Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you

 

 Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things?  And who gave You this authority?"  But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things:  The baptism of John -- where was it from?  From heaven or from men?"  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet."  so they answered Jesus and said, "We do not know."  And He said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.  

 

"But what do you think?  A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go, work today in my vineyard.'  He answered and said, 'I will not,' but afterward he regretted it and went.  Then he came to the second and said likewise.  And he answered and said, 'I go, sir,' but he did not go.  Which of the two did the will of his father?"  They said to Him, "The first."  Jesus said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.  For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him."

 

- Matthew 21:23-32 

 

Yesterday we read that, following Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"  Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes.  Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?"  Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.  Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."  Immediately the fig tree withered away.   And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

 

Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things?  And who gave You this authority?"  But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things:  The baptism of John -- where was it from?  From heaven or from men?"  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Why ten did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet."  so they answered Jesus and said, "We do not know."  And He said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."  My study Bible explains that, since Christ is not a Levitical priest, the chief priests and the elders challenge His authority to cleanse the temple (see yesterday's reading, above, in which Jesus "drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves."  This is referred to as the cleansing of the temple.  But my study Bible comments that, as Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, He confounds them with a different question about John (that is, John the Baptist).  It notes that both the elders' question and Christ's question require the same answer, and so therefore would lead a person to confess that Jesus has come from heaven.  But in not answering them directly, Jesus teaches us not to answer people who come asking about holy things with a malicious intent. 

 

 "But what do you think?  A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go, work today in my vineyard.'  He answered and said, 'I will not,' but afterward he regretted it and went.  Then he came to the second and said likewise.  And he answered and said, 'I go, sir,' but he did not go.  Which of the two did the will of his father?"  They said to Him, "The first."  Jesus said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.  For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him."  My study Bible comments that, using their own principles, the elders convict themselves in their answer to Christ's parable. 

 

Jesus' parable to the chief priests and elders calls into question a presumption of authority, and what authority says and does.  This parable involves a first son, and a second, and it teaches about what we say and what we do, and which one carries the greater weight.  What we do tends to be an expression of what is in the heart, while often, what we say can mask that true reality within us.  The chief priests and elders clearly know what is right from wrong, as their answer is correct to the parable.  But in the case of St. John the Baptist, their hypocrisy and envy get the better of them.  For John came preaching a baptism of repentance, and these refused it, although those whom the chief priests and elders would call sinners accepted St. John's baptism with their own repentance.   In chapter 23, Jesus will speak to His disciples in an extensive criticism of the scribes and Pharisees, most notably about their hypocrisy.  He begins this final public sermon by telling His disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do" (Matthew 23:1-3).  The rest of the chapter is an extensive commentary elaborating on precisely how that hypocrisy works, and what they actually do despite their piety.  So it is also with this parable; Jesus gives an illustration of what it is to say one thing, and to do another.  He asks which of the two sons did the will of his father in the parable.  The clear answer is the one who actually did what his father asked, despite what the son had replied.  This points to something important and essential about our faith, that the living of our faith is the true test of its authenticity.  It is one thing to pay lip service to something, but quite another to live it, to become an embodiment of the faith in which we want to truly participate.  While authority in the Church is meaningful and powerful, we take the attitude Christ teaches:  there is always going to be respect for the seat of authority, but hypocrisy does not serve God.  In fact, throughout the Gospels it is hypocrisy that seems to receive the greatest criticism from Jesus; see all of chapter 23 for His grand critique of the ways of the scribes of Pharisees.  Let us note that at all times it is Jesus who sets the example by seeking and doing the will of God the Father.  In the parable He teaches, it is the son who did the father's will who is proper -- and not by virtue of a mere appearance of outward virtue to others.  So, therefore, in the cleansing of the temple, Jesus acts with the authority proper to the Son, despite the questions and accusations by the religious leaders.  Let us also act with love as God's adopted children by grace.  Christ's parable reminds us that regardless of where we are, repentance always allows us to return to the One who loves us at any time.  For, as St. John Chrysostom teaches, the only unforgivable sin is one not repented. 

 

 

 

 

 

Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise

 

 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"  

 

Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes.  Have you never read, 

'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have perfected praise'?" 

 Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there. 

 

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."  Immediately the fig tree withered away.   And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

 

- Matthew 21:12-22 

 

 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.  Loose them and bring them to Me.  And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."  All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:  "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.'" So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.  They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.  And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Hosanna in the highest!"  And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"  so the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

 

  Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"   My study Bible explains that those who bought and sold were trading in live animals to be used for sacrifices.  The money changers would trade Roman coins for Jewish coins, because Roman coins bore the image of Caesar (who was worshiped as a god), and were considered to be defiling in the temple.  The cleansing of the temple, my study Bible also notes, points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  As each person is considered to be a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), so it's also a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.  Jesus quotes from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11.

 

 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes.  Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?" Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.  My study Bible quotes from a Vespers hymn of Palm Sunday:  "Keep the feast with the children, and holding branches in your hands, sing 'Hosanna.'"  It notes that many liturgical hymns of this day emphasize the perfect praise of the children, which unlike that of the adults, was innocent, fitting, unashamed, and from hearts of pure love.  It says, moreover, that we are called to glorify Christ in the same spirit (see Matthew 18:1-4).  In contrast, the adults' praise carried earthly expectations and agendas which -- when left unfulfilled -- led them to rebel against Jesus only five days later (Matthew 27:20-23).  Jesus quotes from the Septuagint version of Psalm 8:2.  

 

 Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."  Immediately the fig tree withered away.   And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  The fig tree is a symbol of prosperity and peace, my study Bible says.  But it withers because it is fruitless.  This is a prophetic act done by Christ since after three years of His preaching, teaching, and healing, both the leaders and the crowds were destitute of spiritual fruit.  My study Bible adds that the cursing of this fig tree is a warning to those in every generation of what will befall anyone who fails to listen to Christ's message.

