Tuesday in Holy Week

Tuesday in Holy Week is the second “lost day” in Holy Week.

I mentioned yesterday that Monday and Tuesday, and to a lesser degree Wednesday, in Holy Week are days that are seldom referred to or reflected on, primarily because the focus has been (mostly rightly) on the other heavy hitters of the week: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday.

Be that as it may, the whole week is called Holy Week, and it seems appropriate to reflect on the propers for each day as it comes in order that we might better profit from our walk with Jesus from the way of the palms to the way of the cross – and on into Easter. It is important we take our time and not rush. The Lilies will come in due season, but for now, let’s walk slowly with eyes and ears open, and hearts in tune with the harmony of the season.

The Collect for Tuesday in Holy Week

O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lessons

Isaiah 49:1-7
Psalm 71:1-14
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
John 12:20-36

In the Gospel reading, among those who had gathered in Jerusalem to worship were some Greeks. They came to Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples, and they said they wanted to see Jesus. For what purpose?

Following Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, were they looking to hitch their wagons to a warrior Messiah, a new Judas “The Hammer” Maccabee, or a Jewish Alexander?

Or, as people from the land of thinkers and philosophers, did they simply want to check out this itinerant rabbi and compare him to their own Hellenistic top guns – Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and the like?

Whatever they were hoping to see, I have no doubt they were taken aback by the Great Reversal of Jesus – that the way to the glory of God is not through power and might, but through humble service:

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi is a marvelous piece upon which to center your life in meditation this day. The version that follows is taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_of_Saint_Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.