. No qualifiers given - nothing mentioned about love only those that subscribe to the right creed; serve only those that have exactly the same lifestyle as you do, or love only those that tithe and show up at least 2 times a year to church. I am sure that legalistic church planters dislike that Jesus omitted details like that and it is why they spend more time twisting Paul’s words to fit their exclusivist narratives.

No, he washed the feet of Judas as well - the very same man that will betray him just shortly. Jesus would treat him equally as the rest of the disciples until the bitter end. If he harbored any resentment, he didn’t show it. Jesus could do anything shortly before his arrest, but he chose to wash the feet of both his friends and of his betrayer. It tells us a lot about his nature - for one, he knows how to throw great dinner parties and second, he really cares about the people around him.

At this point in the story, that is what matters - he cares and loves as he dedicated his whole earthly ministry to that - a sliver of time compared to his eternal presence together with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He made sure that this sliver was meaningful, impactful, and memorable to all that lived through it and by extension to all that learned about it later, including us. Acts of service, mercy, and love, instead of hatred, self-interest, and bitterness.

Jesus chooses love and mercy out of this world, an example for the ages - gets down and washes their feet, a role of a lowly servant. The one to be sacrificed chooses to love and care until the very end. He points out that love and mercy matter no matter what! He chooses to shine a light rather than allow the darkness to overcome everything.

That’s hope - to be hopeful, is to continue doing the right thing, even perhaps as we fear and have anxiety about what is coming. Jesus wasn’t free of that either, as we can see in the scene in Gethsemane. He didn’t say - all will be peachy and dandy, so you can really focus on loving and serving each other! If anything, he did mention that it might get worse - you will be persecuted, families divided and so on. He invites us to be hopeful anyway. Just like in this week - it gets worse before it can get better. Let’s hold onto hope and be present for the whole narrative. Amen.

Word 1:

First Word: “Father Forgive Them” Luke 23:32-38

Luke 23:32–38 NRSV

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.”

Mockery can be used to mask our own insecurities and nervousness - it is not different here. Jesus did not mocked anyone in his life - he was firm in his identity and purpose. He also knows that other people struggle with that, all humans struggle with at least a few paradoxes within themselves, their identity. Probably nobody gets to live completely matching their inner self understanding and purpose. They do not know what they are doing, too self absorbed with their own struggles and woes. They cannot see the one that can set them free.

Word 5:

Repetition of 5

th Word: I Thirst

Fifth Word: “I Thirst” John 19:28–29“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.”

Jesus is thirsty and all he gets is sour wine - just like throughout his life he experienced derision and opposition for his loving and caring actions. But only moments left and his earthly journey will be concluded, done and finished. He received sour wine in life and in death - many people do not enjoy those that expose their hypocrisy and self-interest by doing good as it requires them to get creative to silence them. Enemies of Jesus found the way to do so, so that Jesus can be crucified for challenging the status quo by healing, loving, caring, and forgiving. Today, people like him are served sour wine as well.

Reflection

Word 7:

Repetition of 7th Word:

Father, Into Your Hands I C bnommend My Spirit

Seventh Word: Father, Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit

Jesus exemplifies commitment to God’s will until the very end, playing his part in this scandalous affair. God incarnate, the redeemer of the whole universe.... hanging on the cross with nobody to pull him down for the fear of the Roman Empire enforcing the sentence. But it is also a moment of his final rebellion - what was supposed to be excruciating period of dying in scorching heat and slow suffocation, is instead a monumental display of sudden death. Jesus dies and the clock begins to tick for his resurrection to come. It is finished - Jesus died and we mourn. But we know it is not the end and we have hope!

Reflection

Revised Common Lectionary 3-29-2024: Good Friday

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2024 | LENT

GOOD FRIDAY

YEARS ABC

Old Testament Isaiah 52:13–53:12

Psalm Psalm 22

New Testament Hebrews 10:16–25 or Hebrews 4:14–16, 5:7–9

Gospel John 18:1–19:42

Well, that is…a lot. High marks to Jesus and Joseph of Arimathea, but failing grades to pretty much everyone else! Everyone’s seem to be absorbed in their fears, anxieties, and interests. Focused on survival, ready to sacrifice the one that served others. And Jesus is definitely not focused on survival and more than that, he has the willpower to continue caring for others, including his mother, his beloved disciple, and one of the criminals hanging on a neighboring cross.

We’d love to think, we would do the same - take the beatings and suffering with dignity and compassion, but let’s get real, I am sure I would break down and probably hardly have a mind for anything but the present suffering and pain. Jesus provides stark contrast to almost everyone else who are just playing their small parts in a messed up systems of oppression that marginalize, hurt, and kill others. Jesus did not die a unique death - crucifixion was used by Persians,Carthaginians, and Romans, among others before and after Jesus’ punishment, even well into our millennia believe it or not. In some sense, it underscores it all - he did not die like a king in battle or some other “noble death”, but simply like a common criminal or a rebel! A scandalous death for God incarnate, God’s only beloved son! He came to love, serve, and show mercy and the answer of the world? Let’s kill him!

We humans are a little bit of spoilsports, to put it mildly - we pillage, destroy, kill, spoil. Be it wars, burning down forests, driving animals to extinction, poisoning wells, and gene modifying seeds so that they can be used only once. We can and do co-create goodness such as advancement in medicine or assistive technology, but we can also take these good things and turn it for mass destruction or oppression - advancements in medicine are used for torture and punishment (such as induced morphine addiction or insulin shock therapy) and technology advancements are used in wars - for example, drone strikes that can level a block of buildings while being operated from a different continent.