 

 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."  My study Bible comments that, while it is not recorded that an apostle literally moved a mountain, patristic understanding is clear that they had this authority if the need had arisen (there are certain saints that made crevices appear in Mountains).  Moreover, not all things done by the apostles was written down.  But beyond this literal meaning, it's a promise which includes an illustration of the power of faith and prayer in all areas of life.  My study Bible quotes Theophylact:  "Whatever we ask, without hesitation and believing in God's power, we shall receive" when we ask for spiritually profitable things.  

 

In today's passage is the second place in which Christ will speak about faith that can move mountains.  See also Matthew 17:14-21, in which the disciples (with the exceptions of Sts. Peter, James, and John) fail to heal a young boy (they fail to exorcise a demon from him).  They ask Jesus why they could not cast it out.  Jesus tells them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."  St. Paul also refers to this passage when he writes on love:  "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).  Both of these passages are interesting, because they tell us that Christ's teaching here is not done in a vacuum.  In other words, He's not simply saying that all we have to do is believe something strongly enough, and our prayers will be answered.  There are conditions in each of these passages that make it clear that all faith and discipleship comes in the context of a much bigger picture of life than a simple intellectual choice or the will to believe something.  Our faith must be lived, one way or another, or even our prayers will be ineffective, or fall short of our desires and expectations.  Jesus speaks to the disciples of necessary prayer and fasting; St. Paul speaks of necessary love in addition to our faith.   Let us note that when facing His death on the Cross, even Jesus prayed for the cup to be taken from Him, but He did so in a certain manner of which we must make note.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus fervently prayed, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will" (Matthew 26:39).  If we are to believe that Christ indicates in today's passage that all we are to do is pray with a certain will to belief, and even the impossible or fantastical will come to be, then we are not paying attention to the fullness of the faith as Christ has taught in His ministry.  For even Jesus must pray in a particular way, and with a particular mindset, saying, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."  There is a fullness of faith that is not simply about convincing our selves of the truth of something; it is not simply about a nominal or intellectual decision to believe something.  The fullness of faith is a life lived with dependence upon God in the fullness of our interior lives, even so that we can say with Christ, "Not as I will, but as You will."  God's possibilities are endless.  If the Cross and the resulting defeat of death and sin do not tell us that, then I can't imagine what would. Certainly those who put Him to death thought it was the end of His ministry and those faithful to Him. There are many people who clearly believe that still.   Even Satan himself no doubt thought it would prove Christ's defeat, but it instead defeated Satan and we speak of the victory of the Cross.  If God's power is so utterly outside of all of our conceivable expectations, then it is far greater and grander than anything we can "use" for ourselves.  We can but seek to know God and seek God's will for us through all the practices of faith and discipleship, and this is where power in prayer is found.  In today's reading, Jesus once again speaks of children as those who are truly of the kingdom of heaven.  Like angels, the quotation from Psalm 8:2 indicates that it is children who truly know and speak perfect praise (or hymns) to God.  See Matthew 18:3, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."  Humility and true faith and prayer go hand in hand, if we are to accept what Jesus is teaching here.  Of Jesus' teaching regarding "little children" as the model for those who enter the kingdom of heaven, my study Bible describes these virtues as follows:  humility, dependence, lowliness, simplicity, obedience, and a willingness to love and be loved.  Let us understand the children who have perfected hymns to God.  For they are the ones who understand Christ and see Him as He truly is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If David then calls Him "Lord," how is He his Son?

 

 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:

'The LORD said to my Lord,

"Sit at My right hand,

Till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?

"If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

 

- Matthew 22:41-46 

 

In our current readings, the lectionary has taken us through the Gospel of St. Matthew, and into the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7).   But this week, as Ascension Day occurs tomorrow (in the Western and Armenian Apostolic Churches; for the Eastern Orthodox, it is a week later), the lectionary begins prepares us for the celebration of Christ's Ascension, with passages that affirm His identity.  On Friday the lectionary will resume texts starting with the final verses of the Sermon on the Mount.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus was explaining to His disciples the parable of the Sower (given in Monday's reading):  "Therefore hear the parable of the sower:  When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.  This is he who received seed by the wayside.  But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while.  For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.  Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.  But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces:  some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." 

 

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying: 'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?  If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.  The setting for today's reading is Holy Week, the final week of Christ's earthly life.  He is in Jerusalem in the temple, where He has been questioned, and been in dispute with the religious leaders.  Here, Jesus in turn asks the Pharisees a question.  What do you think about the Christ? is a question about the Messiah (Christ is the Greek word meaning "Anointed" and so refers to the Messiah).  After they answer, the Son of David, Jesus then poses a question to these experts, who do nothing but pore over the Scriptures, a question about the Scriptures and their understanding, pointing to a psalm of David that refers to the Lord, the Christ.  Jesus refers to Psalm 110, quoting its first verse.  My study Bible comments that He does so to lead the Pharisees to the only logical conclusion:  that He is God incarnate.  They suppose the Messiah to be a mere man, and in this is the understanding that the Messiah would be a Son of David.  But David, as the king of Israel, could never call anyone else "Lord" except if he were addressing God.  But here in this psalm, David refers to the Messiah as "Lord."  So, therefore, the Messiah must be God, the only "lord" loftier than the king.  The only possible conclusion, my study Bible notes, is that the Messiah is a descendant of David only according to the flesh, but that He is also truly divine, sharing His Lordship with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  It's clear that the implications have not been lost on the Pharisees, as they refuse to answer, out of fear of confessing Jesus is the Son of God.  Following this encounter, Jesus will begin His grand critique of the scribes and Pharisees, His final public sermon (Matthew 23).

