*IS* This "Passion Sunday"?

 

Sermon. 26 March 2023.

Lent 5 (Passiontide Begins)

Gospel: John 11:1-45

 

Today is the Sunday when Passiontide begins.

You might think that means it is Passion Sunday.

It is not. It is confusing.

 

Even to hear that today is the Sunday when Passiontide begins is confusing.

 

If you have no connection with the Church calendar at all, and have come here out of curiosity (or something else), you might think that Passiontide is about passion as we currently speak of passion.

We currently speak of passion in, I think, two ways:

1.                 It’s part of the game we feel we have to play in job applications: “I am absolutely passionate about the next generation of KitKat” and so on.

2.                 It’s all about romance and courtship and coupling and that kind of love.

So you might think that Passiontide is an extended Valentine’s Day.

It is not. It is confusing.

 

If in Passiontide you stumble into a certain kind of church, you will be struck by how images and statues are removed, or, more often, covered with cloths and drapes. If you think about the posture of the typical statue in church, and how it would look covered, your first thought may be of the archetypical ghost (I am picturing Scooby-Doo here). You may then think that Passiontide is the Church’s own Halloween. 

It is not. It is confusing.

 

If you know a bit about Church, you may well know that “Passion” in the Church does not mean intense longing, but rather is an English version of the Latin passio (passio, passionis, feminine – for the linguists among us). And that means “suffering”. At another level it means being in the passive role. It means being the one who has things done to you. It means being at the mercy of others. And so in the Church’s story “Passion” means the suffering of Jesus, when he was at the mercy of others.

 

All this being the case, you may well think that the Sunday when Passiontide begins is when we begin to hear of the suffering of Jesus leading up to the cross.

It does not. As we have just heard (at great length), it does not. It is confusing.

 

But! But we are now in the place where we can begin to make sense of Passiontide. Today is not Passion Sunday because today we do not hear of the suffering of Jesus. But today is the beginning of Passiontide because, were we to attend services in the week, we would now be hearing of the suffering of Jesus leading up to the cross. And – spoiler alert – next Sunday we will hear of Jesus’s death on the cross. So the Sunday when Passiontide begins is the hinge within Lent.  Lent begins with the account of the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. Then we reflect for three weeks on how Jesus can lift us from our own wildernesses, our confusions and worse. Now we begin to attend to the story of the suffering of Jesus.

 

So why, here, at the beginning of Passiontide (you ask – I can tell), why do we hear – of all things – of the raising of Lazarus? Is not this Jesus at his most active, at his least passive? Is this not Easter, and not the Passion?

 

My answer is Yes. Yes, today is an anticipation of Easter. And that is not because those who drew up our cycle of readings were stupid, or lazy. It is because they knew that, for Christians, Easter bleeds into everything. For Christians, there is a sense in which every day is Easter Day. If I haven’t mentioned him before, I mention him now, my hero, St Seraphim (Seraphim of Sarov, Russian, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries). He was (and is) famous for greeting every person he met with: “My joy! Christ is risen!”. (Radost moya! Christos voskrese! – for the linguists among us.) “Christ is risen!” he said, every day of the year, yes, including Good Friday.

It makes sense.

For Christians, there is no day when Christ is not risen.

My joys! Christ is risen!

 

So, in the Church in West and East actually, before Easter, we hear of the raising of Lazarus.[1] Of Lazarus raised from the dead. And, not incidentally, not accidentally, of the rolling away of the stone for poor dead Lazarus.

 

The rolling away of the stone for poor dead Lazarus.

 

We are likely to think of this as a thing of simple joy. Something beautiful and comforting and reassuring – just that. But let us pay attention to the details of the story. I suggest we are told very clearly that we are not simply comforted.

 

Think of Lazarus. For all there is a simple moment:

“Lazarus, come out!” and Lazarus comes out…

for all that, note that Lazarus comes out, still bound. He needs help. He needs others. Others have to do the work, the delicate work of unbinding him, removing what binds him. It is an effort. And… I put it this way, sisters and brothers… we are not told that this was painless.

 

Think also of Martha. Of Martha’s objection to the whole thing. Why does she object? Some pious reason? No. She says: “by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days”. That is a rather delicate and moderating translation. Let me give you the Authorised Version: “he stinketh”! Already he stinks! (Ede ozei – for the linguists.) Already he stinks.

 

See how he loved him!

Even when bound, and in need of help to do anything.

Even when dead.

Even when stinking with the stench of rotting,

Jesus comes to him.

Jesus addresses him.

Jesus calls him by name.

Jesus gives him life.

 

See how he loved him.

See how he loves you.

Truly, this is “Passion Sunday”.

