Did e’er such love and sorrow meet

Today's visits focused on the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem down the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to his arrest in Garden of Gethsemane and being led again across the Kidron Valley to the house of Caiaphas the High Priest.

We began with a reading from the Last Supper...

When evening came he was at table with the twelve disciples.  And while they were eating he said, 'I tell you solemnly, one of you is about to betray me.'  They were greatly distressed and started asking him in turn, 'Not I, Lord, surely?'  He answered, 'Someone who has dipped his hand into the dish with me will betray me.  The Son of Man is going to his fate, as the scriptures say he will, but alas for that man if he had never been born!'  Judas, who was to betray him, asked in his turn, 'Not I, Rabbi, surely?'  Jesus answered, 'They are your own words.'

Now as they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, 'Take it and eat; this is my body.'  Then he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them saying, 'Drink all of you from this, for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  From now on, I tell you, I shall not drink wine until the day I drink the new wine with you in the kingdom of my Father.' 
- Matthew 26:20-29

The week started with glory, but ended in betrayal, denial and abandonment. At times we have all experienced betrayal, denial and abandonment... perhaps at times we have been betrayed, denied or abandoned. And yet they were all at the table, they all shared in the Last Supper... for Jesus does not betray, deny or abandon. As we journeyed through the day we held our hurts with his and how we had hurt we offered to Him for mercy.

First stop was where he had first visited in Jerusalem, but today the weather was much better...

Looking down the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley to the eastern wall of the Temple Mount

The Southern Wall of the Old City

The gray domes to the left of the gold dome are Holy Sepulchre Church, site of Calvary and the tomb 

The Valley of Hinnom also known by the names Gehinnom and Gehenna... And if your eye should cause you to sin, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell (Gehenna) where their worm does not die nor their fire go out. Gehenna was the Jerusalem rubbish dump in Jesus' time.

From the top of the Mount of Olives we walked down to the Church of Dominus Flevit ("the Lord wept") for Mass.

The Lord says this:

Rejoice heart and soul, daughter of Zion! 

Shout with gladness, daughter of Jerusalem!

See now, your king comes to you; 

he is victorious, he is triumphant, humble and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

He will banish chariots from Ephraim and horses from Jerusalem;

the bow of war will be banished. 

He will proclaim peace for the nations.

His empire shall stretch from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.

- Zechariah 9:9-10

Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. Now when he was near Bethphage and Bethany, close by the Mount of Olives as it is called, he sent two of the disciples, telling them, ‘Go off to the village opposite, and as you enter it you will find a tethered colt that no one has yet ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” you are to say this, “The Master needs it.”’ The messengers went off and found everything just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owner said, ‘Why are you untying that colt?’ and they answered, ‘The Master needs it.’

So they took the colt to Jesus, and throwing their garments over its back they helped Jesus on to it. As he moved off, people spread their cloaks on the road, and now, as he was approaching the downward slope of the Mount of Olives, the whole group of disciples joyfully began to praise God at the top of their voices for all the miracles they had seen. They cried out: 

‘Blessings on the King who comes, in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens!’

Some Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Master, check your disciples,’ but he answered, ‘I tell you, if these keep silence the stones will cry out.’

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem and came in sight of the city he shed tears over it and said, 'If you in your turn had only understood on this day the message of peace! But, alas, it is hidden from your eyes! Yes, a time is coming when your enemies will raise fortifications all round you, when they will encircle you and hem you in on every side; they will dash you and the children inside your walls to the ground; they will leave not one stone standing on another within you - and all because you did not recognise your opportunity when God offered it!'

- Luke 19:28-44

If you in your turn had only understood on this day the message of peace! But, alas, it is hidden from your eyes! Isn't that so prevalent in our lives, that concept of things being hidden from our eyes. Maybe we can think back to our teenage years and how we treated our parents... or maybe as parents you can think of your teenagers and how you treated them. So often there is a phase of life we have to go through to see clearly.