 

There are times in life when we really do seek to avoid saying a truth that has become obvious to us, but which is threatening to our identity, to our understanding of ourselves.  Here it is the case with the Pharisees, whose authority is something they stake their lives on.  Their positions within the society are firm, and they seek to uphold the values and meanings of the tradition upon which they stand.  Since their position is that which considers themselves to be the experts in the Scriptures and their interpretation, this is indeed an almost perilous question that Christ poses to them.  How could they, who do nothing but study Scripture and derive numerous commandments from the Scriptures which they scrupulously obey, have missed this implication of this extraordinary psalm of David?  Could the Messiah truly be the Son of God in the sense that Jesus is implying?  And could Jesus Himself, then, be the Messiah (as His disciples and followers seem to believe, having welcomed Him into Jerusalem in His Triumphal Entry a few days prior to this)?   Do they dare to admit that His logic and intuition are the only possible answer to the writing of this psalm by King David?  We do know that there are Pharisees among Christ's followers, such as Nicodemus (see, for example, John 3:1-21).  St. John's Gospel tells us, "Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:42-43). In Jesus' condemnation of the Pharisees in the chapter that follows (Matthew 23), He focuses chiefly on their hypocrisy in His grand critique of their practices.  They care for image more than substance; to be seen as holy and pious becomes more important than dealing with the internal life of the soul.  In their refusal to answer is a sign of this hypocrisy, a fear that to state what is, in fact, recognized as true is to tear down their own houses, to force a kind of repentance that needs to reconcile with the One standing in front of them whom they reject and consider an enemy, One whom they wish to destroy.  We might call this behavior outrageous, given the colossal, cosmic importance of what they are rejecting.  But we can observe this behavior all around us as a part of life.  That is, truths we are afraid of admitting openly for fear we'll have to change too much in our lives, disrupting the present order, should we acknowledge such to ourselves.  Denial goes on all the time, whether we speak of small circles such as an individual in denial about themselves, a family that does not acknowledge some harmful habit or practice or failure of a particular member, to larger groups such as social communities of all sorts, even to nations or groups of nations and international institutions.  A self-chosen blindness is frequently the theme of concern in the Gospels, a failure or even deliberate blindness to what and whom Christ is.  In the case of these Pharisees, it comes down to hypocrisy in Jesus' words and His criticism of them and their blindness, and His light is something they do not want.  This hiding from the light is an overarching theme, one that touches all of us and our world (John 1:5), and it is an ongoing reality for all of us to grapple with in one form or another, whether we fight against it or must face our own tendencies to hide from that light which may come to illuminate our dark corners and ask us to change.  But Jesus, the Son, "my Lord" to David, is the central figure here, the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), to whom all need to turn and with whom we will all reconcile (Philippians 2:9-11, Isaiah 45:23), in whom all things converge (Ephesians 1:10; Colossians 1:17).  

 

 

 

The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone

 

 Then He began to speak to them in parables:  "A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers.  And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.  And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some.  Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But those vinedrssers said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'  So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do?  He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others.  Have you not even read this Scripture:

'The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone.

 This was the LORD's doing,

And it is marvelous in our eyes'?"

And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them.  So they left Him and went away. 

 

- Mark 12:1–12

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus and the disciples came again to Jerusalem.  The setting is Holy Week, and this is Christ's third day in the Holy City, the day after He has cleansed the temple.  And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him.  And they said to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things?  And who gave You this authority to do these things?"  But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things:  The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men?  Answer Me."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men,'" -- they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed.  So they answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know."  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."   

 

Then He began to speak to them in parables:  "A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers.  And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.  And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some.  Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But those vinedressers said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'  So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do?  He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others.  Have you not even read this Scripture: 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"  And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them.  So they left Him and went away.  My study Bible explains that, in this parable, the man represents God the Father, and the vineyard refers to God's people.  The vinedressers are the leaders of the Jews -- such as the men to whom Christ speaks -- who are entrusted to care for the people.  Every servant who is sent by the owner stands for an Old Testament prophet who was sent to call people back to God.  The son, his beloved, of course, refers to Christ Himself.  That the son who is cast out of the vineyard and killed is understood in two ways.  Golgotha, the place of Christ's Crucifixion was outside the walls of the City, and also that He was crucified by foreign soldiers.  Those others to whom the vineyard is given are the Gentiles brought into the Church. 

 

 At the end of Christ's parable told to the chief priests, scribes, and elders, Jesus quotes from Psalm 118.  (He quotes verses 22-23.)  This is quite significant, because this Psalm was one of a group repeated each day during the Feast of Tabernacles.  The Feast of Tabernacles was the Feast of the Coming Kingdom, heralding the expected Messiah and the Kingdom anticipated at the time of the Messiah.  When the people welcomed Christ into Jerusalem at His Triumphal Entry, just days before, it is from this Psalm that they cried, "Hosanna [meaning "Save, I pray"]! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" (see Mark 11:9-10).  But here, Jesus reminds these authorities -- who have come to question Him about His authority to cleanse the temple -- of one of the promises in this Psalm.  Coupled with the parable, the implication is clear.  They are the ones who reject Him, and He declares Himself to be the rejected stone which will become the "chief cornerstone" who will then give the vineyard to others.  The entire story of Holy Week -- and particularly this time when Jesus has been welcomed with acclaim into Jerusalem and His subsequent actions and teaching in the temple -- is infused with the extraordinary tension of messianic expectation and the people's hope in Christ.  It is for this reason they dare not lay hands on Him at this time, and openly in daylight in the temple, for as the text tells us, they feared the multitude.  In such an atmosphere of heightened expectation and tension, Jesus goes toward the Cross.  We can imagine what a crushing blow it will be to the disciples, who will initially go into hiding.  Certainly the religious leaders, treating Jesus with disdain at the Cross, gloat and feel triumphant.  But death cannot hold Him, will not stop this rejected stone from becoming the Chief Cornerstone of his Church, which will be spread to all the world.  And that is just the point, for only He could "trample death by death," as the Orthodox Paschal hymn declares.  For the Eastern Orthodox, Holy Week begins on Monday.  For the Western Churches and the Armenian Apostolic (Oriental Orthodox) Church, Easter is this Sunday.  As we move toward the moment Christ has predicted three times to His disciples, let us consider how what appeared to be the greatest defeat was the greatest triumph, one shared with all of us.  At the tomb Mary Magdalene and the other women will become Apostles to the Apostles, giving to the others, and thence to the world, the greatest news of all.

