Abstract
Monday in Holy Week
Opening Responses
Your love God reaches to the heavens;
Your righteousness is high as the mountains;
How precious is your faithful love;
Reflection on John 12:1–11
They knew. Who better to understand than this family who had already tasted death. Who better to understand than these sisters and their brother, who had always loved him. When Jesus came to their house in Bethany, they knew and they got dinner ready for him. And Lazarus sat at the table with him, and Martha served the meal, and Mary poured perfume all over his feet. And Judas, who was there too, asked a question.
Why wasn’t this perfume sold
and the money given to the poor?
And Jesus answered him
Mary poured this ointment over my feet
because she knows what is going to happen to me.
I won’t always be here, Judas,
the poor people will always be with you.
And outside the crowds gathered, and the chief priests heard what had happened and they planned to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus. And in the house of the family who understood. the fragrance of the perfume lingered.
Closing Blessing
Go now and walk with Jesus towards Jerusalem. Listen to his words, be with him on his journey. Let his story linger in your house and in your life and let him welcome you. And may God bless you: the Maker, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, this night and all your nights and days.
Liturgical action: use nard/spikenard perfume to mark a cross on people’s hands—or on places around the room.
Intercessions: those who offer hospitality—hospices—people who are dying and those who love and support them.
Tuesday in Holy Week
Opening Responses
Strong as a rock, safe as a castle on a crag is the love of God our maker (said by group A). Powerful as a story, bright as a light in the darkness is the love of Jesus our redeemer (said by group B).
Reflection on John 12.20–36
Jerusalem was crowded.
The streets were busy.
People had come in from the country
even from other countries
for the Passover Festival.
In the midst of the crowds was Jesus, and with him his disciples.
Those who were near enough to him could hear what he was saying.
Those further back caught snatches his words.
Listen.
He’s talking about seeds and how a seed only grows when it’s buried in the earth.
He’s talked about seeds before, he told a really good story about a sower.
But this is different, it sounds more like a story about death and burial.
He’s talking about eternal life.
He said once that loving your neighbour and yourself and loving God with everything you’ve got was the way to eternal life.
I remember that. He’s saying now that anyone who loves their life in this world will lose it.
I wonder what he means by that.
Maybe he’s going to say more.
He’s talking about death again.
He seems to be praying.
Something about an hour and glory
Wow! Was that thunder?
What a rumble!
Someone’s saying that the thunder was an angel speaking to Jesus.
An angel? Wow! What kind of an angel makes a noise like that?
He’s talking about judgement now and the Son of Man and the Messiah.
People have asked him before if he’s the Messiah.
He’s saying that he’s going to be lifted up and everyone is going to be able to see what’s happening to him.
He’s telling us to walk in the light, because soon it’s going to be dark.
He says if you walk in the dark you don’t know where you’re going.
That’s true enough—I can understand that.
He’s telling us if light is in us we’ll be people of light.
I remember he told us that we shouldn’t hide our light, that the light in us must shine so that people will see good things in us and give God glory. That made sense to me. I’ve never forgotten it.
What’s he saying now?
I don’t know. He seems to have disappeared.
Jerusalem was crowded.
The streets were busy.
People had come in from the country
even from other countries
for the Passover festival.
In the midst of the crowds was Jesus, and with him his disciples.
Closing blessing:
Go now and walk with Jesus on the streets of Jerusalem. Listen to his words, be with him on his journey. Let his light and love shine in you and around you and let him challenge you. And may God bless you the Maker, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, this night and all your nights and days.
Liturgical action: give out seeds or seed potatoes, which are traditionally planted on Good Friday.
Intercessions: farmers, gardeners, neighbours, travellers, pilgrims.
Wednesday in Holy Week
Opening responses
In light and love and laughter
In darkness and pain and betrayal
God knows through experience
Reflection on John 13:21–22
He came right out and said it:
One of you is going to betray me.
We looked at each other Who did he mean? Did we dare ask him? Could we bear to know the answer? John was sitting next to Jesus and Peter mouthed to him:
Ask him who he means.
John nodded and edged nearer to Jesus and whispered to him
Who is it master?
And Jesus answered him
I’ll dip some bread in the sauce
and give it to him.
He’s the man.
We didn’t hear what Jesus had said to John, but we watched Jesus dip some bread into the sauce and give it to Judas Iscariot. Judas took the bread and we all heard Jesus say to him
Go and do quickly
what you’re going to do.
Bartholomew wondered if Jesus was telling Judas, who kept our common purse, to go and give some money to the poor. Philip remembered that in Bethany Jesus had told Judas that poor people would always need help. James thought that Jesus had asked Judas to go and buy the things that we would need for the festival. And while we sat and wondered Judas went out into the darkness. It was night.
Closing blessing
Go now and walk with Jesus into Jerusalem. Listen to his words, be with him on his journey. Let his words question you and give you courage. Let him change you. And may God bless you, the Maker, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, this night and all your nights and days.
Liturgical action: in small groups share pitta bread and sweet and savoury dips and share how you react to the characters in this story.
Intercessions: those who share our meals, those who live in places of danger, those who hurt others, those who are angry or sad.
Interpreting the Prophets
Gary V. Smith, Interpreting the Prophetic Books: An Exegetical Handbook (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2014. $20.00. pp. 224. ISBN: 978-0-8254-4363-3).
Many churches of God do not teach from the Latter Prophets except on special occasions when only a small number of well-known passages are preached and read. The reason is not hard to find. As the author of this compactly written manual confessed, preaching or teaching from the prophetic books is not easy, but it is rewarding because in the prophetic messages we come to understand the will of God for his people and God’s plans for his people (p. 17).
To help teachers and preachers overcome their initial anxieties and subsequent difficulties in wrestling with this portion of scripture, the author offers a gentle guide in 6 chapters, first explaining the nature and major themes and issues involved in interpreting them, then providing a step-by-step guide on how to prepare sermons from the passages. Perhaps readers’ immediate attention would be to look out for how the thematic truths can be applied to their personal lives and the bewildering world surrounding them.
Though exegetical in nature, this book contains only a limited number of words and no sentences in Hebrew, which means that ordinary believers will not be put off. Another merit of this easy-to-read approach makes sermon-preparation less daunting. The speaker is assisted by careful analyses of the passages, the provision of a sermon outline in each case, all of which follows careful exegesis. The reader is further assisted by scriptural and subject indices. However, given the fact that all the prophetic books were addressed to the House of Israel and the House of Judea, it is curious hat one tries in vain to find ‘Israel’ in the subject! Is this a deliberate omission or a reflection of the author’s theological inclination?
This book provides a fascinating start in a believer’s spiritual journey because one immediately is put in a position of facing the living God speaking through His messengers from His chosen people. Although these heralds spoke to their generations who faced different realities, they were inspired by the same Spirit and uttered the same eternal truths. Calvin once said that even the most rugged minor prophet in the Bible is superior to the finest literature the Gentile civilisations have managed to produce. A close perusal of this volume will prove a worthwhile investment indeed.