Introduction
Yesterday we celebrated the raising of Lazarus which was, as we sang, the “prefiguring of the General Resurrection”, when all mankind will be raised from death. “Those who have done what is good will rise to life, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.” John 5:29 Christ was demonstrating, before His Resurrection, that He has the power to raise us as well, that He is the Lord of life and of death.
The authorities in Jerusalem did not see it quite that way. They were appalled and worried. There had been fake Messiahs before, all of them fools or charlatans. It had been easy to discredit them, and they and their followers had disappeared into the woodwork. But this Jesus from Nazareth they had not been able to stop.
And now here He was again at Bethany so close to Jerusalem, where He had pulled off this “publicity stunt”, this supposed raising of a dead man. Many people in the City were taking Him seriously. He must be stopped. Now. So thought the Priests, the Scribes, the Sadducees and the Pharisees.
Remember, the raising of Lazarus took place some while before Holy Week. (The Church places it a day before Palm Sunday because it played such a major part in the events of this coming Week.) Jesus then took His Apostles down to Ephraim, a town near the wilderness, and they stayed there in hiding. Not to escape death, but rather because Bethany was too near to Jerusalem. The authorities were already plotting His death, and it was too soon for Him to let them catch Him.
As we go through this Week, we must keep this clear in our minds: Jesus Christ was not the victim of circumstances. He was in control of the events throughout. He was timing His death for the Passover. He would be the new Passover, the new Paschal Lamb who would take away the sins of the world.
And now the time had come.
Divine Liturgy
Holy Gospel: John 12:1-18
Before Palm Sunday
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came again to Bethany to stay with His beloved friends Martha and Mary and Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.
They hosted a supper for Him. Martha served as always – good, steady, hospitable, blessed Martha. Lazarus and the others were at table. (Dorothy Sayers, in her BBC radio drama “The Man Born to be King” imagined Jesus and Lazarus exchanging “knowing” looks during the meal. They both knew Something the others did not.)
Mary took a pound of fragrant oil (nard) and anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped His feet with her hair. Women did not typically let their hair down in public like that. Nard, imported from the Himalayas, was very expensive, worth about 300 denarii. A denarius was approximately a worker’s day’s wage. (Where did Mary get that kind of money?) This was a sign of extravagant devotion.
Then Judas Iscariot who would betray Him asked: “Why was this fragrant oil not sold and given to the poor?” John wrote that he said this “not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it.”
Two Interludes
1 Judas asked a good question nevertheless. People sometime complain that the Church wastes money on beautiful things: icons and vestments and the like. Shouldn’t this money be spent on the poor instead?
Yes, by the command of Christ, if we had to choose between the two, the needy should come first. Sometimes Christians have spent disproportionately on works of art, which are not being used for religious purposes. (Forgive me, but have you ever seen the Vatican Museum?)
May I humbly brag a bit? At Saint Nicholas, Cedarburg, even though we had almost no money at the beginning, each month we have given 10% off the top to charity, as well as 10% to our Archdiocese. That explains why we have never had any unpaid bills. “God never allows anyone to outdo Him in giving.” So another question: How many of us live very comfortably, decorate our homes beautifully, have the latest conveniences and devices for our entertainment, drive nice cars? Meanwhile, how much do we give to Church and charity? Do we ever also spend disproportionately on ourselves?
The fact: Often we have sufficient resources to cover all three: our needs and the needs of the poor and to make the Church of God glorious, as it should be.
2 Before we proceed, an important clarification: John often referred to “the Jews”, sometimes in a way that some have taken to be anti-Semitic, which therefore is an excuse for our being anti-Semitic. (This year in particular it is important to get this straight.) No! John himself was a Jew – who had become a Christian. The explanation: he was writing for a Gentile non-Jewish audience, and he simply wanted them to understand who was doing what. Sometimes he refers to “the Jews” positively, as when “the Jews” came to mourn with Mary and Martha. His negative references to “the Jews” refer to the Jewish authorities and those who blindly accepted what they said. Was he referring to all Jews at the time? No. And to Jews today? Of course not. Anti-Semitism is always wrong. However, disagreeing strongly with the present Israeli government (as many Jews do) is not Anti-Semitism.
