HOLY WEEK: EVE OF MONDAY

BE PREPARED

• The theme of this day focuses on how we should be prepared and continues in each hour
• The church warns us against hypocrisy and judgment using the teachings of the Lord.

BE PREPARED

• Through the image of the fig tree, the church reminds us that we should not think of this week as simply an outer appearance of worship without sowing the fruits of repentance, love, and meekness.
• We take this example to prepare ourselves to partake of the Holy Communion - through fasting, through repentance, through individual prayer for the whole world, and through communal worship in the Paschal services.

BE PREPARED

• Finally we also prepare ourselves for the 2nd coming of judgment.
• As Abouna Bishoy Kamel says, “This preparedness starts at the Cross, since the Cross became the judgment for those who rejected it and the secret of victory of those being saved.”

BE PREPARED

• In the 1st hour, He compares the cross to the grain of wheat that dies in the ground and mentions the glory of the Cross through which all men will be brought to God.
• In the 3rd hour, the Lord blatantly explains how He must suffer and be killed, before raising on the third day.

BE PREPARED

• In the 6th hour, the Lord again warns His disciples to also prepare for the coming events and “began to tell them the things that would happen to Him.” (Mark 10:32-34)
• Again we read in the 9th hour, “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things." (Mark 8:31)
• Finally in the 11th hour, the disciples then react in fear and sadness, and even sinful anger - as when Peter rebukes Christ.

9th Hour Gospel

• Why did the Lord command the disciples not to tell these things to anyone?

9th Hour Gospel

• St. Cyril of Alexandria says "There were things not yet fulfilled such as the cross, the passion, the death in the flesh, the resurrection from the dead... He commanded them, therefore to guard the mystery by a seasonable silence until the whole plan (economy) of the dispensation should arrive at a suitable conclusion.

9th Hour Gospel

• For then, when He arose from the dead, He commanded his disciples to reveal the mystery to all the inhabitants of the earth - setting the justification by faith to every man with the cleansing power of holy baptism.

BE PREPARED

• The preparation of the sufferings also continues in the prophesies.
• The 1st hour prophecy speaks of the sacrifice prepared by the Lord (Zephaniah 1:2)
• The 3rd hour also speaks of the grain and drink offerings that are "cut off" and "withheld" from the house of the Lord. (Joel 1: 9, 13)

BE PREPARED

• In the 9th hour, Micah's prophecy speaks of the robe of the righteous dipped in blood, a clear symbol of the Lord's sufferings.

Conclusion