Merciful and everlasting God, You did not spare Your only Son but delivered Him up for us all to bear our sins on the cross. Grant that our hearts may be so fixed with steadfast faith in Him that we fear not the power of sin, death, and the devil; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Lessons: Isaiah 62:11–63:7 Psalm 70 Romans 5:6–11 St. Luke 22:1—23:56 or St. John 13:16–38
This is the eve of the Triduum meaning, “the Three Days”: Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, or the Great Sabbath. It was on this day that Judas made his arrangements with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver and at the last Passover meal on Thursday Judas left the Passover meal in order to complete the betrayal (John 13:25-27). Today has been called “Spy Wednesday”. Jesus did not call Judas to be a spy, a traitor to the Kingdom of God. May we not be so! But we are traitors to His reign when we sin, do not commend the truth that set us free, and go our own ways. O Lord, we turn to You that we may confess Your holy Name and honor You in thought, word and deed and commend the hope that is in us through You alone. Amen.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
By anxious thoughts oppressed;
Let me Your loving servant be
And taste Your promised rest.
—Lord Jesus, Think on Me (LSB 610:2)
Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter are the Three Days, in Latin, the Triduum. We call Friday, Saturday and Sunday by another phrase: The Weekend and today, Wednesday, “hump day”! The work week is halfway done and now we can slide into The Weekend, Rest and Relaxation. Whew! Oh, give me a break, the weekend tends to be a time to get other work done, especially around the house, It’s all centered on me, us, as I saw on vanity license plate: GLORYUS. Well, except that day called Sunday…to come together as His Church to get ready for the week. But…
The problem is WE HAVE TAKEN our weekends back…even from His Word on Sundays. And this week, Holy Week is not about us, but Jesus Christ and Sunday is the Day of Resurrection…we need faith in Him and His forgiveness to get through Monday-Saturday. He gives Himself as He gave Himself body and soul on the Cross. Without Him, that Parade magazine cover is right: without the Lord ‘our’ Sundays are crazy and too many people and things are crazy. We’re living in a crazed time of iniquity. This week is about His way to make us whole…and indeed, everyday of the week: This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118: 24. It is not your weekend, or mine, or “my” day: it is the Lord’s and He is the only Way to live our vocations and lives, doing the good works He has prepared beforehand to be our way of life. And Sundays? Answer:
Thou shalt the day which God hath blest
Keep holy, that thy house may rest;
Keep hand and heart from labor free,
That God may thus work in thee.
Lord have mercy!
And that is not crazy, but by His grace, in our right minds.
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