I often follow a thread or theme through Holy Week to Easter. This year I focused on self-betrayal, the ways in which we turn away from ourselves and our lives, and live less than who we truly are. It will be easier to see and follow that theme through these sermons if you begin with the Palm Sunday sermon. Thank you for reading and supporting Interrupting the Silence. Alleluia. Christ is risen.
Category: Holy Week
Nobody Wants To Come To Holy Saturday – A Sermon On Matthew 27:57-66
Jesus descends into hell, breaking down the gates, and releasing Adam and Eve. "Resurrection" by bobosh_t is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0. Nobody wants to come to Holy Saturday. Look around. Very few show up on this day, and most probably do not even know there is a liturgy for this day. I don’t blame them, I understand. Not much happens today. The liturgy is short, maybe twenty minutes. The church is empty and bare. There are no decorations,…
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On Days Like This – A Sermon On John 18:1-19:42 For Good Friday
I used to try to understand, explain, or make sense of this day, Good Friday. I don’t anymore. I’ve given that up. What do you say on days like this? What can be said? Besides, most of the explanations that I’ve heard or come up with myself don’t really satisfy. They are mostly ways of avoiding death, and a betrayal of Jesus’ humanity. And to whatever degree we turn away from death and humanity, we…
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Re-membering – A Sermon On John 13:1-17, 31-35 For Maundy Thursday
The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons What comes to mind when you think about Maundy Thursday? Most of us probably think about the foot washing and the last supper. That’s certainly part of what happens on this night, and that’s the focus of tonight’s gospel (John 13:1-17, 31-35). But this night is also the night of the betrayal. After washing the disciples’ feet (including the feet of Judas) Jesus “returned…
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The Messiness Of Betrayal – A Sermon On John 13:21-32 For Wednesday In Holy Week
Last Supper by James Tissot - Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons I don’t know what to make of or do with today’s gospel (John 13:21-32). It raises more questions for me than it offers answers. There are some things that don’t fit or make sense to me. It’s a messy story, betrayals always are. The simplest and easiest thing to do with this story would be to take…
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The Power Of Holy Week – A Sermon On John 12:20-36 For Tuesday In Holy Week
Yesterday I said that it must have been hard to be Judas. Well, I think the same thing can be said about Jesus in today’s gospel (John 12:20-36). “The hour has come” he says. “Now my soul is troubled.” It must have been hard to be Jesus. Cabeza de Jesús by Enrique Simonet - Unknown source, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons I think that is some of the best and most hopeful news we could hear…
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Sometimes It’s Hard Being True To Ourselves – A Sermon On John 12:1-11 For Monday In Holy Week
Jadas Iscariot by Eilif Peterssen - Own work Themightyquill, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons Today’s gospel (John 12:1-11) is the one we hear every year on Monday in Holy Week, and every year it starts me thinking about Judas. What’s the first word that comes to mind when you hear the name Judas? My guess is that for many of us the first word we think of is some form of “betray.” It was for…
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The Things That Make For Peace – A Sermon Luke 19:28-40 For Palm Sunday
Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem (detail) by Enrique Simonet - Museo del Prado, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons Did anything strike you as strange about today’s first gospel reading (Luke 19:28-40)? Did it sound like something was missing? It’s the familiar Palm Sunday story about Jesus sending his disciples into the village to retrieve a colt for him to ride to Jerusalem. As he rides along people are “spreading their cloaks on the road” and “the whole…
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Waiting – A Sermon On Matthew 27:57-66
Here’s my question. What are you waiting for? And what is your hope on this day? The thing that makes Holy Saturday so difficult, that makes this gospel text so unsatisfying, that leaves my sermon lacking is that there is no resolution. There is only waiting. You’ve had days like that, so have I. And sometimes it’s not just a single day of waiting. It’s weeks, months, years. Our life has been changed and it’s no longer like it used to be. We wait and wonder what’s next or if there will be a next. We wait and wonder when it will get better or if it will get better. We wait and wonder how we will ever live again or if we will.
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A Call For Change – A Sermon On John 18:1-19:42
Here’s my question. What is the cross of Jesus asking for in your life today? And what is it showing you? Most of us come to Good Friday believing that the cross gave us something. Most of us come to this day saying that “Jesus died for our sins.” I’m not so sure anymore. I struggle with the torture and execution of Jesus. I suspect most of us do. I can’t make sense of it and I’m not sure Jesus could either. I want to rethink the meaning of Good Friday and the usual ways we interpret it.
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