Now back to the narrative.
Jesus’ answer to Judas took an unexpected direction: “Let her alone. She is doing this to prepare for my burial.” Indeed, only a week later Mary and Martha will be among the Myrrhbearing Women, going early to His tomb to anoint His dead body – or so they thought. He continued: “For the poor you have with you always, but you do not always have Me”. A shocked hush must have fallen over the table.
Now, let’s return to the Jewish authorities. The following is only my opinion: I think we make a mistake if we demonize the Scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees and Priests, make them into just wicked men, evildoers. I think they believed they were doing the right thing. (I think this is true of most people, even if not all.)
I can’t believe Annas and Caiphas cried “Here’s our Messiah, our Savior. Let’s kill Him!” I don’t mean to justify their blindness, but I think they truly did not believe Jesus was The One.
Here was the scene: The Holy Land was occupied territory. Most Jewish people were eager for their Messiah to come, hoping he would lead a rebellion against the Romans, drive them out and restore the Jewish nation. Here was the authorities’ big worry: What if this fraud Jesus of Nazareth comes into Jerusalem, stages a rebellion and the people follow, and… and then… Stomp. The Romans will wipe us out – as indeed the Jewish nation would be destroyed only a few decades later.
And now this fake Messiah is back again in Bethany. We must do something before this gets out of control. That is why the authorities began to plot to kill not only Jesus but Lazarus as well, another fake who was obviously in on the scheme.
They were absolutely sure Jesus was not the Messiah.* Therefore, as Caiaphas the high priest said: “Better one man should die than that the whole nation be lost.”
- Religious leaders are often so very sure of their opinions, aren’t they? (Aren’t we?)
And so… Who will cause the nation to be lost? They will! The Jewish religious leaders will kill this innocent Man, this sinless God made Man – and because of them the nation will be “taken away from you and given to those who will bear the fruits of it”. Matthew 21:43 If only they could have seen, understood with open hearts and minds. But they never did.
Nor could they ever have imagined that, because of the horrible thing they will do this Week, the will of their God to save all mankind will be fulfilled: Today billions of people all over the world worship the one true God, the God of the Jews.
Palm Sunday Morning
Vassilis Hadjinicolaou, (“English Orthodox Byzantine Chants”)
- a Hebrew word which means, more or less, “Save us now!” It doesn’t translate well, so it’s usually left untranslated: “Hosanna!” a word which contains a hidden inner meaning which is not translatable.
When the authorities told Jesus to quiet the people, He answered, “I tell you: if these shall hold their peace, the very stones will cry out”. Luke 19:40 (That gives me the holy chills every time I read it.)
So here comes the Messiah, the conquering Hero – riding in a chariot? or even on horseback? No, on a young donkey. But who rode on donkeys? the underclass, nobodies, servants. People must have shaken their heads in confusion.
Christ was fulfilling a prophecy from the Scriptures, a verse which no one had ever before applied to the Messiah. From the prophet Zechariah: “Fear not, daughter of Zion. Jerusalem, behold, your king comes sitting on the colt of a donkey.” John wrote that it was only afterwards that the disciples understood.
However the Lord had explained it before, more than once. We heard it last Sunday: “In the world the great ones exercise authority over them and make them obey, but I am among you as one who serves, who will give His life as a ransom for many” – for the life of the world. On Palm Sunday Christ rode into the Holy City as a Servant.
Nevertheless, John says, many believed. Some had seen His miracles or heard His teachings or had been there when He raised Lazarus from the dead.
In the verse immediately following this morning’s reading, the Pharisees are desperate. “We are acomplishing nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him.” It was time for them to take immediate drastic action.
Their words were a prophecy. Because of what they were about to do, Christ would die and conquer death. And since then, indeed “the whole world has gone after Him”.
Palm Sunday at Saint Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, Bloomingdale, Illinois
The Next Post will arrive this afternoon (Saturday) for Palm Sunday night: Matins of Holy Monday. If any here present find this dating confusing (as don’t we all?), I’ll make a feeble attempt to explain in this Post.