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 Regular Service Schedule: All our church services are open to the public. DIVINE LITURGY Vespers Weekday Matins Saturday Matins
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Palm Sunday: “No Strings Attached”
The boys of summer are at it again, the baseball season is here. In the spring, everyone thinks their team has a chance to go all the way. Crowds are out for opening day. Kids and adults are down on the field seeking autographs of their favorite stars. It’s a time of hope and expectation. But as the season wears on through its 162 games, those hopes fade for many of the teams and their fans. And some star players who had great success in years past may be struggling this year. When that happens the fans can turn fickle and the cheers turn into jeers. Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees has experienced that roller-coaster ride. Great years and wild fan support followed by leaner years and fans’ hostility. As we enter Holy Week we are greeted in this morning’s Gospel with two public displays of love for Jesus. Both of them are dramatic. But that’s where the similarity ends. The Great Entrance into Jerusalem is a flashy joyous occasion filled with expectation and hope. It is like the springtime of the baseball season. The excitement around Jesus’ arrival is in anticipation of liberation from the Roman occupation and the establishment of an independent homeland. Jesus is seen as the one to make all this happen. I can almost see people wearing lapel buttons that say “Win with Jesus.” But Jesus’ message and mission has been misunderstood all along, even by his own disciples. The liberation, the salvation, that Jesus is to usher in is not political. When this reality begins to sink in, the peoples’ great excitement turns out to be just a prelude to their great disappointment. The crowds have projected their goals and desires onto Jesus without really absorbing what his message is all about. When those hopes are dashed then Jesus becomes expendable. Love fades. The other dramatic expression of love for Jesus in this morning’s Gospel is of Mary anointing Jesus with a large amount of expensive ointment. Oh how different is this sign of love from that of the crowd. Whether we take the version in John or that in the synoptics, the dramatic gesture carries the same message. This is an outpouring of love, a human expression of love that mirrors God’s love for us, a love that comes with no strings attached. Some commentators have asserted that the amount of ointment used was a lifetime supply. The other gospel writers say the woman was carrying this ointment in an alabaster jar, again to emphasize the value of the contents. Giving in a loving way without regard for the cost is the gospel image. And it doesn’t have to be something expensive, one day last week at Matins we read the gospel passage in Mark about the widow’s Temple offering of two small coins as compared to the large gifts from the wealthy. Jesus told his disciples that what she gave was more valuable than the gifts of the wealthy because she gave all she had. What is the experience of love that we are to draw from these two gospel images of love? Both the crowds with Jesus at Jerusalem and Mary with her gift of expensive ointment for Jesus came away from their encounter with Jesus with some kind of experience. Members of the crowd may have left that scene buoyed with a new sense of excitement and energy around their hoped-for coming liberation. Mary may simply have felt joy at being in Jesus’ presence and contentment at being able to give him something special. For the members of the crowd, their energy will soon dissipate as their expectations fade. But for Mary, her joy was in the moment, not in anticipation of some future gain. Her joy was in giving, for the crowd it was in receiving. No wonder it could not be sustained. To experience love we have to give it without projecting our own expectations on the outcome. As we join with Jesus in his passion journey this week, let us begin by pondering how we might learn from this week to practice detached love; love that is detached from expectations, love that is not just conveying our projections onto another but simply taking joy in the presence of the other. When you give another a helping hand without expecting something in return, think of it as helping Jesus carry the cross, he’s too weak to return the favor. When you take the time to offer refreshment and hospitality to another who cannot return the favor, think of it as giving the sponge to Jesus so that he can take a little sip, he can’t come down from the cross and serve you. When you take the time to offer a word of consolation to someone who is sick or grieving, think of it as being with Jesus as he is weakening on the cross, he’s in no condition to be much of a conversationalist for you. Think of love as the gift that cannot be returned. God gave his only begotten Son, no strings attached. Christ is in our midst!
Palm Sunday Evening Vespers: “Can you drink the cup?” Cup is a three-letter word that can convey so many different meanings and images ranging from a simple unit of measurement to a sign of marital commitment. The expression “cuppa” is unmistakably referring to coffee. At New Year’s Eve we may sing the Scottish song Auld Lang Syne from a Robert Burns poem which refers to a “cup of kindness.” And let’s not forget the Stanley Cup for our ice hockey fans, the game’s famous championship trophy. So cup can be a straight forward physical object or a physical reality that can be used to point to a symbolic reality. In this evening’s Gospel, when Jesus asks the sons of Zebedee if they can drink the cup that he is going to drink, he is not speaking literally about being forced to drink from a poisoned cup of wine, for example, an image we find in the Old Testament and the Psalms. Instead he is asking them if they are truly prepared to suffer as he is going to suffer. They immediately say yes, but they really do not realize what they are saying yes to. But they will find out during this week of Christ’s passion. And so will we. Christ is committed to us, but can we believe it? As we journey through Holy Week we and Christ’s friends will find our commitment to Jesus and our belief in the promise of his message challenged over and over again. We will see Jesus abandoned by the once cheering crowds, disowned by his closest disciples, hauled into court and sentenced to death and then jeered at and spat upon and finally nailed to the cross to die like a common criminal. Jesus remained steadfast through it all, forgiving all. Tonight and then on Thursday the cup is used to convey two contrasting images. First, the bitter cup of life that reminds us of the trials and tribulations that we all experience and then on Thursday the Eucharistic cup, the healing cup of life, the source of our salvation. Like the Sons of Zebedee, to be followers of Christ, we too must drink the bitter cup he is to drink, but we also can drink the cup of life that he left with us that keeps us connected to Christ and reminds us that through it all: Christ is in our midst.
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