Amen.  

 

---

[1] In the West, this strictly applies only in Year A. In the East, the Saturday before Palm Sunday is always Lazarus Saturday.

Reflection on Gethsemane, for Palm Sunday

This in fact looks set to be the first of one only reflection on the Passion of our Lord according to Matthew, which is the main gospel reading of Palm Sunday, this year. (The second proved to be too long!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C9CiwPstNs&feature=youtu.be

The Passion according to John - adapted

For some years, we at St Michael's and St Mary's, Little Ilford, have slightly adapted John's Passion on Good Friday. The standard text seems to present "the Jews" as the enemies of Jesus, willing him to his death. That was never true, and has had a horrible effect in the history of Christendom. Such was Christian hostility to Jews at times and in places that it was dangerous to be out and about as a Jew in Holy Week. Either that, or Jews were forced into the ghettos Christians had made for them.  

In any event, "the Jews" is not necessarily the best translation of the Greek, Hoi Ioudaioi. Remember that Jesus and the disciples and the women at the foot of the cross were themselves all Jews. The point is that Hoi Ioudaioi can also mean "the Judeans", the people of Judea (and not of Galilee etc.), and that by this may be meant the Judean authorities (i.e. the religious authorities, themselves controlled by Rome) - just as we might speak of "Whitehall", or "London in talks with Paris" meaning not particular inhabitants, but the associated powers. 

Here the changes we have made are marked in this purple.

Hear the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John. 

After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 

2Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.  

4Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, ‘For whom are you looking?’ 5They answered, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus replied, ‘I am he.’ Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6When Jesus said to them, ‘I am he’, they stepped back and fell to the ground. 7Again he asked them, ‘For whom are you looking?’ And they said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ 8Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.’ 9This was to fulfil the word that he had spoken, ‘I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me.’  

10Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. 11Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?’ 

12 So the soldiers, their officer, and the Judean police arrested Jesus and bound him. 13First they took him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14Caiaphas was the one who had advised the religious leaders that it was better to have one person die for the people. 

15 Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, 16but Peter was standing outside at the gate. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in. 17The woman said to Peter, ‘You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ 18Now the slaves and the police had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing round it and warming themselves. Peter also was standing with them and warming himself. 

19 Then the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. 20Jesus answered, ‘I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where we Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. 21Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said to them; they know what I said.’ 22When he had said this, one of the police standing nearby struck Jesus on the face, saying, ‘Is that how you answer the high priest?’ 23Jesus answered, ‘If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?’ 24Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. 

25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They asked him, ‘You are not also one of his disciples, are you?’ He denied it and said, ‘I am not.’ 26One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, ‘Did I not see you in the garden with him?’ 27Again Peter denied it, and at that moment the cock crowed. 

28 Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. 29So Pilate went out to them and said, ‘What accusation do you bring against this man?’ 30They answered, ‘If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.’ 31Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.’ The replied, ‘We are not permitted to put anyone to death.’ 32(This was to fulfil what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.) 

33 Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ 34Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ 35Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’ 36Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the religious leaders. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ 37Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ 38Pilate asked him, ‘What is truth?’ 

After he had said this, he went out to the religious leaders again and told them, ‘I find no case against him. 39But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?’ 40They shouted in reply, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas was a bandit. 

19Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. 3They kept coming up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and striking him on the face. 4Pilate went out again and said to them, ‘Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.’ 5So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’ 

6When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.’ 7They answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.’ 

8 Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. 9He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus gave him no answer. 10Pilate therefore said to him, ‘Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?’ 11Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.’ 

12From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the religious leaders cried out, ‘If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.’ 

13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha.  

14Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the crowd, ‘Here is your King!’ 15They cried out, ‘Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!’ Pilate asked them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but the emperor.’ 16Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. 

So they took Jesus; 17and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. 18There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. 

19Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’  20Many [omission] read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. 21Then the Judean chief priests of the said to Pilate, ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews”, but, “This man said, I am King of the Jews.” ’ 22Pilate answered, ‘What I have written I have written.’ 

23When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. 24So they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.’ This was to fulfil what the scripture says, ‘They divided my clothes among themselves,    and for my clothing they cast lots.’ 25And that is what the soldiers did. 

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ 27Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. 

28 After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfil the scripture), ‘I am thirsty.’ 29A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. 30When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 

*

31 Since it was the day of Preparation, the religious leaders did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. 32Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. 35(He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows* that he tells the truth.)  

36These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, ‘None of his bones shall be broken.’ 37And again another passage of scripture says, ‘They will look on the one whom they have pierced.’ 

38 After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the religious leaders, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. 39Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. 40They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews.  

41Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. 42And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. 

This is the Passion of the Lord.