Sermon Tone Analysis

*Quinquagesima          Luke 18.31*

 

To day is *Quinquagesima* last Sunday was *Sexagesima* and the Sunday before that was *Septuagesima*, but what do such strange names mean.

The names are from the *Latin* and can be dated back to the *sixth century.

*

 

*Quinquagesima* means *fifty days* before *Easter*, which it *actually* is and is the *Sunday* before *Ash Wednesday* and the start of Lent.

Some churches change they vestments on this day to *purple *while others wait until *Ash Wednesday* to do so.

The word *Alleluia* is not said at any of the church services until *Lent *is over from today, while again some churches wait until Ash Wednesday before not doing so.

In earlier times you would not *eat meat* from Quinquagesima until after Lent.

*Sexagesima* means *sixty days* before *Easter* but is only *fifty seven* days, as it is the name given to the *second *Sunday before *Lent* and the *eighth* Sunday before *Easter.*

*Septuagesima* means *seventy days* before *Easter* but is actually only *sixty four* days; it is the *third* Sunday before *Lent* and the *ninth* Sunday before *Easter.*

The Church of England in their *new* Prayer Book have dropped these names, and just refers to these Sundays as;

The Sunday before Lent, the Sunday next before Lent and the third Sunday before Lent.

This coming Tuesday is know as *Shrove* Tuesday and dates back to the Middle Ages, and was the day that you confessed your sins in *final preparation*  for Lent.

It is also know as Pancake Day as it was the day that you used up all your eggs and fat as they were *forbidden* to be eaten during Lent and could not be kept until Easter.

This brings us to *Ash* *Wednesday* and the first day of Lent which is six and half weeks before Easter.

In a lot of churches on Ash Wednesday the worshiper receives a *cross* marked on the *forehead* as a sign of *penitence*, this is done with the ashes obtained by burning the palms used on the previous Palm Sunday.

Lent consist of forty days, as we do not include the Sundays and use to be forty days of fasting which represent *Jesus* forty days of *fasting* in the desert.

To days Gospel points us towards *Lent* and the *Cross*:

 

*“Jesus* took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, *behold*, we *go* up to *Jerusalem*, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished.

For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on, and they shall scourge Him, and *put Him to death*, and the *third day* He shall *rise* again.

And they understood *none* of these things.*”*

Luke tells us that the *sufferings* of *Christ* are the fulfilling of the *scriptures*.

All things that are written by the Prophets concerning the *Son* *of Man*, especially the *hardships,* He should undergo, was to be and *fulfilled* in *Jesus Christ*.

Prophets like Isaiah /(53) /which we had to day as an Old Testament reading, foretold *Christ* *sufferings*, and the glory that should follow,



Christ turned the *offence and disgrace* of the *cross* to/ /an *honour,* and something to be *looked* *up to*.

The other Gospels say that He would be mocked, but here Luke added, *Jesus* shall be *spitefully treated*, he shall have scornful *insults* and *contempt* poured upon Him.

When *Christ* spoke of his sufferings and *death*, He also spoke of his *resurrection*, but the Disciples did not really understand.

As it was so contrary to the notions they had had of the Messiah and his kingdom.

The Disciples had been so intent upon those prophecies that spoke of *Christ’s glory* that they overlooked those that spoke of *Christ’s sufferings*, as they could not believe that anything could be accomplished in the disgrace and *death* of the Messiah.

As the *Disciples* went with *Jesus* to *Jerusalem* we follow them during the period of lent, the only difference being the *Cross,* to them they thought it was the *end,* but to us it was the *beginning*.

The *cross* has become a sign for Christian throughout the

world, and is one of the *principal* symbols of the Christian religion.

The *Cross* recalls to us the *Crucifixion* of *Jesus Christ* and the redeeming benefits of His Passion and *Death*.

The *cross* is both a sign of *Christ* himself and of the *faith* of Christians.

Before the time of the emperor Constantine in the 4th century, Christians were extremely careful about using the sign of the *cross* in any way, because too open a display of it might expose them to death.

After Constantine converted to Christianity, he abolished crucifixion as a death penalty and promoted the *cross* as one of the *main symbols* of the Christian faith,

 

For several centuries after Constantine, Christian devotion to the *cross* centred on the *victory* of *Christ* over the powers of evil and death, and realistic portrayal of his suffering was avoided.

The earliest crucifixes depict *Christ* alive, with eyes open and arms extended, by the 9th century this changed to show *Christ's* *suffering* and His death.

The early Crucifixes often show a royal crown upon Christ's head, but this was later replaced with a far greater crown, the *crown of thorns*.

In the 20th century a new emphasis emerged showing crucifixes with *Christ* vested as a king and *priest*, and the marks of his suffering are much less prominent.

Ever time we go in to a church we will see a *cross* sometimes on the altar or behind it and some times above it, a *cross* will   also be seen in other places in a church like over a pulpit.

Some churches have even been built in the shape of a *cross*.

The *cross* and *Jesus death* shows us the depths of *God’s love* for us.

As a result of this great *love*, we can be reconciled both to *God* and each other.

It is through the *cross* that all the powers of evil are defeated.

The *cross* is also a dramatic symbol of the sort of life Christians ought to live.

Saint Luke tells us in his Gospel that *Jesus* called his follows to take up their *cross* and follow Him.

(Luke 9.23)

 

*Jesus* called his follows to a life of self-sacrifice.

As they must give up their own claims over their lives, and live in the power of the *new life* which *God* gives them.

*Saint Paul**,* we know by his letter to the Galatians understood what this really meant by his own experience;

 

“I have been *crucified* with *Christ*; it is no longer I who live, but *Christ* who lives in me;

And the life, I now live in the flesh, I live by *faith* in the *Son of God,* who loved me and gave *himself* for me.

 (Gal.2.20)

As we, in the next few days *prepare* ourselves for *Lent*, lets us remember the *Disciples* who went with *Jesus* to Jerusalem.

Who at *first* did not understand what was happening to *Jesus*, but later did come to *understand,* so that we may understand too?