Tuesday's Bridegroom Matins (April 29th)

Monday Night (Tuesday) Bridegroom Matins

Tonight was the second Bridegroom Service of Holy Week. Just like last night (and this morning) the services are full of biblical stories!

In the Gospel we heardabout Jesus and his discussion with the Pharisees and Saducees, two educated groups of Jewish leaders. 

They ask Jesus many things like, "Should people pay taxes to the king?" and "Which is the greatest commandment?" Jesus astounds them all by not only answering their questions, but asking them questions they can't answer. 

Jesus then scolds them all! He tells them that they are all too concerned with being leaders when they ought to be concerned about teaching people to love God! Jesus tells his disciples, "He who is greatest among you shall be your servant; whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." 

He continues, scolding Jewish leaders with being too concerned about how they appear on the outside, how nice their robes are or how long their prayers are, when they should be concerned with how the appear on the inside--with the state of their soul. Jesus calls them "whitewashed tombs" because though they are nice and shiny on the outside, inside they are full of dead peoples bones (not so nice, eh?). He says that if you really want to be clean on the outside, you have to be clean on the inside first.

These words aren't just for the Pharisees and Sadducees, they are for us too! We shouldn't be concerned about how other people see us, whether or not it looks like we are being kind or truthful or prayerful, but if we actually are like that on the inside, doing things for others and being prayerful because we really love God.


Tonight we also heard about two of Jesus parables, or stories, which he told the disciples: the Parable of the 10 Virgins and the Parable of the Talents. These stories are actually read in Tuesday morning's Gospel, so we'll hear about them later on. 

Tomorrow we'll also hear more about Moses and Job.

There are certainly lots of things to hear and see the road to Easter/Pascha! So many stories! Old and New Testament, all of scripture seems to have something to say about what is happening to Jesus.

One last thing. . . .

If you were at church and listened very carefully to the hymns, you would have have heard a mention of Judas. He's already thinking about betraying Jesus.  We also heard over the past few days that the Pharisees are plotting the death of Jesus. The gears are in motion. . . .

Tomorrow's Services

Bridegroom Matins (Last one!!)
St. George South Glens Falls 6PM
St. George Lawrence 7PM

Hope to see you there!