Monday of Holy Week Isaiah 42:1-9 Hebrews 9: 11-15 John 12: 1-11

Our journey through Holy Week begins at looking at what it means to be near to God. In the days of Jesus religion was most important in access to God. The purpose of religion was to bring a person into God’s presence. It was also thought that there can be no religion without sacrifice. Purity was costly. To have access to God meant that you had to be pure, your sins must haver been atoned for. In the letter to the Hebrews, we learn that Jesus is the only High Priest who brings a sacrifice that can open the way to God. That sacrifice was himself. Unlike traditional sacrifices it was made voluntarily. Christ has offered himself, like the traditional sacrifices without blemish, to cleanse us from our sins.

The gospel reading tells us, in a way, how Jesus was being prepared for his coming sacrifice. To be acceptable a sacrifice had to be without blemish. In the gospel Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with a most costly perfume. Its aroma will have filled the house. One of his disciples objected to the seemingly large waste of money. But here the feet of Jesus were being cleansed. Cleansed so that when he made his sacrifice he would figuratively be without blemish.

In Church we have the opportunity to offer sacrifices to God. In one way we do this through the giving of the bread and wine used in the Eucharist. We do not offer just the scraps left over from breakfast, as it were, but bread of the finest quality such as we would lay before a guest at table. If we use wafers instead we make sure that they remain fresh and crisp.

Our sacrifices are of the highest quality, fresh and without blemish, such as befits laying before God, for that is what we are doing. There are many other ways that we can lay a sacrifice before God. From placing and arranging flowers in pristine condition to cleaning with due care and respect, from ringing the church bells with precision and skill to handing out books at the start of the service with a genuine welcome, all of these are forms of sacrifice made from our heart. Behind all is the desire to make them out of love. Love lies behind all sacrifices and those that we make to God are made in the name of love through our faith.

Collect for the Monday of Holy Week

Lord of all life and power,

who through the mighty resurrection of your Son

overcame the old order of sin and death

to make all things new in him:

grant that we, being dead to sin

and alive to you in Jesus Christ,

may reign with him in glory;

to whom with you and the Holy Spirit

be praise and honour, glory and might,

now and in all eternity.