In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, glory to Jesus Christ. There's
a hymn that we sing at the service of Great Compline
during Lent, especially the first week we know
of it. It says something like, O Lord of hosts,
be with us. for in adversity we have no other
help but thee. O Lord of hosts, have mercy on
us. This is a prayer that God be with us, that
our Lord Jesus Christ be with us as we bear our
crosses, as we go to work, as we take care of
our family, as we pray in the morning and the
evening, as we prepare for Holy Communion. We
come to church. That we want God to be with us.
That we can't exist without God for the one thing
he created us out of non -existence. And in all
our troubles and our joys, we want the Lord to
be with us. And we've spent the last... Five
Sundays. The five Sundays of Lent. We're at the
fifth and final Sunday of Lent. We've spent the
last five Sundays contemplating how to be closer
to the Lord so that he can be with us. How to
move things out of our life that are not essential.
That are obstacles to loving God. That are obstacles
to being with the Lord. Or let's say, obstacles
to the Lord being with us. Because he's always
with us. He's always with us. You have been baptized.
You've been anointed. But now, after all these
five weeks, the church wants us to turn our attention,
and it's a subtle change. From this idea, O Lord
of hosts, be with us. For in adversity we have
no other help but Thee. That's always true. It
always will be true. But the church now wants
us to turn our attention to another way of approaching
the whole thing. So it gives us these two very
interesting Gospels. To me, are the best of all
of Lent. These two Gospels. The one from Mark,
the third time the Lord is telling his disciples
what's going to happen. And the one from Luke,
chapter 7, in honor of this great saint, Mary
of Egypt, whose icon is in the middle of our
church, whose fresco is over there, so appropriately
by the confession stance, and she is the model
of repentance. And so we have these two amazing
accounts. We can only look at one. We'd be here
all day. I'd love to talk about both of them
and the epistles, but let us focus our minds
on the gospel from Mark because it's not about
the apostles, right? They are seated in glory,
not at the Lord's right and left hand. That's
the Theotokos. and John the Baptist. If you need
an illustration, just look right there. No, but
they're seated in glory in the divine council.
The gospel story is about us. Let's look at it
very briefly. This is chapter 10 of the gospel
of St. Mark. Jesus has put his face to Jerusalem,
and the disciples have three Responses, the gospel
says. They were amazed. They were afraid. And
they were confused. Sounds like us. They were
on the road going up to Jerusalem. Jesus was
going before them, and they were amazed. Why
were they amazed? Because they knew Jesus has
already told them twice what would await him
in Jerusalem. He'd be arrested and crucified.
Peter already tried to stop this. He said, this
is not what the Messiah does. And Jesus, do you
remember what he said to Peter? Get behind me,
Satan. That's thinking the ways of man. This
is the way of God. It has to be this way. And
they followed as Jesus led the way. And that's
unusual. For the master to lead the way? No,
the disciple walks first. Jesus was walking before
them. And it says they were afraid because now
they knew. Amazed and afraid. Then he took them
to the side, all 12. And he told them for the
third time what would occur. We're going to Jerusalem.
The Son of Man, he calls himself the Son of Man
here. Why? Because the prophet Daniel had identified
the Messiah, the one, the Ancient of Days, the
one who would come with glory in the name of
the Father as the Son of Man. And Jesus is saying,
That's how he refers to himself. The son of man
will be betrayed to the chief priest. And they're
thinking, betrayed? Betrayed by who? Who will
betray him? We wouldn't betray him. And they
will condemn him to death and deliver him to
the Gentiles, that is the Romans, who have the
authority to impose the death sentence. The Romans
knew how to kill a slave or troublemaker on the
cross. There was simply no question what would
happen. And they will mock him. Brothers and
sisters, when you hear that in the gospel, that
Jesus, our Savior, the compassionate and loving
God, will be mocked and spit upon? Doesn't that
just tear your heart? This terrible thing that
someone would do to someone else, but particularly
our Lord and God and Savior. And then he said
to them, and the third day he will arise. Apparently,
two of the apostles, disciples, let's say at
this point, two of the disciples were not listening
to Jesus. James and John. Well, you see James
and John asleep up there at the Transfiguration.
That tells you a little bit about where James
and John were at that point in their life. They
couldn't really handle it. They weren't paying
attention. And remember the account, James and
John, they go to this town and the people don't
listen to Jesus. They reject him. And James and
John come to Jesus and says, Lord, shall we do
like Elijah and ask God to bring down fire upon
them and destroy them? And Jesus says, this is
not the way we do it. James and John had a sense
of entitlement, I think. They were very modern
people. God owes us something. But Jesus is telling
us something here. And this gospel is not just,
well... let's say it's directed towards our catechumens,
but not just the catechumens. Why? Jesus says
to James and John, after they say, look, we want
you to do something for us. Well, he's the master.
Is that really the way we come to Jesus? Lord,
I want you to do something for me. No, we come
to Jesus like the woman in the other gospel,
pouring out our tears on his feet, bringing something.
Precious our life to him. And pouring that out.
That's what servants of God do. Like that woman.
She was a prostitute. And the Lord forgave. That's
what we're like. That's why we come. That's why
we pray. That's why we make our offerings. That's
why we make our financial offerings. That's why
we give to the poor. We want to serve God in
the best way we can. That's why we try to love
our neighbor and forgive. James and John, having
a sense of entitlement, are asking Jesus to do
something big. Right and left hand, Lord. We
want to be there in your glory. And Jesus corrects
them, but so gently, doesn't he? That's the way
he is with us too. Does he ever slam you down?
Does he ever pull you by your hair? Does he ever
berate you? No. Our Lord waits for us. He will
never... force us he gives us every situation
so that we can flourish and many of those situations
we don't like because we have to grow into them
we have to struggle Jesus says to James and John
and he says this to you my brothers and sisters
catechumens especially are you able to drink
the cup that I drink from think of what we do
in just a little while to prepare for Holy Communion.
Are you able to be baptized with the baptism
that I will be baptized with? And he means the
cup of the cross and suffering and the baptism
of death. Baptism is a passage. It's a Passover.
It's the Pascha. It's from death to life. It's
the last chance for you catechumens to say, no,
Lord. I think I'll wait on that. I'm not ready
to take that cup. Or it's your chance, brothers
and sisters, to say, I trust you, Lord. I'm with
you to the end. And the Lord knows we probably
will stumble a number of times. Who was with
Jesus at the end? One. And the women, the courageous
women. That's what made up the church on that
day. So this tells me that we've been asking
God to be with us. O Lord of hosts, be with us.
But today, the church is turning that a little
bit and saying, no, you be with the Lord. To
be with the Lord now, as we move forward to this
week of poems, we remember the death of Lazarus
and his rising from the dead. Many of you don't
know. because you don't come up here, but there's
the fresco of the raising of Lazarus from the
dead. Lazarus come forth, and on that day we
will be baptizing, I think, God willing, 25 of
our catechumens. The Lord is asking us to be
with him. That means to be here, to be praying,
to be supporting one another for Holy Week, to
set things aside, to offer the precious ointment
of your life. It sounds extravagant to come to
church twice in one day. Well, maybe you can't
all do that. But certainly, we can make next
week holy by being here, by following Christ,
by thinking of what Jesus just said. Follow me.
Can you do this baptism? Can you take this cup?
Yes, Lord, I can. I'm afraid of what's ahead.
I'm amazed about it all. I'm sometimes confused,
but I will follow you because I love you. To
our Lord, who is going to his voluntary passion
for us and for our salvation, be glory with his
Father and his Holy Spirit now and ever, two
ages of ages. Amen.