Palm Sunday
A Sermon by The Most Rev. Mark Haverland, Archbishop & Metropolitan of the Anglican Catholic Church

Saint Matthew 27 verse 42 – Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

In Saint Matthew’s Passion our Lord on the cross is mocked by people three times: first, by ‘they that passed by’ (39); secondly, by ‘the chief priests…with the scribes and elders’; and, finally, by ‘the thieves also, which were crucified with him’ (44).  And all of this mockery occurs beneath the silent mockery of the ‘accusation written’ and ‘set up over his head’, reading ‘THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS’.

Man proposes, but God disposes; and, the saying goes, God is not mocked.  The passers-by and chief priests and thieves may mock, but God replies with earthquake and eclipse and the rending of the temple veil.  Consider only one of these replies:  ‘Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land’ (45).  The crucifixion plunges the world back to the primordial chaos and darkness of Genesis 1, from whence God called forth the world at creation.  The crucifixion brings back for three hours the horrible darkness which was the penultimate plague of Egypt and lasted three days: ‘that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt,’ as God says to Moses (Exodus 10.21).  Darkness comes with the cross, and so is fulfilled the word of the Lord to the prophet Amos: The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more….Shall not the land tremble for this…?  And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day….  (8.1, 8, 9)

Man mocks, but God will have the final word. But also notice that even in their mockery, the priests of Israel are revealing the truth.  This fact is noted explicitly by Saint John when he tells us of the hatching of the plot against the Lord.  Caiaphas, the high priest, John tells us, inadvertently prophesies that ‘Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God’.  Caiaphas ‘this spake not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied’ (12.50ff.).  There is the power of ordination in spades: the high priest is a prophet, even as he plots to destroy God.

If Saint John proclaims the high priest a prophet, let us consider again when the high priests say about the Lord upon the cross: ‘he saved others; himself he cannot save.’  There is another prophecy, another truthful saying from the lips of those who mean to mock.  The only flaw in its truthfulness is the modal verb, ‘cannot’.  It would be perfectly truthful if they had said, ‘he saved other; himself he will not save.’  As the great hymn of this season puts it, ‘Born for this, he met his passion, This the Saviour freely willed’ (Pange lingua).  Our Saviour freely and willingly accepts the cross.  With this single change, the mockery of the chief priests, scribes, and elders is turned into a proclamation of the meaning of the cross.

We may again alter the prophecy slightly to consider even more deeply the meaning of the cross.  ‘He saved others, because he does not save himself.’  And how often that is the case.  Self-sacrifice occurs all the time in our world, when a parent or a spouse or a friend or even a stranger gives his own life for the sake of another.  Some years ago a priest of our diocese gave up a kidney so that his son would not have to spend a life on dialysis.  That is not the ultimate self-sacrifice, but it is a pretty big one.  He helped his son precisely with willingness to suffer a loss himself.  This is the exchange, the self-giving of love, and it is the heart of the cross.  The inner meaning of the Passion and cross is conveyed in the mockery of the scribes and priests.  Strip away the scorn that was intended, and it shows us that salvation comes from God precisely because, as Saint Paul puts it, he…made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.  (Philippians 2.7f.)

Or to put the same thing in another way, we may summarize today’s meaning in Saint John’s most familiar words:  ‘So God loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son.’  He gave himself, so we are loved.  He humbled himself, so we are exalted.  Himself he did not save, so we are saved.  Darkness came at noon, that the light might shine in the night.   He died, and so we live.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

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SERVICES & EVENTS

Last Friday during Lent (March 27), 7:00 PM, for Stations of the Cross and Lenten Supper

Sunday, 9:00 AM & 11:15 AM, Holy Communion, for online participation go to https://www.facebook.com/saintsofscotland 

Sunday School – meets at 10:30 AM.

Monday, 7:30 PM, undercroft, Discussion on the Saints, with Fr. Bragg, all are invited even if you have not been to prior discussions. For online participation go to https://www.facebook.com/saintsofscotland

Wednesday at Noon – Holy Communion and anointing for healing

Maundy Thursday, April 2, 7:00 p.m. service

Good Friday, April 3, Noon and 7:00 PM services – the Sacrament of
Penance will be offered one (1) hour prior to each Good Friday service.

Easter Sunday, April 5, Striking of the New Fire at beginning of 9:00 AM service

Easter Sunday, April 5, 9:00 AM and 11:15 AM
 
Sunday April 12 (Low Sunday) a combined service at 10 AM will take place at St. Andrew & St. Margaret of Scotland. (There will be no services at 9 or 11 AM.) Following the combined service there will be a special reception honoring our resigning Rector Fr. John Roddy.

Monday, April 27, 7:30 p.m. Vestry Meeting, undercroft
 
 
MaRiH Crisis Pregnancy Center: Updated Critical Needs & More

Instead of presenting the whole list of needs, we are emphasizing the critical needs that MaRiH Center has and listing some other needs. The critical needs list below has  just been updated:
Diapers, sizes 5 and 6
Spring/Simmer clothing (Boys & Girls), size 0-3 months, size 2T 
Wipes
Baby Blankets
Baby formula: Similac Advance Formula
Bibs: toddler
Lovies, rattles, teethers
Other needs:
Diapers, newborn, 1, 2, 3, 4
Spring/Summer Clothing, 3-6 month, 9-12 month, 18-24 month, 
Bibs, infant
Winter Coats, all baby sizes
Maternity clothes
Wash cloths
Diaper rash ointment
There are two options for helping the Center with these needs! 
 
Option 1 
Amazon has all the specific items needed. You can order the specific item(s) and have them delivered directly to the Center.  

The MaRiH Center
3230B Duke Street
Alexandria, VA 22314-4521
703-370-4774

Option 2 
Go to your local store, purchase the items requested and drop them off at church on Sunday. We will deliver them to the MaRIH Center.
 
 
Food Bank Needs
 
The food bank continues to need our assistance to feed the hungry. Please help this month with a food donation if you are able. Those we help feed are very thankful for the food we provide to them each month. Please also buy low sugar cereals (and not the kid's types that have lots of sugar). Also lower sodium products are better and more healthy.

Current needs include the following:
canned meats (chicken, corned beef, spam)
peanut butter
jelly
tuna
canned vegetables (corn, green beans - (regular and low sodium)
individual fruit cups (low sugar)
canned fruit (low sugar)
canola or vegetable oil (48 oz)
boxed cereal (low sugar) and instant or old fashioned oatmeal (18 oz or 42 oz)
pasta (regular and gluten-free):
instant potatoes
single serving fruit juice
macaroni & cheese
soups: Chunky or Progresso,noodle soup; chicken broth, cream of mushroom
coffee, cooking oil, flour, sugar
 
 
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