Isaiah 50:5-10/1 Peter 2:21-24/St John 12:1-43
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Do not be afraid. Your King is coming to you. Come up to the Feast and meet Him. Recline at His Table and share His Supper with Him. Love Him and serve Him, as you are able, within the vocations to which you have been called by loving and serving the poor and the needy among you. But do not be afraid.
Only understand what it means for Him to be your King; and what that will mean for you - to be His disciple, His friend; to go after Him and to follow Him. For whoever loves His life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If you would love and serve Jesus you must follow Him and where He is you shall be. If you serve Him the Father shall honor you.
But know this: His Kingdom and His Power and His Glory are not of this world, but of the Cross. His hour has come, of which the prophet Isaiah spoke, for Him to be glorified, wherein He has come to Jerusalem, the city that stones the prophets and kills those sent to her. Likewise has He come to be handed over, to suffer and die.
For it is by His death that Christ Jesus is glorified and reigns as your King. It is by His death, wherein He is lifted up from the earth that He saves His people from their sins and draws them to Himself. It is by His innocent suffering and death, His Cross and Passion, that Christ Jesus, your Servant King, saves you from all your sins, from all your guilt and shame, from death and condemnation. It is by His wounds that you are healed and made alive forever.
This is the purpose for which He has come. It is for this that He has become true Man, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s mortal flesh and blood. For this that He was baptized and anointed by the Holy Spirit. For this that He enters Jerusalem, seated on a donkey’s colt. This is grace, divine mercy and compassion. This is the Love of God for poor, miserable sinners; for you.
For in the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah the prophet saw the Lord, high and lifted up, seated upon His Throne, with the train of His robe filling the Temple, and the cherubim and seraphim singing their Trisagion - Holy, Holy, Holy. So now the royal banner forward goes and Isaiah’s Suffering Servant mounts the Throne of His Cross, high and lifted up, to reign in triumph from that tree of death by whence cometh life.
That is how He tramples sin, death, and Satan under His - and your - feet. Those beautiful feet with which He has come to preach the sweet Gospel. Those beautiful feet which St Mary of Bethany tenderly anointed beforehand. But for what? To be cruelly contorted and nailed to the central beam of the Cross and buried in the ground.
So does He send His messengers, carrying the coal from His sacrifice, that is, His Body and His Blood, which atones for all your sins and removes your guilt. Thus does Christ your Lord feed you Himself from His hailed pierced hands and spear riven side. The royal scepter of His Word governs the heavens and the earth with the Spirit that He breathes upon all His disciples from the depths of His Passion.
Here, then, is your King. Humble and lowly, bringing salvation, coming to reign over you in love from His Cross. His death has atoned for your sins and conquered your death. His Word of the Cross forgives you and raises you from the dead.
And for this, the world hates you and conspired to kill you! That is the perk and privilege of being a close personal friend of this crucified King. To die with Him is your glory as a Christian.
But do not be afraid. As often as you die, you shall live. The Lord your God shall raise you up again. For now He raises you to newness of life, each day, through repentance and faith, under the Cross in the midst of suffering. But at the last He shall raise you forever to recline at His Table in His Father’s Kingdom. And where He is, you shall be also.
Come to meet Him here in this foretaste of that Feast to come. For here, at His Table, in His royal banquet, His crucified and risen Body and Blood - which are the greatest treasures in heaven and on earth - are given to you, poor ones, for grace and life and every blessing, now and forever.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Do not be afraid. Your King is coming to you. Come up to the Feast and meet Him. Recline at His Table and share His Supper with Him. Love Him and serve Him, as you are able, within the vocations to which you have been called by loving and serving the poor and the needy among you. But do not be afraid.
Only understand what it means for Him to be your King; and what that will mean for you - to be His disciple, His friend; to go after Him and to follow Him. For whoever loves His life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If you would love and serve Jesus you must follow Him and where He is you shall be. If you serve Him the Father shall honor you.
But know this: His Kingdom and His Power and His Glory are not of this world, but of the Cross. His hour has come, of which the prophet Isaiah spoke, for Him to be glorified, wherein He has come to Jerusalem, the city that stones the prophets and kills those sent to her. Likewise has He come to be handed over, to suffer and die.
For it is by His death that Christ Jesus is glorified and reigns as your King. It is by His death, wherein He is lifted up from the earth that He saves His people from their sins and draws them to Himself. It is by His innocent suffering and death, His Cross and Passion, that Christ Jesus, your Servant King, saves you from all your sins, from all your guilt and shame, from death and condemnation. It is by His wounds that you are healed and made alive forever.
This is the purpose for which He has come. It is for this that He has become true Man, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s mortal flesh and blood. For this that He was baptized and anointed by the Holy Spirit. For this that He enters Jerusalem, seated on a donkey’s colt. This is grace, divine mercy and compassion. This is the Love of God for poor, miserable sinners; for you.
For in the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah the prophet saw the Lord, high and lifted up, seated upon His Throne, with the train of His robe filling the Temple, and the cherubim and seraphim singing their Trisagion - Holy, Holy, Holy. So now the royal banner forward goes and Isaiah’s Suffering Servant mounts the Throne of His Cross, high and lifted up, to reign in triumph from that tree of death by whence cometh life.
That is how He tramples sin, death, and Satan under His - and your - feet. Those beautiful feet with which He has come to preach the sweet Gospel. Those beautiful feet which St Mary of Bethany tenderly anointed beforehand. But for what? To be cruelly contorted and nailed to the central beam of the Cross and buried in the ground.
So does He send His messengers, carrying the coal from His sacrifice, that is, His Body and His Blood, which atones for all your sins and removes your guilt. Thus does Christ your Lord feed you Himself from His hailed pierced hands and spear riven side. The royal scepter of His Word governs the heavens and the earth with the Spirit that He breathes upon all His disciples from the depths of His Passion.
Here, then, is your King. Humble and lowly, bringing salvation, coming to reign over you in love from His Cross. His death has atoned for your sins and conquered your death. His Word of the Cross forgives you and raises you from the dead.
And for this, the world hates you and conspired to kill you! That is the perk and privilege of being a close personal friend of this crucified King. To die with Him is your glory as a Christian.
But do not be afraid. As often as you die, you shall live. The Lord your God shall raise you up again. For now He raises you to newness of life, each day, through repentance and faith, under the Cross in the midst of suffering. But at the last He shall raise you forever to recline at His Table in His Father’s Kingdom. And where He is, you shall be also.
Come to meet Him here in this foretaste of that Feast to come. For here, at His Table, in His royal banquet, His crucified and risen Body and Blood - which are the greatest treasures in heaven and on earth - are given to you, poor ones, for grace and life and every blessing, now and forever.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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