We engage, similar to the people around Jesus in this story, in systems of oppression, acting as proxies to often indirectly cause suffering onto others - our tax money may be used to build anti-homeless urban architecture or tearing down tent cities with no real alernative given, the companies we buy products from may have a continued track record of union busting (Amazon, Trader Joe’s…), or the schools we attended and now support may have a CEO of prison phone calls company on its board (Princeton Theological Seminary). And among it shines Jesus that even in his darkest moments lived out his purpose and ideals of God’s kingdom - he was the spark of mercy and goodness in a very dark pit. That is the good news for the moment - here in the journey of Holy Week, he is dead and laid to rest. But he lived his purpose to his last breath. The big good news is yet to come, but for now we wait! Amen.

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION - Easter Sunrise

The prayers are prepared locally for each occasion. The following examples may be adapted or used as appropriate.

Rejoicing that Jesus is risen and love has triumphed over fear, let us pray for the church, the world, and all those in need of good news.

A brief silence.

Life-giving God, we pray for the earth, your good creation. Join our prayers with branches lifted in praise and roaring waters of new life, that together we may proclaim Easter hope. We pray for the healing of nature as it suffers under human pollution and its consequences, such as climate change. God of grace, hear our prayer.

Merciful God, we pray for all peoples and nations. Free oppressed communities from occupation, exploitation, and abuse. Teach leaders your way of justice. Empower peacemakers and all who work to end violence and strife. Today, we especially pray for the people of Ukraine, Gaza, and Syria, as well as Russia and Israel. God of grace, hear our prayer. Liberating God, we pray for people everywhere who long for good news. Roll away the stones that keep people from living with dignity and wholeness. Breathe new life and hope into people struggling to make it through each day - those without a home, those with an illness or death in the family, or the persecuted and marginalized of all faiths, nationalities, ethnicities, gender and sexual identities, degrees of ableness... . God of grace, hear our prayer. Loving God, we pray for this varied community of faith (name/s may be spoken here) and for your Spirit in our midst. Feed us at your Easter table and fill us with your wisdom, that we may serve and care for others. God of grace, hear our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

Holy God, we pray for the body of Christ, the global universal church of many languages, creeds, ethnicities, and flavors. Where the church is persecuted, protect it and inspire it to witness. Where the church is privileged, grant it humility and generosity . Where the church is fractured, heal it to visible unity and lovingkindness. Guide us all to embody Christ’s love in the world. God of grace, hear our prayer.

Eternal God, we remember those who have gone before us in death (especially John Donne and all whose ministry in the arts inspired generations to faith). Renew our trust in your promises, that we live with joyful courage and compassion. God of grace, hear our prayer. Into your hands, most merciful God, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your abiding love; through Jesus Christ, our resurrected and living Lord. Amen.

Revised Common Lectionary (3-31-2024: Resurrection of the Lord)

SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 2024 | EASTER

RESURRECTION OF THE LORD

EASTER DAY

YEAR B

On the same date: Resurrection of the Lord, Easter Evening

First Reading Acts 10:34–43

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 Psalm 118:1–2, 14–24

New Testament 1 Corinthians 15:1–11

1 Corinthians 15:1–11 NRSV

Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

Gospel Mark 16:1–8

Mark 16:1–8 NRSV

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterward Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.

Jesus is risen, hallelujah! We have come to the end of our Holy Week journey - there is no more Holy Week after today and onto the Easter season! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, so let’s focus on today.

First of all, wasn’t nice that Jesus left the tomb uncovered (so that the women do not have to open it somehow) and that he left behind a messenger to tell them all they need to know? If you ask me, that is A+ considerate way to be resurrected! I think if I were resurrected I would be too overwhelmed and distracted to arrange for anything! I’d probably run towards the first food stall I could find, especially if the last thing I had was sour wine!

This is the the first ending of Mark, sans the last two sentences - some older manuscripts simply end with this one, leaving it a little bit on a mysterious and abrupt note. No direct revelation of Jesus here - only the evidence left behind and the messenger speak of the event. There is a debate whether Mark meant it to be a bit mysterious to challenge his readers or whether perhaps the longer ending was lost and then found or reconstructed, but ultimately we do not know. But it is fitting for us - we are not the apostles or Paul and as such we are only TOLD about the resurrection rather indirectly. It doesn’t make it any less real in our faith - we simply weren’t there. Seeing is believing doesn’t simply apply here - there is a big difference between knowing and believing. We know scientifically and we believe as a part of our faith. We know that the earth is round thanks to the scientific evidence and we believe that Jesus is the Lord and Savior according to the Bible and the church tradition with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Science often tells us the how and when and our faith the why and who.

So let’s make the most of it! Let us celebrate the resurrection that we are told about and that we believe in. Life over death, love over hatred, mercy over judgment, victory over defeat. Jesus lives and so does his kingdom into which we are all invited! And we will continue to talk about what implications does that have in the rest of the year - loving and serving our neighbor, good dominion over the creation, living into the entirety of the story of Jesus (not just the resurrection), and loving overselves and recognizing God’s image in us! Alleluia! Amen.