Towards the Passion
“The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.”
The lavishly illuminated Codex Aureus Epternacensis was produced in the late Ottonian period (mid 11th C) in the Abbey of Echternach, which today is located in Luxemburg. Our parable for this week — the parable of the Wicked Tenants — is illustrated in substantial detail on folio 76f. Most arresting — perhaps — is the middle scene: the tenants are busy laboring in the vineyard, but when the Master sends his servants to collect what his his, they beat their plows into swords, and drive him away.
What fate awaits these wicked husbandmen? Jesus himself says, “He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” Yet we hear also the word from the Prophet, that the Lord will make a way in the desert that will give water to his people, though they are rebellious, and that this water will refresh even the deserts and the wild beasts. We can give thanks to God, then, even being unfaithful servants, for his great mercies, which for the sake of Jesus Christ, brings renewal, and not the destruction we deserve.
I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
— God’s Word to his People through the Prophet Isaiah (Isa 43:25)
Passion Sunday (Fifth of Lent)
Texts for this Week
Prayer
Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of this world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
The Royal Banners Forward Go
The Kantorei of Concordia Theological Seminary offer a simple and soothing rendition of the great Passiontide hymn of the 6th C Latin hymnographer Fortunatus, Vexilla Regis prodeunt https://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/Hymni/Vexilla.html. Queen Radegunda commissioned Fortunatus to write this hymn this in honor of the arrival of a large relic of the True Cross sent to her by Emperor Justin II, to be sung as the relic was processed to its resting place in a new church in Potiers. From there, it became one of the most well-beloved hymns of the Latin Church, sung through Passiontide and at the Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross.