 

 

Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things

 

 Then they came again to Jerusalem.  And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him.  And they said to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things?  And who gave You this authority to do these things?"  But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things:  The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men?  Answer Me."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men,'" -- they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed.  So they answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know."  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."  

 

- Mark 11:27–33 

 

Yesterday we read of Jesus' second day in Jerusalem, after His Triumphal Entry:  In the morning when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.  And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it.  When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.  In response Jesus said to it, Let no one eat fruit from you ever again."  And His disciples heard it.  So they came to Jerusalem.  Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And he would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple.  Then He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'?  But you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"  And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.  When evening had come, He went out of the city.  Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.  And Peter remembering, said to Him,  "Rabbi, look!  The fig tree which You cursed has withered away."  so Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God.  For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.  Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.  And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."

 

  Then they came again to Jerusalem.  And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him.  And they said to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things?  And who gave You this authority to do these things?"  But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things:  The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men?  Answer Me."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men,'" -- they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed.  So they answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know."  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."   The setting of our reading is now what we know as Holy Week, the final week of Christ's earthly life.  This is the third day He is in Jerusalem.  He has cleansed the temple the day before (see yesterday's reading above), and so these religious leaders demand to know, "By what authority are You doing these things?"  Christ is not a Levitical priest, and so the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders challenge His authority to do so.  My study Bible comments that, as Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, He confounds them with a different question about John the Baptist (Mark 1:1-8).  Both the elders' question and Christ's question demand the same answer, my study Bible explains, and so would lead a person to confess that Jesus has come from heaven.  By not answering them directly, it notes, Christ teaches us not to answer people who come asking about holy things with a malicious intent.  

 

What I always admire about Christ's style of engagement here is His vigor.  So often in popular culture He is portrayed as a very meek character; in the secular mind which does not correctly interpret "meekness" in the Christian sense, this may be seen as weak or ineffectual.  But when He verbally spars with the religious authorities, we come to understand quite the opposite.  Jesus' vigor shows here, and He doesn't give an inch.  These religious leaders, although nominally in authority in the temple, do not intimidate Him and they do not persuade Him away from His mission and what He needs to do.  On the contrary, He answers their question with a question -- and thoroughly gives them back the argument they wish to avoid.  He turns the tables on them both in the sense that they cannot answer, and that He reveals that it is they who are afraid of the people.  On the contrary, for the past three years, Jesus has courageously preached, taught, and healed all over the territories of the Jewish communities that constitute greater Israel.  Here, perhaps, He shows the greatest courage of all, for He knows that these men wish to have Him put to death (and they will).  See this reading in which He predicted for the third time what would happen to Him in Jerusalem, and in detail, for His apostles, including the suffering He will endure.  Christ's defense of His cousin and saint, John the Baptist, also tells us about Jesus' character.  Like a heroic warrior as portrayed in any kind of traditional story of what it means to be valiant and loyal, Jesus will always step in to defend His own.  He intervenes for His disciples in this reading, and here in today's reading He defends John as sent by God, although the religious leaders did not treat John as such.  What we may observe of Jesus' character then is what truly defines meekness or gentleness in the Christian sense.  That is, strength under control.  He knows what He is to be about, He is thoroughly loyal to God the Father in living His mission in the world as the Incarnate Jesus, and He stands up for that which is His, in the provenance of His Kingdom -- be it the truth and light He is here to teach, or for those who bear that light and truth into the world and belong to Him.  One thing He is not -- He is not going quietly, so to speak.  Until it is time to do so, He continues His mission, and that includes here in this confrontation with the religious leaders over His conduct in the temple.  In St. John's Gospel, we're told that in one of His confrontations with the religious leaders, prior to Holy Week, they asked Him, "Who are You?"  Jesus replied, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him." They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father (John 8:25-26).  The One who sent Him is true, Christ is loyal to Him in all ways, speaking those things which He hears to speak.  In the Revelation, we read that Christ Himself is like His Father, He is "Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war" (Revelation 19:11).  This is the reality of Christ, a spiritual reality we are to follow and live ourselves in the world.  He is faithful and true to the One who is true, and so we are meant to be as well.  He defends His own, and is obedient in freedom and out of love.  In the Orthodox tradition, this is understood more fully as "the love of the beautiful" -- and in that beauty is goodness, and truth, and righteousness.  Let us pay attention and learn from Him.

 

 

 

If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also

 

 Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.  Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."  Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.  But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.  Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.  He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also.  If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor."

 

- John 12:20-26 

 

 This week is Holy Week, and will culminate in Jesus' Crucifixion, death, and Resurrection.  Yesterday we read St. John's account of Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, which we celebrate as Palm Sunday.  Note that this time in Jerusalem marks the start of Passover week.  This is the third and final Passover festival recorded in John's Gospel, and the Triumphal Entry marks the beginning of the final week of Jesus' earthly life.   Yesterday we read that a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:  "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' The King of Israel!" Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:  "Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt."  His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.  Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!" 

 Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.  Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."  Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.  But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified."  My study Bible explains that these Greeks were Gentiles (those who spoke Greek, the lingua franca or international language of the period).  They are Gentiles who believed in the God of Abraham, having come to participate in the Passover feast.  That they were still called "Greeks" shows that they were not yet full proselytes (converts) to Judaism.  Since Jesus had taught His disciples not to go to the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5; 15:24), my study Bible says, the disciples approach Jesus before they bring these inquirers to Him. Glorified is a reference to Christ's death on the Cross.  My study Bible notes that His obscure response indicates two things.  First, the answer these people are seeking will not be found in words but in the Cross.  Second, the Cross will be the event that opens all manner of grace to the Gentiles. 