In the journey of life love causes us to see differently. As Andrew Lloyd Webber reminds us, Love, love changes everything.

And ultimately love is the only way that can triumph over wars and violence in our world

In the week of Holy Week which we are remembering in our Hikoi to the Holy Land we are witnessing the unfolding of love, a universal love. And for us we are called to die with Christ and rise with him to new life, to see him, to weep with him for the injustices in our world.

And look how he comes into the city victorious and triumphant, yes, but humble and riding on a donkey. In our humility we too can make a difference is only we see and our fives loaves and two fish. 

The opening words of the Vatican II Pastoral Constitution of Church say, The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.

May we have eyes to see hearts to act so that the love of Christ in us may help transform the world.

From the Church of Dominus Flevit we continued down the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemene and the Church of All Nations. There were huge crowds here but a Mass being celebrated in Spanish offered some relative quiet in the church.

Agony

The rock before the altar where the Lord supposedly prayed in the garden

Betrayal

Who are you looking for?

The oldest tree in the garden (in the rear) has been carbon dated to 1092.

We then went to the Tomb of Mary. The Sacred Tradition of Eastern Christianity teaches that the Virgin Mary died a natural death (the Dormition of the Theotokos, the falling asleep), like any human being; that her soul was received by Christ upon death; and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her repose, at which time she was taken up, soul and body, into heaven in anticipation of the general resurrection. Her tomb, according to this teaching, was found empty on the third day.

On the right side of the staircase (towards the east) there is the chapel of Mary's parents, Joachim and Anne.

The tomb of Mary

From there we to the site of the palace of the High Priest Caiaphas who had Jesus arrested and handed him over to Pilate. on the site now is the Church of St Peter in Gallicantu, "gallicantu", meaning cock's-crow.

The men who had arrested Jesus led him off to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and elders were assembled.  Peter followed him at a distance, and when he reached the high priest's palace, he went in and sat down with the attendants to see what the end would be.

The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus, however false, on which they might pass the death-sentence.  But they could not find any, though several lying witnesses came forward.  Eventually two stepped forward and made a statement, 'This man said, "I have power to destroy the Temple of God and in three days build it up."'  The high priest then stood up and said to him, 'Have you no answer to that?  What is the evidence these men are bringing against you?'  But Jesus was silent.  And the high priest said to him, 'I put you on oath by the living God to tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.'  Jesus answered, 'The words are your own.  Moreover, I tell you that from this time onwards you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.'  At this, the high priest tore his clothes and said, 'There! You have just heard the blasphemy.  What is your opinion?'  They answered, 'He deserves to die.'

Then they spat in his face and hit him with their fists; others said as they struck him, 'Play the prophet, Christ!  Who hit you then?'

Meanwhile Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant-girl came up to him and said, 'You too were with Jesus the Galilean.'  But he denied it in front of them all, saying 'I do not know what you are talking about.'  When he went out to the gateway another servant-girl saw him and said to the people there, 'This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.'  And again, with an oath, he denied it, 'I do not know the man.'  A little later the bystanders came up to and said to Peter, 'You are one of them for sure!  Why, your accent gives you away.'  Then he started calling down curses on himself and swearing, 'I do not know the man.'  At that moment the cock crew, and Peter remembered what Jesus had said, 'Before the cock crows you will have disowned me three times.'  And he went outside and wept bitterly.

The rejection of Jesus by his own people...

...the charge of blasphemy warrants violence and death

...the chief priest forgetting the commandment "You shall not kill"

..."But I say this to you: anyone who is angry with brother or sister will answer for it before the court."

Denial

Prisoners were lowered into the pit by ropes

Lord my God, I call for help by day;

I cry at night before you.

Let my prayer come into your presence.

O turn your ear to my cry.

For my soul is filled with evils;

my life is on the brink of the grave.

