On the holy
cross I see
Jesus’hands
nailed fast for me.
On the holy
cross I see.
Jesus’ feet
nailed fast for me.
Loving Jesus
let me be
Still and
quiet, close to thee,
Learning all
thy love for me
Giving all
my love to thee.
Collect for the Third Sunday of Lent
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before He was crucified:
mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none
other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now
and for ever. Amen
Readings for Today:
Old Testament.
Exodus 20: 1- 17
New Testament Reading: 1 Corinthians 1. 18 - 25
For the message about
the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being
saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment
of the discerning I will thwart.’
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For
since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God
decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who
believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ
crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those
who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s
weakness is stronger than human strength.
Introduction
The actions of Jesus in the story from John today are harsh
and aggressive. Jesus goes to the temple and makes it plain that he is angry.
When we remember just how important the temple was, we can understand that
people would not be happy when he used language about raising it to the ground.
Why was Jesus so angry ?
Why was he so motivated that he made a whip and used it to drive people
and their animals out of the temple? The event can only be understood against
the background of the understanding Jesus had about who he was and what he was
about to do. Jesus sees Judaism with its Passovers and sacrifices to be at an
end. Even the temple itself was of no more value. Instead it was his death
which would end all deaths, his body which would represent the visible
representation of God being with his people. There would be no more need of the
religious trappings, that was the old order and now a new order had come.
Make no mistake, Jesus did not have this zeal because he was
on a mission to stop corruption, he has a much bigger target than that. Jesus
is not involved in a clean up exercise, he wants nothing less than an end to
the Jewish religion itself.
The gospel reading today challenges us to look afresh at our
institutions and our personal lives. Perhaps we are being challenged to cleanse
what is stale and corrupt? What abuses have crept into the way we govern our
society, workplaces and lives? It is no good excusing ourselves simply because
things have become accepted as the norm. We too must be prepared to challenge
the status quo with the demands of the Kingdom.
When Jesus attacked the abuses which had grown up in the
Temple he was prepared to face unpopularity and the dangers of confronting the
powerful. He was willing to be disliked and misunderstood, in order to bring
about change. Are we as Christians prepared to be as courageous
Gospel Reading : John
2: 13 – 22
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to
Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and
the money-changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all
of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out
the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. He told those who
were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s
house a market-place!’ His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for
your house will consume me.’ The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show
us for doing this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under
construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But
he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture
and the word that Jesus had spoken.
Post Communion Prayer
Merciful Lord, grant your people grace to withstand the
temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil, and with pure hearts and
minds to follow you, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Historians will note that the Jews said to Jesus "This
temple has been under construction for forty-six years" (v. 20).
Construction began under Herod the Great in 20 or 19 B.C., which means that
Jesus' cleansing of the temple takes place in 27 or 28 A.D. The majority of the
work on the temple has been completed by this time, but refinements will
continue until 63 A.D., only seven years before the Romans will destroy the
temple. Incidentally, John mentions three distinct Passovers in his Gospel,
which leads us to believe that the ministry of Jesus lasted three years. (
2:13, 6:4, 11:55).
A Devotional Service on Palm Sunday
A Service of Choral Music, Readings and Hymns.
Featuring the music of Byrd, Bach, Mozart and
Walford-Davies.
St. Mary’s Church, Long Crendon, 6pm Sunday 29th March.
Everyone welcome, retiring collection.
Annual Parochial Church Meetings
Sunday March
29th 11.00am Chearsley
Sunday April
26th 2.00pm Long Crendon
Sunday April
26th 6.00pm Nather Winchendon
"Christianity is no easy thing. Being moral or ethical
doesn't merely mean being good in the area of sexual morality. We are also
called to be just, and that is much harder. We are called to honour everyone
and to use no one. That is much harder" by the Rev. Anthony F.M. Clavier
Jesus did not come into the world to rub it in but to rub it
out
Jesus hung up for our hang-ups.
This church is for sinners only
Holy Father, keep us in your truth
Holy Son, protect us under your cross
Holy Spirit, make us temples and dwelling places for your
glory.
Grant us your peace all the days of our lives, Lord. Amen.
Maronite Church
‘Jesus Christ came to pay a debt he did not owe,
because we
owed a debt we could not pay’.