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.  He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also.  If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor."  My study Bible comments that this image of the grain of wheat dying in order to bear fruit signifies that Christ's death will give life to the world.  It is common in Orthodox churches to serve boiled wheat, sweetened and spiced, at memorial services for the departed faithful.  This is a kind of affirmation of God's promise that those who have died in Christ will rise again to life.  In the Armenian Apostolic Church, this passage is read in the memorial service.

 

 Jesus lays out the plan in today's reading, a plan for His glorification.  This is the great paradox that begins with more explicit language of His Crucifixion and death which is to come.  For, as these Gentiles show up, these pagan Greek-speakers who seek the God of Israel, so we get our first hints of the gospel being sent out to all the world.  And they seek out Jesus, so He has come to be known now outside of Israel.  Again, we're given a paradox in today's reading, just the same way Jesus, the King, rode into Jerusalem in what is called His Triumphal Entry not on a horse or in a chariot, but on the colt of a donkey, so "glorification" is going to mean something seemingly entirely at odds with the world's sense of glory.  It will not only mean His death, but it will mean death by the most notorious means of suffering intended for those who are non-Roman citizens.  It will mean a death by the most ignominious way known under the Romans, a death by a method from which we derive the word "excruciating," a death of ultimate humiliation before the nation, especially for a Jewish man.  And Christ's death will be added to by the religious leaders who will go to further lengths to humiliate Him and show how they despise Him.  All of this is part of Christ's "glorification," in His own words.  For this tremendous sacrifice on His part will be done, first of all, in obedience to God the Father, within the plan for salvation of all the world, meaning all of creation (not just the earth).  For Christ's salvific and redemptive Incarnation as human being is not meant for Himself only; it is not meant as a project for God, so to speak, but as a project for us, and out of love for us.  Gregory of Nazianzinus, also known as Gregory the Theologian (one of only three saints in the entire history of the Orthodox Church to be given this title), is famous for a statement about Christ's Incarnation.  He wrote, "What has not been assumed, has not been healed."  What this means is that every aspect of human life assumed by Christ is healed through His life and divinity, thereby enabling us to enter into and participate in His life and experience that healing for ourselves.  Whatever aspect of human experience, no matter how unpleasant or humiliating or painful, which Christ assumes as one of us becomes capable of being healed simply by His entering into our life.  And this is the great love, the seed that is being planted through His death and sacrifice, so that we might live and be healed and join Him where He is in eternal life.  Christ's life, death, and Resurrection becomes His hour of glorification through this process by which we are saved, by which we may also pray and experience the energies of grace made possible through His Incarnation and His help to us, even in our very present hour, during our suffering, through our prayers, and through His life which He brings to bear on all aspects of our existence, even those caused by influence of the evil one, the devil.  Because of this hour of glorification, there is no aspect of our life, no matter how humiliating or painful, or seeming to be a failure, that Christ has not assumed so that He may be there with us, present to us.  This is about Christ salvation for everything, and for everyone, held out and given as a present, a gift to all of us, if we but will receive it.  Again, Holy Week becomes all about paradox, the good and the evil, the tremendous sacrifice of love and at the same time those who plot against our Savior to bring Him such pain and death.  But God is more powerful than all of these things which seem to be imposed upon Him, for He enters into both our life and our death in order to transfigure and transform it, to defeat death and the forces of death and cruelty for us.  Wherever we go, He is there, for He is willing to make this sacrifice, to fall to the ground as a grain of wheat that is planted for us, to bring about a great harvest.  But let us note another paradox:  He doesn't do this alone; He invites us to live and choose as He does.  He says, "He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also.  If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor."  He invites us also into glorification and honor such as God bestows, even upon Him.  For we cannot be the Christ, but we can enter into and share in this plan of salvation made glorious in believers and saints, those who love God so that their lives become also set apart for grace and for love.  Perhaps today God has something in store for you, a message, a way to address pain and difficulty, which draws you out of a human drama and into a place where love dictates instead what you can do with your time and your life, God's glory also shining through you.  Take the time for prayer, even in a time when things we cling to may be dying. 

I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness

 

 Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.  And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.  I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.  And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.  He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him -- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.  For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  And I know that His command is everlasting life.  Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."

 

- John 12:44-50 

 

In our current readings the setting is Holy Week, the final week of Christ's earthly life.  He has been speaking in the temple in Jerusalem.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught, "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them. But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:  "Lord, who has believed our report?  And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?" Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:  "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them." These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.   

 Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.  I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.  And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.  He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him -- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.  For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  And I know that His command is everlasting life.  Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."  My study Bible comments that Christ does not judge with favoritism or partiality.  He has spoken the words of life, words of love, forgiveness, repentance, virtue, and mercy.  It notes that His words will be the unbending standard by which all people are judged on the last day.

