Sermons on the Passion Week

In fact, we are at the start of a wonderful week. I will not speak much about it because you have a small pamphlet, viz. “From Jerusalem to Gethsemane”, which does not need much time for reading. You can read it at home. The Church is greatly interested in this week and reads a lot from the Old Testament.

Usually in the Church we do not read the New Testament except after reading the Old Testament, thus there is a connection between the Old and New Testaments. Sometimes the Old Testament demonstrates matters more clearly than the New Testament. I will give you a very simple example. On Wednesday the woman poured ointment (oil) on Christ. At the same moment, Judas conspired to crucify Christ, thus betraying Him. This story is depicted in one Psalm. Do you know what the Psalm said at this moment? It states, “His words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords,” i.e. a dagger in the back. Notice that the Psalm refers to the ointment of this woman as well as the dagger used. Are there deeper words than these? “His words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.”

We always read the Old Testament. We do not recite the Psalms of the Agpeya because they contain different prophecies about the Nativity, the incidents of Christ in my life. We pray another prayer: “Thok te ti gom - :wk te ti gom” “Yours is the power, the glory and the majesty, forever. Amen. Our Lord Jesus Christ, our Good Savior. The Lord is my strength and song, and has become my salvation.” We pray it 12 times instead of the 12 Psalms. The Psalms in particular revealed the secrets of the glory and power of Christ, e.g. when Christ gave up the ghost on the cross, which is the point I want to stress fully today. Have you ever seen any more weakness? If He had the slightest power, there would have been some hope for Him to come down from the cross. The thief on the left said to Him, “If you are the Christ, save Yourself and us,” meaning if there was the least hope…would that be it?