Gospel
Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served,
while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him.
Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil
made from genuine aromatic nard
and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;
the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples,
and the one who would betray him, said,
“Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages
and given to the poor?”
He said this not because he cared about the poor
but because he was a thief and held the money bag
and used to steal the contributions.
So Jesus said, “Leave her alone.
Let her keep this for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came,
not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus,
whom he had raised from the dead.
And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,
because many of the Jews were turning away
and believing in Jesus because of him.
Holy Week has begun and we wake today having spent yesterday with the palm leaves and the passion read or sung to us. Are we ready for the week ahead that culminates with Easter?
We will need to double down on our prayers we have focused on for Lent, for we will have Holy Thursday ahead. Then GOOD Friday when we venerate the cross. And finally, the Vigil of Easter where once again we will encounter his passion and crucifixion and we look upon the cross and Jesus crucified. We are reminded it is our sins that nailed him to the wood. Our failings that carried the lashes to open up the flesh. The weight of our sins that pulled down his tortured and pierced body making him unable to breathe without pushing up with the legs until he could not take another breathe.
And we hear his final words that it is finished! And we are found out in the nakedness of our weakness and sin. And the world becomes dark and the veil in the temple is torn. The earth groans and moves under our feet on the hill of Golgotha. And we like all who seek him now truly know he was the Son of God who came to love us and die for us.
Will we be ready for the wait until he rises again? Will we have confessed our sins and given them to Jesus with open hearts and lives wanting only his forgiveness.
Today we must make final preparation for our soul and heart to be ready. So, we can rejoice in his resurrection.
Soon we will be rejoicing but first we must walk with him to the cross. Are we ready?
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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