5th Sunday of Lent 2025

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit, glory to Jesus Christ. There's

a hymn that we sing at the service of Great Compline

during Lent, especially the first week we know

of it. It says something like, O Lord of hosts,

be with us. for in adversity we have no other

help but thee. O Lord of hosts, have mercy on

us. This is a prayer that God be with us, that

our Lord Jesus Christ be with us as we bear our

crosses, as we go to work, as we take care of

our family, as we pray in the morning and the

evening, as we prepare for Holy Communion. We

come to church. That we want God to be with us.

That we can't exist without God for the one thing

he created us out of non -existence. And in all

our troubles and our joys, we want the Lord to

be with us. And we've spent the last... Five

Sundays. The five Sundays of Lent. We're at the

fifth and final Sunday of Lent. We've spent the

last five Sundays contemplating how to be closer

to the Lord so that he can be with us. How to

move things out of our life that are not essential.

That are obstacles to loving God. That are obstacles

to being with the Lord. Or let's say, obstacles

to the Lord being with us. Because he's always

with us. He's always with us. You have been baptized.

You've been anointed. But now, after all these

five weeks, the church wants us to turn our attention,

and it's a subtle change. From this idea, O Lord

of hosts, be with us. For in adversity we have

no other help but Thee. That's always true. It

always will be true. But the church now wants

us to turn our attention to another way of approaching

the whole thing. So it gives us these two very

interesting Gospels. To me, are the best of all

of Lent. These two Gospels. The one from Mark,

the third time the Lord is telling his disciples

what's going to happen. And the one from Luke,

Luke 7 · chapter mention

chapter 7, in honor of this great saint, Mary

of Egypt, whose icon is in the middle of our

church, whose fresco is over there, so appropriately

by the confession stance, and she is the model

of repentance. And so we have these two amazing

accounts. We can only look at one. We'd be here

all day. I'd love to talk about both of them

and the epistles, but let us focus our minds

on the gospel from Mark because it's not about

the apostles, right? They are seated in glory,

not at the Lord's right and left hand. That's

the Theotokos. and John the Baptist. If you need

an illustration, just look right there. No, but

they're seated in glory in the divine council.

The gospel story is about us. Let's look at it

very briefly. This is chapter 10 of the gospel

Isaiah 10 · chapter mention

of St. Mark. Jesus has put his face to Jerusalem,

and the disciples have three Responses, the gospel

says. They were amazed. They were afraid. And

they were confused. Sounds like us. They were

on the road going up to Jerusalem. Jesus was

going before them, and they were amazed. Why

were they amazed? Because they knew Jesus has

already told them twice what would await him

in Jerusalem. He'd be arrested and crucified.

Peter already tried to stop this. He said, this

is not what the Messiah does. And Jesus, do you

remember what he said to Peter? Get behind me,

Satan. That's thinking the ways of man. This

is the way of God. It has to be this way. And

they followed as Jesus led the way. And that's

unusual. For the master to lead the way? No,

the disciple walks first. Jesus was walking before

them. And it says they were afraid because now

they knew. Amazed and afraid. Then he took them

to the side, all 12. And he told them for the

third time what would occur. We're going to Jerusalem.

The Son of Man, he calls himself the Son of Man

here. Why? Because the prophet Daniel had identified

the Messiah, the one, the Ancient of Days, the

one who would come with glory in the name of

the Father as the Son of Man. And Jesus is saying,

That's how he refers to himself. The son of man

will be betrayed to the chief priest. And they're

thinking, betrayed? Betrayed by who? Who will

betray him? We wouldn't betray him. And they

will condemn him to death and deliver him to

the Gentiles, that is the Romans, who have the

authority to impose the death sentence. The Romans

knew how to kill a slave or troublemaker on the

cross. There was simply no question what would

happen. And they will mock him. Brothers and

sisters, when you hear that in the gospel, that

Jesus, our Savior, the compassionate and loving

God, will be mocked and spit upon? Doesn't that

just tear your heart? This terrible thing that

someone would do to someone else, but particularly

our Lord and God and Savior. And then he said

to them, and the third day he will arise. Apparently,

two of the apostles, disciples, let's say at

this point, two of the disciples were not listening

to Jesus. James and John. Well, you see James

and John asleep up there at the Transfiguration.