 Jesus' final address here in the temple concludes, while the following three chapters deliver to us Jesus' farewell words to His disciples at the Last Supper (John 13 - 17).  Here Jesus' final words sum up what a great deal of John's Gospel has had to teach us about His message and about judgment.  Jesus is here in the world to save, not to condemn (John 3:17).  But the words themselves, given to Him by the Father, constitute judgment:  whatever side of these words one falls upon becomes de facto judgment, for they are the words of life (John 6:63).   Here, He says that they are the Father's commands, and the Father's command is everlasting life.  In this sense, Christ has come "as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness."  We might be tempted to abstract out Christ's words and teachings, to decide that without worship, or even without a deity, we can accept His teachings as moral lessons and simply seek to live by them as we will, or as we can.  Many think that this will suffice.  But in order to do that, one would have to strip out all meaning of communion, and the essential importance of Person-to-person relationships that Christ purveys here.  Christ has called Himself the good shepherd:  "I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own."  He knows the sheep, and the sheep know Him.  They recognize His voice:  "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice" (John 10:3-4, 14).  The teachings and commands He gives to us are not abstracted principles, they are living, they are even "everlasting life," and this does not come through cold absolutes, but originate in love, the love the comes from the divine Persons (Father, Son, and Spirit) to us -- and which we may likewise return so that we grow and participate in this communal relationship of love.  This are commands given to us which give us light: the light of a communion of saints, of a Kingdom, of adoption as heirs.  It is unmistakable that we enter into this place where the fullness of our participation is unity, to be eternally with God.  At the Last Supper, Jesus will pray, "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:24-26).  He will institute the Eucharist at the Last Supper, affirming the depth of communion as the substance of faith and worship and His saving mission into the world.  Let us always seek to live in His light which is love (1 John 4:8).  

 

Hosanna! "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!" The King of Israel

 

 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. 

The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:

"Hosanna!

'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'

The King of Israel!"

Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:

"Fear not, daughter of Zion; 

Behold, your King is coming,

Sitting on a donkey's colt."

His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.  

 

Therefore the people who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!" 

 

- John 12:9–19 

 

Yesterday we read that the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.  (This marks the third Passover reported in John's Gospel, and gives us our understanding of Christ's three-year period of earthly ministry.)  Then they sought Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, "What do you think -- that He will not come to the feast?"  Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might seize Him.  Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead.  There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.  Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair.  And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.  But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray Him, said, "Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?"  This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.  But Jesus said, "Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial.  For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always."

 

 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.   Once again, we note that the term the Jews is most often used in John's Gospel to indicate the religious leadership.   Some comment that it might be better translated as "Judeans," and indicating people from this region, as juxtaposed against Galilee, where Jesus is from.  But it seems quite possible that, given those who had come to grieve with Martha and Mary, and so witnessed the raising of Lazarus, this term here indicates people from Jerusalem and so those connected with the ruling classes of the temple.  All of the people in our reading are Jews, including Jesus and His disciples, which included the author of this Gospel.   Clearly what the Gospel describes here is a falling away to Christ of even those in Jerusalem and perhaps among the families connected to the ruling Council, in a very real sense rejecting the opposition of the religious leaders to Jesus.

 

 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:  "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  The King of Israel!"  This day is known as Palm Sunday, for the branches of palm trees the people carried as went out to meet Him.  It is the beginning of Holy Week, the final week of Christ's earthly life.  The scenes in today's reading mark what is called Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  This cry of the people comes from Psalm 118:25-26, which was associated with messianic expectation.  It was recited daily during the Feast of Tabernacles, my study Bible tells us, and seven times on the seventh day as branches were waved.  The Feast of Tabernacles (or Sukkot in Hebrew) commemorates the time Israel wandered in the wilderness following Moses toward the promised land, and is also called the Feast of the Coming Kingdom.  Hosanna means "Save, we pray!"

 

Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: "Fear not, daughter of Zion; 

Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt."  His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.  These verses, recognized later by the disciples as fulfilled in Christ's riding on a young donkey in His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, come from the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9.  

Therefore the people who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!"  The raising of Lazarus from the dead, the seventh and final sign performed by Christ in John's Gospel, becomes a sword which separates people.  Let us note the details mentioned here.  John speaks of "the people who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead," and it is to these details they bore witness.   On the one hand there are these faithful witnesses who testify to the truth of this event, and the people go to meet Jesus because of the testimony of these witnesses.  But on the other hand, the Pharisees can only think that Christ is in their opposition; they haven't vanquished Him, but the people follow Him.  Therefore they are "accomplishing nothing."

One thing is clear to see in today's text:  the people are waiting for a Savior, the Messiah.  That is, someone who will deliver them from Roman rule, and establish Israel as a sovereign and prosperous state.  The people's shout, "Hosannah!" sets the tone for this plea.  And so, as the people welcome Jesus into Jerusalem, it is clear that the raising of Lazarus -- spread through the testimony of the witnesses to this final sign of John's Gospel -- has had the effect of convincing people that Jesus has to be the one.  But expectations are tricky and possibly devious things.  While in our faith, we understand that Christ is indeed, the Messiah (this is what the word "Christ" means in Greek, the "Anointed One"), the expectations of just what the Messiah will do are not necessarily fitting to what He is and who He is.  He is a Deliverer, and a Savior, but what does that deliverance look like, and what is salvation?  All of these meanings, essential to Christianity, taught in His ministry, will have to be understood and apprehended by the faith and trust people put in Him, and through the revelation of the Holy Spirit in the evolution of the Church.  In the gospel of St. Matthew, when Jesus cleanses the temple, the children shout "Hosannah to the Son of David!" (Matthew 21:14-16).  This "Hosennah" again suggests the cry for a Savior, a Deliverer, and the title Son of David is a messianic title.  But we understand it as akin to the words of welcome to Jesus in today's reading, "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' The King of Israel!"  The King of Israel would have to be the Son of David, as the true King and Messiah, one from the lineage of David, and that is Christ.  But what are the expectations of this king? What do the people want?  In commentary on the passage from Matthew, my study Bible notes that in the eyes of the Church, the children's praise is perfect (and we know Christ's own response to the criticism of the children by the chief priests and scribes: "Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?").  But by contrast, the expectations of the adults are different and earthly in nature; when these are left unfulfilled, my study Bible says, they would be led to rebel against Jesus just five days later.  In John's chapter 6, we read that, after feeding the multitudes with bread in the wilderness while still in Galilee, the people tried to take Him by force to make Him king (John 6:15).  But Jesus responded, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."  And so, Jesus' ministry has been filled with His efforts to teach the people what His messiahship means, what kind of King He really is, and what sort of Kingdom He brings into the world.  He asks for faith, but what does this faith look like?  Is it the same as obedience to Caesar?  Is it different?  How do we worship Him; most importantly, how do we trust in Him?  The people's improper expectations of Him have been a concern expressed through Christ's ministry all along.  What do we expect from Him?  How do we trust Him?    At this time, lots of people seem to be searching for a Deliverer or a Savior, as perhaps people always have.  What does He teach us about that?  How does He teach us to live our faith in Him even when we cry out to Him?  In whom or what do we place our trust?  The chief priests and scribes complain, "Look, the world has gone after Him!"  What does the world go after today? These matters are still with us, and we need to consider them carefully, and ponder how He answers to us all. 