I am reckoned as one in the tomb:

I have reached the end of my strength,

like one alone among the dead;

like the slain lying in their graves;

like those you remember no more,

cut off, as they are, from your hand.

You have laid me in the depths of the tomb,

in places that are dark, in the depths.

Your anger weighs down upon me:

I am drowned beneath your waves.

You have taken away my friends

and made me hateful in their sight.

Imprisoned, I cannot escape;

my eyes are sunken with grief.

I call to you, Lord, all the day long;

to you I stretch out my hands.

Will you work your wonders for the dead?

Will the shades stand and praise you?

Will your love be told in the grave

or your faithfulness among the dead?

Will your wonders be known in the dark

or your justice in the land of oblivion?

As for me, Lord, I call to you for help:

in the morning my prayer comes before you.

Lord, why do you reject me?

Why do you hide your face?

Wretched, close to death from my youth,

I have borne your trials; I am numb.

Your fury has swept down upon me;

your terrors have utterly destroyed me.

They surround me all the day like a flood,

they assail me all together.

Friend and neighbour you have taken away:

my one companion is darkness.

Psalm 88

This ancient staircase that leads down towards the Kidron Valley. This may have been a passage from the upper city to the lower city during the First Temple period. Many Christians believe that Jesus followed this path down to Gethsemane the night of his arrest

I do not know him

Then to the Cenacle, the site of the Upper Room... It is not the same room... but it is where it is thought it was... And there we remembered the washing of the feet.

It was before the festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. He had always loved those who were his in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was.

They were at supper, and the devil had already put it into the mind of Judas Iscariot son of Simon, to betray him. Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, and he got up from the table, removed his outer garment and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist; he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, 'Lord, are you going to wash my feet?' Jesus answered, 'At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.' 'Never!' said Peter. 'You shall never wash my feet.' Jesus replied, 'If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me.' 'Then, Lord,' said Peter, 'not only my feet but my hands and my head as well!' Jesus said, 'No one who has taken a bath needs washing, they are clean all over. You too are clean, though not all of you are.' He knew who was going to betray him, that was why he said, 'though not all of you here.'

When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes again he went back to the table. 'Do you understand' he said 'what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other's feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.

- John 13:1-15

Think of Jesus days... dusty roads, dirty rooms with camels, horses and donkeys, and maybe even people doing their business on the streets... Think of sweaty feet and the filth of the street clining to those feet.

And so Jesus assumes the condition of a servant, a slave and washes the feet clean of those who were to abandon him.

The following day, again as servant and slave he washes us clean of sin and death by his blood and life offered on the cross.

At this site, where Christ the Deacon gave his example of service Deacons Carey, Mark and David renewed their promises as deacons

Bishop:    In this holy site where Christ the Deacon gave his example of service and in the presence of me your Bishop and God’s holy people, are you ready to renew your own dedication to serve Christ as deacons in his Church?

Deacons: I am.

Bishop: Are you resolved to be more ardent heralds of the Gospel of Christ, believing what you read, teaching what you believe and practising what you preach?

Deacons: I am.

Bishop:    Are you resolved to continue to be more faithful ministers of the mysteries of God to assist at the Eucharist and other liturgical services with sincere devotion? 

Deacons: I am.

Bishop: Are you resolved to unite yourselves more closely to Christ by imitating him who came not to be served but to serve? 

Deacons: I am.

Bishop:    My brothers and sisters pray for your deacons, that together with your priests they may be faithful ministers of Christ the Servant who laid down his life for us and commanded us to love one another as he had loved us.

Bishop:    May the Lord in his love keep you close to him always, and may he bring all of us, his deacons and people, to eternal life.

At our reflection time tonight one of our parishioners was saying, yesterday we sang Christmas carols and today we were singing When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. Such a contrast but Christmas and  Easter weave together joy and sorrow in the great mystery of salvation.

When I survey the wondrous cross; on which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God!

All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down!

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.