Mass was offered this morning at the high altar for the repose of the soul of Moira Edwards (+), and secondarily for her friends and family, those who love her. Love does transcend the graves, and our bonds of affection, as the funeral rite declares, do not end at death's door. Following our long tradition, that stretches far back into the centuries before the coming of our Lord in the flesh, we bury the dead and we pray for the dead, generally and in particular. May they rest in peace, Amen. Because we love them and they are part of who we are.
Our readings at Mass today continue to build up the tension, as the opponents of Christ scramble to find a way to end His interference at Jerusalem. As the Gospel of S. Matthew says in chapter 21, after entering the City in triumph as the Heir of David, Christ was received very well by a cheering crowd, and that
"The chief priests and scribes saw the miracles which he did, and the boys that cried aloud in the temple, Hosanna for the son of David, and they were greatly angered at it."
This intense dislike and resentment was possibly why Christ made His centre of operation not the City itself but the town of Bethany, which was behind the Mount of Olives, to the East; from there He came to the Temple daily to tell His most provocative parables and His most straightforward teachings on the Law, which caused the tension to grow continuously. The Pharisees and the party of the Temple priests began to plot against Him, simply because His message was wildly popular and His base of disciples was itself growing, and they were unable to argue against Him. And He was dreadfully critical of themselves, as in chapter 23, with its long list of condemnation of the orthodox Judaism of the time, and which ends in this way:
"'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, still murdering the prophets, and stoning the messengers that are sent to thee, how often have I been ready to gather thy children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings; and thou didst refuse it! Behold, your house is left to you, a house uninhabited.'"
The gospel reading today is from the Gospel of S. John, chapter 12, but is told by the Gospel of S. Matthew, also, in chapter 26. The penitent Mary, at whose home Christ and his Apostles were being hosted in Bethany, anoints Him prophetically for His coming death with an expensive oil and the apostle Judas protests, seemingly out of concern for the poor. The two things about this reading that I notice are, first, that Christ doesn't seem to consider the use of the oil on Himself as undue or extravagant for, as He says, we shall always have the poor with us (this has implications for the dressing up of our churches, and the investment in the very best in Christian worship, art and architecture, etc.); and, secondly, that the belligerent Temple priests were prepared to kill even Lazarus, to prevent the people from joining the disciples!
"A great number of the Jews heard that he was there and went out there, not only on account of Jesus, but so as to have sight of Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead; and the chief priests made a plot against Lazarus’ life too, because so many of the Jews, on his account, were beginning to go off and find faith in Jesus." - Gospel of S. John, 12: 9-11
So, yes, the tension is building, and today's psalm talks about a gathering storm:
"The Lord is my light and my deliverance; whom have I to fear? The Lord watches over my life; whom shall I hold in dread? Vainly the malicious close about me, as if they would tear me in pieces, vainly my enemies threaten me; all at once they stumble and fall. Though a whole host were arrayed against me, my heart would be undaunted; though an armed onset should threaten me, still I would not lose my confidence." - Psalm 26
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