Before the Passover festival ,
Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world
[and go] to the Father;
having loved his own who were in the world
he loved them to the last. 

During supper,
the devil already having put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray  him,
knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands
and knowing that he had come from God,
and was going back to God, 

he rose from the supper,
put aside his garments,
taking a towel,
and wrapped it around himself.

Then he poured water into the basin
and began to wash his disciples’ feet
and  wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Lord, you have given me so much,
I ask for one more thing –
a grateful heart.

George Herbert

Jesus proclaimed: 

The person who believes in me
does not only believe in me,
but principally in the one who sent me.

And the one who sees me
Sees the one who sent me. 

I have come into the world as light
so that everyone who believes in me
Should not remain in the darkness. 

And if someone hears my words,
And does not keep them
I do not judge them.

For I have not come to judge the world.
But to save the world. 

The one who rejects me and does not receive my words
has a judge. 

The word which I have spoken
– that judges them on the last day. 

Because I have not spoken on my own authority,
but the one who sent me, my Father himself,  has given a command
– what to say and how to say it. 
And I know that his command leads to resurrection life. 

So what I speak, I speak just as  the Father has said.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

Jesus said these things, then went away and hid himself from them. 

Even though he had done so many signs before them they did not believe in him,  so that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled when he said:

‘Lord, who has believed in our word,
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’

For this reason they could not believe, because Isaiah said elsewhere:

‘He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart
so that they might not see with their eyes
and understand in their heart and turn around,
and I would heal them.’

Isaiah said these things because he saw [God’s] glory [Christ], and he spoke about him.

Despite that many of the leaders believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess lest they be excommunicated. For they loved the glory of humans more than the glory of God. 

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

Jesus said ‘Now my soul is troubled, and what might I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this reason I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. ‘

Then came a voice from heaven ‘I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. ‘

So the crowd which was standing there and heard it, said it was a thunderclap. Others said ‘An angel has spoken to him.’

Jesus answered : ‘This voice came not for me, but for you. Now is the judgement of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And as for myself,  if I am lifted up from this earth I will draw everyone to me. ‘

(He said this to signify the manner of death he was about to die. )

The crowd said to him ‘We heard from the Law the Christ stays for ever. How can you say that it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up?  Who is this Son of Man?’ 

He said to them: ‘ A little while yet the light is among you, walk while you have the light. Lest the darkness overtake you. And the one who walks in the darkness does not know where they are going. As long as you have the light, believe in the light, so that you will be light’s children.’

There were some Greeks among those who used to go up to worship at the festival. They went to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and said to him ‘Sir, we would like to see Jesus.’ 

Philip went and spoke to Andrew, then in turn Andrew and Philip spoke to Jesus. 

Jesus replied to them ‘It has arrived – the hour has come, when the Son of Man will be glorified

Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains a solitary seed. But if it dies it will bear a rich crop. 

The one who loves their life loses it. The one who hates their life in this world will keep it into eternal life. 

If someone serves me, they must follow me, and where I am my servant will be also. If anyone serves me my Father will honour them. ‘

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm

On the next day, the great crowd which had come  to the festival heard that that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches from the palm trees and went out to him and they  began to cry out:

Hosanna!
Blessed is he, who comes in the name of the Lord – the King of Israel!

Then Jesus finding a young donkey, sat on it, as it is written:
Do not fear, Daughter Zion,
Behold your King is coming,
Seated on a colt of a donkey.

His disciples did not understand these things at first, but they remembered these things were written about him when Jesus was glorified and that they did these things to him. 

So the crowd, who had been with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. Because of this, the [other] crowd met him, because they had heard that he had done this sign. 

Then the Pharisees said to one another ‘See – you can get nothing done! Watch out,  the world has gone after him!’

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

Then six days before Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who Jesus had raised from the dead. So a dinner was held there, and Martha served, and Lazarus was one of the ones seated at the table with him. 

Then Mary brought a pound of expensive ointment made of pure nard and anointed Jesus’s feet and wiped his feet dry  with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the myrrh. 

Judas Iscariot (one the twelve) – who was going to betray him – said ‘Why wasn’t this myrrh sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?’ He said this not because the poor were of a concern to him, but because he was a thief and held the common purse and he used to ‘lift’ what was put in it. 

Then Jesus said ‘Leave her alone. (She had been keeping it for the day of preparation for my burial). You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me . 

Then a large crowd [of Jerusalemites] knowing that he was there came,  not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests resolved to kill as well Lazarus because many of the Judeans were going off and believing  in  Jesus.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

So, many of the Judeans who had come to Mary and had seen the things that he had done believed in him. But some of them went off to the Pharisees and  told them what Jesus had done.  So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Sanhedrin together and said ‘ What shall we do given that this man does many signs?  If we let him do this, everyone will believe in him and the Romans will come and destroy both our place and the people. 

 A certain one of them, Caiaphas, the chief priest for that year, said to them ‘You do not know anything.  You do not even realise that it is better for you that one man might die on behalf of the whole people,  than the whole nation perish.’

He did not say this from himself, but being the Chief Priest that year he prophesied  that Jesus was about to die on behalf of the nation, and not only on behalf of the nation but also that he might gather God’s scattered children into one. So from that day they resolved to kill him. 

Then Jesus no longer went about openly amongst the Judeans, but he went from there into the region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim. And there he stayed with the disciples. 

It was near the Jewish Passover and many went up to Jerusalem from the country for the Passover to cleanse themselves. Then they sought Jesus and said to one another, standing around in the Temple, ‘What do you think – that he will not come to the festival? The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if someone knew where he was they were to report it, so that they might arrest him.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

Then Jesus, angry in himself again, came to the tomb, which was a cave and a stone was laid across it

Jesus said:  ‘Take away the stone.‘

The sister of the dead man, Martha said ‘Lord, Already he smells, for he has been buried four days. 

Jesus said to her ‘Did I not say to you that if you believe you will see the glory of God? So they took the stone away. 

Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and said ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I had known you always hear me., but I speak for the benefit of the crowd who stand around  so that they might believe that  you sent me. 

And having said these things he cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come here – outside!’ 

The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with strips of linen and his face wrapped around with a facecloth. 

Jesus said to them ‘Untie him and let him go.’

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.