That tells you a little bit about where James

and John were at that point in their life. They

couldn't really handle it. They weren't paying

attention. And remember the account, James and

John, they go to this town and the people don't

listen to Jesus. They reject him. And James and

John come to Jesus and says, Lord, shall we do

like Elijah and ask God to bring down fire upon

them and destroy them? And Jesus says, this is

not the way we do it. James and John had a sense

of entitlement, I think. They were very modern

people. God owes us something. But Jesus is telling

us something here. And this gospel is not just,

well... let's say it's directed towards our catechumens,

but not just the catechumens. Why? Jesus says

to James and John, after they say, look, we want

you to do something for us. Well, he's the master.

Is that really the way we come to Jesus? Lord,

I want you to do something for me. No, we come

to Jesus like the woman in the other gospel,

pouring out our tears on his feet, bringing something.

Precious our life to him. And pouring that out.

That's what servants of God do. Like that woman.

She was a prostitute. And the Lord forgave. That's

what we're like. That's why we come. That's why

we pray. That's why we make our offerings. That's

why we make our financial offerings. That's why

we give to the poor. We want to serve God in

the best way we can. That's why we try to love

our neighbor and forgive. James and John, having

a sense of entitlement, are asking Jesus to do

something big. Right and left hand, Lord. We

want to be there in your glory. And Jesus corrects

them, but so gently, doesn't he? That's the way

he is with us too. Does he ever slam you down?

Does he ever pull you by your hair? Does he ever

berate you? No. Our Lord waits for us. He will

never... force us he gives us every situation

so that we can flourish and many of those situations

we don't like because we have to grow into them

we have to struggle Jesus says to James and John

and he says this to you my brothers and sisters

catechumens especially are you able to drink

the cup that I drink from think of what we do

in just a little while to prepare for Holy Communion.

Are you able to be baptized with the baptism

that I will be baptized with? And he means the

cup of the cross and suffering and the baptism

of death. Baptism is a passage. It's a Passover.

It's the Pascha. It's from death to life. It's

the last chance for you catechumens to say, no,

Lord. I think I'll wait on that. I'm not ready

to take that cup. Or it's your chance, brothers

and sisters, to say, I trust you, Lord. I'm with

you to the end. And the Lord knows we probably

will stumble a number of times. Who was with

Jesus at the end? One. And the women, the courageous

women. That's what made up the church on that

day. So this tells me that we've been asking

God to be with us. O Lord of hosts, be with us.

But today, the church is turning that a little

bit and saying, no, you be with the Lord. To

be with the Lord now, as we move forward to this

week of poems, we remember the death of Lazarus

and his rising from the dead. Many of you don't

know. because you don't come up here, but there's

the fresco of the raising of Lazarus from the

dead. Lazarus come forth, and on that day we

will be baptizing, I think, God willing, 25 of

our catechumens. The Lord is asking us to be

with him. That means to be here, to be praying,

to be supporting one another for Holy Week, to

set things aside, to offer the precious ointment

of your life. It sounds extravagant to come to

church twice in one day. Well, maybe you can't

all do that. But certainly, we can make next

week holy by being here, by following Christ,

by thinking of what Jesus just said. Follow me.

Can you do this baptism? Can you take this cup?

Yes, Lord, I can. I'm afraid of what's ahead.

I'm amazed about it all. I'm sometimes confused,

but I will follow you because I love you. To

our Lord, who is going to his voluntary passion

for us and for our salvation, be glory with his

Father and his Holy Spirit now and ever, two

ages of ages. Amen.