 

 

 

 

 

For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always

 

 And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.  Then they sought Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, "What do you think -- that He will not come to the feast?"  Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might seize Him. 

Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead.  There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.  Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair.  And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.  But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray Him, said, "Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?"  This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.  But Jesus said, "Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial.  For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always."

 

- John 11:55—12:8 

 

On Saturday we read that many of people from Jerusalem who had come to Mary when mourning Lazarus, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him (see this reading for the raising of Lazarus).  But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did.  Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, "What shall we do?  For this Man works many signs.  If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."  And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish."  Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.  Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.  Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there remained with His disciples.

 

  And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.  Then they sought Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, "What do you think -- that He will not come to the feast?"  Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might seize Him.   My study Bible tells us that, because Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:29), the connection between the Passover, when lambs were slaughtered to save the Jews from death (Exodus 12:1-13), and the death of Jesus, which saves humankind from sin and death, is continually emphasized.  This is the third Passover of Christ's earthly ministry, and it is the final year of His earthly life. 

 

 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead.  There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.  Jesus comes early toward Jerusalem as pilgrim for the Passover, and arrives in Bethany which is east of Jerusalem, and the home of His friends Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.  (See John 11 for the story of the raising of Lazarus, Christ's seventh and final sign given in John's Gospel.)  As noted above, this is the third Passover mentioned in John's Gospel (see John 2:13; 6:4), and frames the setting for the final week of Christ's earthly life (Holy Week).  The following week will be given to us in careful detail.  My study Bible comments that Jesus had already been glorified through His signs and words; at this stage it remained for Him to be glorified through His death and Resurrection.  Note that Martha served, in keeping with the consistent portrayal of her character in the Gospels.  Lazarus is now a person who is the object of tremendous attention from both the people and the religious authorities (as we will read in tomorrow's lectionary reading); here he sits at table with Christ, clearly alive and well.

 

  Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair.  And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.  But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray Him, said, "Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?"  This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.  But Jesus said, "Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial.  For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always."  My study Bible comments that the other disciples said to the same thing Judas said, but with a very different motive (see also Matthew 26:6-13).  Judas spoke from greed, it notes, while the others spoke from the virtue of charity.  That Jesus had put a thief in charge of the money, it says, shows that by every means Jesus attempted to save Judas:  He fulfilled his lust for money; He allowed Judas to exercise apostolic authority (John 6:11; see also Mark 6:7); He washed Judas' feet with the other disciples (John 13:5); and He allowed him to partake at the table of the Mystical Supper (John 13:26).  But Judas could never overcome his greed.

Given our recent readings and commentary, perhaps the first thing we might notice is once again the contrast between these two sisters.  Martha, the one consistently portrayed by the Gospels engaged in active service, serves her guests at the table.  But Mary is silent in today's reading; she's not reported saying a word but takes a pound of very costly oil of spikenard in to the place of this supper.  One might suppose that a pound of such costly ointment would truly be very high in value; however, it is more the quantity that seems quite impressive here.  An entire pound of any type of essential oil is a very large quantity, and there is no doubt of that the fragrance surely filled the house.  Spikenard, according to this article, is made from a type of plant related to honeysuckle.  Mary's astonishing act needs no speech; it is so eloquent that it speaks for itself.  But Jesus does speak up for her, and declares that "she has kept this for the day of My burial."  To save an anointing oil for burial must have been quite an act of love in and of itself, a testimony to the depth of friendship among these people, and to Mary's reverence for Jesus.  For such oils were used to prepare a body for burial, a final loving act.  Indeed, the first ones to receive the good news of Christ's Resurrection will be the women who come to Christ's tomb to anoint His body for burial, and they are known as the Myrrh-bearing women to us in the Church.  But this Mary, perhaps knowing already what is to come (perhaps she is aware the religious leaders already plot against Him), and that it is the result of His raising her brother Lazarus from the dead, anoints His body with this oil she has been saving for the day of His burial.  Wiping His feet with her hair, she enacts the great pose of giving Christ supreme honor, showing that she understands who He is, and perhaps even a sense that He will die for the love of them all.  Theodore of Mopsuestia comments that Mary’s act of love should be seen for what it was, an honor given to our Lord, who would not be long among them, rather than pitted against the idea of caring for the poor, which (according to John's Gospel) was not really Judas’s primary concern.  St. Ambrose comments that Judas valued Mary's act of love at a much higher price than he would be paid for the very life of Christ, writing, "O traitor Judas, you value the ointment of his passion at three hundred pence, and you sell his passion at thirty pence. Rich in valuing, cheap in wickedness!" (On the Holy Spirit).  Clearly Christ Himself pronounces this extravagant act of love on the part of Mary to be quite precious, saying, "Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial.  For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always."  And so it is, and so we understand.  May all our generous acts of love be as precious and, indeed, priceless -- and so very graciously received as by the author of grace Himself. 

 

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living

 

 The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses said to that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were with us seven brothers.  The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.  Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be?  For they all had her."  Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.  But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."  And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching. 

