“SO BY HIS CROSS AND PASSION”

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON MARCH 25, 2007

 

Luke 20:19 "The scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people; for they perceived that He had told this parable against them."

 

So the die is set, and the 40 days of Lent are coming to their climax.

The officials are trying to snare him and it is almost as if Jesus is taunting them.

 

How ironical it is this 5th Sunday of Lent - when the crosses and images are veiled in purple - that the date is March the 25th. In the church's calendar this is the Feast of the Annunciation. Because of Lent we transferred it to yesterday, when we celebrated it with great joy. 

 

At first it seems there is something incongruous about celebrating the Annunciation in Lent - with all those themes of the Virgin Mary and the archangel Gabriel and Christmas.  But it must be that way, because the Annunciation has to be 9 months before Christmas day, for it is the exact moment when the Blessed Virgin Mary conceived Christ. 

 

But is it really incongruous?  The whole purpose of the incarnation is about to be fulfilled at the end of Lent, with Christ's death and resurrection. 

 

We may be overwhelmed by the passion and suffering of Christ on the Cross - and this latter part of Lent bids us reflect on it and the cause which is sin. But deep down we know that the purpose of the incarnation would only be revealed finally on Good Friday. 

 

At the beginning of his ministry, when Mary his mother turned to him at the wedding feast seeking a miracle, Jesus said:  "My hour has not yet come."  Soon the hour will come!

 

Yes, the Annunciation is really part of Lent - for now its purpose is to be fulfilled. At the very beginning, Mary held Jesus in her arms. And at the end she will once again hold him in her arms, as he is taken down from the cross.

 

This entwining of the Annunciation with Christ's passion and death is revealed clearly in the Collect for the Annunciation. It is the same Collect that concludes the Angelus which we say every Sunday: “We beseech thee, Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts, that as we have known the incarnation of thy Son, Jesus Christ, by the message of an angel,  So by his cross and passion, we may be brought to the glory of His resurrection.”  The Collect leads us firstly from Mary full of grace to the announcement by the angel then through Christ's cross and passion to his resurrection.  It is all bound up. 

 

Not only does the Collect for the Annunciation fit in with the 5th Sunday of Lent, but today's gospel fits in with the Annunciation.

 

In telling this parable about the vineyard and its tenants, and the son who was killed, Jesus is not baiting the chief priests He is outlining his destiny. And not just his destiny - his very purpose.

 

At the Annunciation the archangel Gabriel outlines Mary's purpose and destiny - and also God's purpose in the Incarnation. Now it all comes to a head.

 

When they heard Jesus tell this parable, the crowd was taken aback, 'God Forbid' they said. Jesus is anxious that they should see this as God's purpose - so he quotes Psalm 118: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone."  We will hear this quote from Psalm 118 many times during Easter.  "The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." 

 

The conflict between Jesus and the authorities will take its course.  It is interesting that in St John 's gospel the controversies between the high priests and Jesus start in Chapter 5 of that gospel, but in Chapter 6 they are interrupted by Jesus' great teaching about the Eucharis. It is as if St. John wants to remind us that at the heart of the Eucharist is the crucified Christ. 

 

Yes - the Eucharist is the Bread of Life. 

Yes - when we eat this bread we share in his life.  

Yes - our divine Lord is truly present in this great mystery

And yes - anyone who eats this bread will live forever

 

All as taught by Jesus in John Chapter 6.

 

But the Eucharist is first and foremost the memorial of his suffering and death - in which his sacrifice is made present for us on the altar.  Such that we say that when we offer the Eucharist we are offering it just as Jesus offered his sacrifice.

 

And this takes us back to the Annunciation. 

 

For at the Incarnation Jesus offers himself and gives himself to the world. 

 

On the cross Jesus offers himself and gives himself to the world.

 

And in the Eucharist Jesus offers himself and give himself to the world. 

 

From the beginning to the end Jesus has always been giving himself, and offering himself. Now we see it brought to conclusion on the cross.  This move from Incarnation to the cross, to the Eucharist, is expressed profoundly in the first part of the Eucharistic prayer that we use:

 

           

 

 

All glory be to thee, O Lord our God, for that thou didst create heaven and earth, and didst make us in thine own image; and, of thy tender mercy, didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to take our nature upon    him, and to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption, who made there a full and perfect sacrifice for the whole world.

 

Thus the Eucharist leads us from the Incarnation to Christ's saving death, to the consecration of the Sacrament.

 

Thus in Holy Communion do Christ's Incarnation and Christ's sacrifice come to rest in our hands. 

 

The wonder of the mystery of the Eucharist surely leads us to understand that just as His life is ours so his journey is our journey.  It is a journey to Easter Joy but it does include the cross.  And each of us will forge our own way of the cross in our life. 

 

As we now walk the way of the cross however haltingly or hesitantly we are realizing in our own lives the fullness of life he proclaimed for he is our salvation our life and our resurrection.