Sermon preached by The Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
It’s only a week now before Holy Week, the holiest week of the year for Christians. I have always said, throughout the 28 years of my ministry, that the Paschal Triduum, or Triduum Sacrum, the Great Three Days, are days when every Episcopalian should be in church. Every now and then someone will say something like, “Where do you get off telling us we ought to be in church on days other than Sunday? Where does the Bible tell us that? The commandment only says, ‘Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath Day.’ For Christians we understand that to mean Sunday. It doesn’t say anything about Maundy Thursday or Good Friday. So how can you say we ought to do that, when it isn’t dealt with in Scripture? In fact, Scripture doesn’t even mention those days as annual events.”
My response is usually something like this: “I’m glad you asked that question. The Episcopal Church, as part of the Anglican Communion, and the Anglican Communion as part of the ancient Catholic faith, has never been a ‘Sola Scriptura’ Church. In other words, we have never been a Church that does something only if it is specifically required of us in the Bible. If we were that kind of Church we’d be Baptists or some other Protestant sect. I’m not saying anything derogatory about those Churches; I’m just saying there is a fundamental difference.
Holy Scripture is of course our primary source for doctrine, or teaching, and everything we do and believe must be supported by Scripture and must not be in contradiction to Scripture. But there is a tremendous body of doctrine that is developed from the teachings of Scripture and has been held to be essential to the faith and practice of Christians. That body of doctrine is called the Tradition of the Church, with a capital T. Such things as the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, the mass as the principle act of worship for Christians, the weekly holy day for Christians being Sunday rather than Saturday, fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, the whole Church Year, and specifically the Triduum Sacrum, are all parts of this Tradition with a capital T. All of these things are clearly rooted in Scripture and are some of the ways the Church Catholic has made the teachings of Scripture a part of the everyday lives of Christians. In fact, some of the Tradition of the Church even predates the writings of the New Testament and was the context out of which certain parts were written. Holy Scripture and Tradition go hand in hand and provide the rich tapestry that is the Christian faith, with Scripture of course always being fundamental.
And that, my dear friends, is how I get off saying we all ought to be in church, at worship, during the Great Three Days. I have a concern that has led me to talk about this today as we approach Holy Week. That concern is that the segment of our parish that is most notably absent for anything but Palm Sunday and Easter Day is our families with children. Our children are growing up without a regular annual exposure to the full Paschal Mystery, which is not just the celebration of the resurrection, but includes the Institution of the Lord’s Supper, or the Mass, on Maundy Thursday and the Veneration of the Cross on Good Friday.
Will all of our children enjoy being here at those times? Probably not. Will they understand everything? No. Enjoyment isn’t exactly what any of us is supposed to experience at this time, yet these liturgies are so powerful that they provide a wonderful opportunity for teaching our children as they question what we are doing and why. And who among us understands fully the mystery we celebrate at this time, or any other time, for that matter? Yet the Paschal Triduum is at the very heart of your faith, of my faith.
At the same time that I say this to you, I realize that we have to take into account the ages of our children and what is reasonable to expect. Maundy Thursday is manageable for most all of us. Younger children can’t be expected to sit through the entire three hour liturgy on Good Friday, but the liturgy is designed for people to come and go as necessary. Might I suggest that young families wait at least until 1:30, which will allow you to be present for the Solemn Collects and the Veneration of the Cross, a very moving thing to experience for people of all ages? If it isn’t possible to get here in the middle of the day, at least be present for Stations of the Cross down Main Street. You also should include a visit to the Altar of Repose, where we pray with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Good Friday should be a time when all of us make an effort to take part in at least something that is offered throughout the day.
Is there any tie to what I have been saying with today’s Gospel? Yes, indeed there is. The Gospel we have heard is itself a preparation for Holy Week. Lazarus has just been raised from the dead, a miracle that attracted great crowds to Jesus. His resulting popularity as the hoped-for Messiah alarmed the religious leaders and spurred them on to plot against him. He would soon enter Jerusalem to shouts of Hosanna to the Son of David.
It is only six days before Passover, when he will celebrate the Last Supper with his disciples. And Mary of Bethany anoints his feet with an incredibly costly perfume which she wipes off with her hair, foreshadowing the anointing of his body for burial. Judas, who would betray him, protests that the perfume should have been sold, with the proceeds going to the poor. St. John tells us that was simply a ruse, because he had been stealing from the treasury and wanted the money for himself.
All of the elements of what is about to happen are in place: adoring crowds, death and resurrection, betrayal, preparation for burial. We are given a foretaste of what is about to transpire. Holy Week, and especially the Triduum Sacrum, is God’s gift to us to participate anew, once again, in those events that brought about the salvation of the world. We are being invited to make our plans now to be a part of this divine drama of redemption.