Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Wednesday's Bridegrrom Matins

Tuesday Night (Wednesday) Bridegroom Matins



Tonight was the last of the Bridegroom services for Holy Week. At tonight's service we heard about two people who treated Jesus very different ways. We didn't hear the whole of the Gospel stories, we'll hear those tomorrow morning, but the hymns that we sang told us something about what it going on.

Tonight was all about comparison! And who were we comparing? The Bad Gone Good and the Good Gone Bad.

Who is the Bad the Gone GoodWell that was a sinful women (adulteress, harlot, there's really no nice way to put it) who took a very expensive oil, put some on Jesus' feet and then wiped it with her own hair. She really wanted to show how much she cared about Jesus. She might have done many terrible things with her life, but she repented of all those sins by showing so much care for her Lord Jesus. There is a special hymn that was sung tonight called the Hymn of Kassiani, in which we hear the woman ask Christ, not to judge her because of her sins, but to accept her repentance. And he does! He even stands up for her when Judas, one of his own disciples, tries to scold her.

Who is the Good Gone BadThat is Judas. Yesterday we heard murmurings that Judas was thinking of betraying Jesus, but tomorrow is the day when he actually does it. Judas, a disciple who has been with Christ since the beginning, who has heard his teachings and seen all his miracles, is so upset at the kind way Jesus is treated by the sinful women that he immediately goes to the Jewish chief priests and asks for money to betray Jesus to them. Why was he so angry at the women that he would give up his friend to those who want to kill him? Well that is because when he sees the woman using all of that expensive oil on Jesus, he says that the money would better have been spent on the poor. Now, Judas really wasn't all that concerned with the poor, he was more concerned with the money. (He was in charge of the poor box and would often take money out of it for himself.) When Jesus scolds him saying, "Why do you trouble the woman?. . .For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me." That's what made Judas upset and that's why he went and sold Jesus to his enemies.

The hymns do a lot to compare these two: A terribly sinful woman who repents and honors Jesus in the best way she knows how and a disciple of Christ who sells out his friend, his Lord, for 30 pieces of silver. 

We will hear more about their stories tomorrow.


Tomorrow's Services
Holy Unction (Oil) Service 
Lawrence 6:30 PM
South Glens Falls 6PM

Hope to see you there!

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