But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

 

- Matthew 22:23–40 

 

We are currently following the events of Holy Week.  Jesus has entered the holy city in His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  He has cleansed the temple, and been subject to questioning from the religious leaders as to His authority to do so.  He has responded with two parables:  one declaring Himself to be the stone the builders rejected; the other about the wedding garment and the wedding of Christ the Bridegroom and His Bride the Church.  Yesterday we read that, after this, the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.  And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.  Tell us, therefore, what do You think?  Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"  But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?  Show Me the tax money."  So they brought Him a denarius.  And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"  They said to Him, "Caesar's."  And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."  When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

 

  The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses said to that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were with us seven brothers.  The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.  Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be?  For they all had her."  Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.  But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."  And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.  Christ tells the Sadducess, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God."  Here my study Bible says that Christ confirms that there will be a resurrection, but not of the sort the Sadducees are imagining.  The Sadducees, for whom only the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch, or Torah) were held as sacred, and who formed a type of landowning aristocracy around Jerusalem, neither believed in an afterlife, nor in angels.  They consider the resurrection to be a continuation of earthly life (including marriage), and so they are mocking the doctrine of resurrection with what my study Bible calls an absurd scenario.  But, as Christ tells them, they are ignorant of the Scriptures -- which reveal a complete transfiguration of life in the resurrection.  Therefore, such an "earthly" question is irrelevant to the understanding of what resurrection is.  Moreover, they can't understand how Abraham and his sons can be alive in God even if they are physically dead.   My study Bible declares that it is the clear teaching of Christ that the souls of the faithful who have departed life in this world are sustained before the face of God in anticipation of the final joy of the resurrection. 

 

But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."   My study Bible informs us that the Pharisees had fond 613 commandments in the Scriptures and debated about which one was central.  Here Jesus teaches the first and the second -- constituting the grand summary of the Law.  Although this lawyer has come with malice to test the Lord, my study Bible points out that in St. Mark's account, this man is converted by Christ's answer (see Mark 12:28-34).  It's also noted here that the second commandment should be understood as written:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself -- or more clearly, "as being yourself."  It's often misinterpreted to read "You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself."  But this destroys the force of the statement, my study Bible says.  How much we love ourselves isn't the standard by which Christ calls us to love others.  Instead, we're called to love our neighbor as being of the same nature as we are; that is, created in God's image and likeness just as we are.  Patristic commentary teaches us that we find our true self in loving our neighbor.

In our recent readings, Jesus has spoken of the "wedding garment" (in the parable of the Wedding Feast), and how those without the proper garment (supplied by the King; that is, in the parable, God) will not be allowed to attend.  This wedding garment, given by the King, has been explained by my study Bible as first, one's baptismal garment, but beyond that, "a life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity."  That is, it is woven from what we have done in our lives, particularly if we have lived faithfully, prayerfully.  This corresponds to the soul.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus was quizzed about the tax money, in an effort to trap Him by the Pharisees.  He pointed to Caesar's image on the coin of the tax money, and said, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."  But this must not be understood as separating life into two aspects of sacred and secular:  rather, all of life belongs to God, and we can render our due responsibility to the state without losing our connection to God.  The conflict comes when the state or other organization asks of us that which is contrary to God. Thus, the wedding garment, or the soul, our connection to God, is important to us all the time.  Here in today's reading, concerning the resurrection, there remains this sense about the soul.  But Christ teaches us about the transformation that happens in resurrection.  Jesus teaches the Sadducess about those in the resurrection:  "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven."  But then He adds an even more significant teaching:  "But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."   It is said that all life is in the hands of God and is sustained by God.  In this respect, it is the soul that contains our connection with God; therefore God has to be as Jesus says, the God of the living.  In a sense, this question and teaching following on the parable of the Wedding Feast Jesus gave earlier, says something essential about how we understand life.  We seek to preserve and sustain our souls, because this is our connection with God, our depth of connection to life itself.  If the soul perishes, then we lose our connection with God, our hope of the eternal life of resurrection ("For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" - Matthew 16:26).  To repeat the conclusion of my study Bible, "It is the clear teaching of Christ that the souls of the faithful who have departed life in this world are sustained before the face of God in anticipation of the final joy of the resurrection."  Therefore faithful, prayerful living -- maintaining our connection with God, the root of life itself -- becomes the means whereby our souls are sustained in an eternal union with God.  In that sense of union, we return again to the theme of the wedding feast, when the Bridegroom, the Son, is united to His Bride, the Church, the faithful.  Let us see what the Sadducees are blind to.  In some sense, it is the flesh they see, and understand the Law as essential correction, perhaps, for the desires of the flesh that lead to sin.  But salvation in the sense that we understand it, that which leads to this eternal life depicted in the resurrection, asks more of us, as Christ explained to the rich young ruler (who was perhaps himself a Sadducee).  That rich man was told by Christ to sell what he had, give to the poor.  Thereby he would have "treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."  That particular man was asked to give up his wealth and give to the poor for treasure in heaven; but, as my study Bible explained in that reading, we each will be called in different ways to follow Christ -- and this trust in Christ, this faith, is what leads to eternal life, the resurrection of which these Sadducees are ignorant.  When we ponder "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" we must consider what it means that "all live to God," because again, what this means is that there isn't a separation between the sacred and secular, nor even the life of the resurrection from our present life in the sense that we are always choosing to "live to God" or not.  The latter part of today's reading is also relevant to this understanding, for in loving our neighbor "as ourselves" -- that is, as being of the same substance, created in the image and likeness of God as we are -- we are weave our wedding garment as we are taught.  And, it's important to note, this commandment does not divide life into the sacred and secular either.  Moreover, the living of this commandment enforces that we might have treasures in heaven through our lives in this world, although life in the resurrection is something different in quality than the life we know, changed and transfigured.  But we are asked by Christ to "come, follow Me," for He is the One who merged a human soul with the divine will, making it possible for us all to enter the resurrected life.  Let us continually seek to follow Him, and be aware of what we are doing when we so choose.  Let us live to Him.