Of Palms and Passions, A Narrative Eucharist for Holy Week

Of Palms and Passions
A Narrative Eucharist for Jesus’ Last Week

Our Eucharistic worship has a normal pattern. This service disrupts that pattern and places the elements of the Eucharist within the narrative presented in the final chapters of Matthew’s Gospel.   

Celebrant        The Lord be with you.

People             And with thy spirit.

Celebrant        Lift up your hearts.

People             We lift them up unto the Lord.

Celebrant         Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.

People             It is meet and right so to do.

Celebrant        It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, almighty, everlasting God. Creator of the light and source of life, who hast made us in thine image, and by water and the Holy Spirit hast made us a new people in Jesus Christ our Lord. Bring this same spirit into our midst, may this bread and wine be for us the body and blood of Jesus Christ and may we be made more deeply aware of him who for our sins was lifted high upon the cross, that he might draw the whole world to himself. Be with us as we recount the final days of Jesus’ life. 

Leader             Jesus and the disciples were near Jerusalem on the days before the celebration of unleavened bread. As they approached the city Jesus sent two of his disciples on an errand; 

Celebrant        Go into the village that faces you and the first thing you will find there will be a she-ass tethered, and a foal at her side; untie them and bring them to me. And if anyone speaks to you about it, tell them, The Lord has need of them, and they will let you have them without more ado.

Leader             The disciples went and did as Jesus told them; they brought the she-ass and its colt, and saddled them with their garments, and bade Jesus mount. Most of the multitude spread their garments along the way, while others strewed the way with branches cut down from the trees. And the multitudes that went before him and that followed after him cried aloud, 

People             Hosanna for the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in heaven above.

Leader             Then Jesus went into the temple of God, and drove out from it all those who sold and bought there, and overthrew the tables of the bankers, and the chairs of the pigeon-sellers.

Celebrant        My house shall be known for a house of prayer, and you have made it into a den of thieves.  

Leader             And those who were blind and lame who came up to him in the temple, and he healed them there. The chief priests and scribes saw the miracles which he did, and the children that cried aloud in the temple, 

People             Hosanna for the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in heaven above.

Leader             The chief priest and scribes were greatly angered. To this Jesus replied,

Celebrant        Have you never read the words, Thou hast made the lips of children, of infants at the breast, vocal with praise?

Leader             Afterwards Jesus came into the temple; and while he was teaching there, the chief priests and elders approached him, asking, What is the authority by which thou doest these things, and who gave thee this authority?  Jesus answered them, 

Celebrant        I too have a question to ask; if you can tell me the answer, I will tell you in return what is the authority by which I do these things. Whence did John’s baptism come, from heaven or from earth?

Leader             Whereupon they cast about in their minds; If we tell him it was from heaven, they said, he will ask us, Then why did you not believe him? And if we say it was from earth, we have reason to be afraid of the people; they all look upon John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, We cannot tell. He, in his turn, said, 

Celebrant        And you will not learn from me what is the authority by which I do these things.Have you never read those words in the scriptures, The very stone which the builders rejected has become the chief stone at the corner; this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a people which yields the revenues that belong to it.  As for the stone, when a man falls against it, he will break his bones; when it falls upon him, it will scatter him like chaff. 

Leader             The chief priests and the Pharisees saw clearly that it was of themselves he was speaking, and would gladly have laid hands on him, but they were afraid of the people, who looked upon him as a prophet.

People             Hosanna for the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in heaven above.

Leader             And Jesus continued to frustrate the Pharisees and Sadducees and one of them, a lawyer, put a question to try Jesus: Master, which commandment in the law is the greatest? Jesus said to him,

Celebrant        Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and thy whole soul and thy whole mind. This is the greatest of the commandments, and the first. And the second, its like, is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments, all the law and the prophets depend… What is your opinion concerning Christ? Whose son is he to be?

Leader             They told him, David’s. 

Celebrant        How is it then that David is moved by the Spirit to call him Master, when he says: ‘The Lord said to my Master, Sit on my right hand while I make thy enemies a footstool under thy feet?’  David calls Christ his Master; how can he be also his son?

Leader             None could find a word to say in answer to him, nor did anyone dare, after that day, to try him with further questions.

People             Hosanna for the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in heaven above.

HYMN: ALL GLORY, LAUD, and HONOUR

Leader             And Jesus admonished the crowds, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees… Then Jesus left the temple, and was going on his way, when his disciples came up to shew him the view of the temple building. Jesus said to them 

Celebrant        Do you see all this? Believe me, there will not be a stone left on another in this place, it will all be thrown down.

People             We pray for the throwing down of systems of oppression.

Celebrant        Take care that you do not allow anyone to deceive you. Many will come making use of my name; they will say, I am Christ, and many will be deceived by it.

People             We pray for the end of spiritual abuse.

Celebrant        And you will hear tell of wars, and rumours of war; see to it that you are not disturbed in mind; such things must happen, but the end will not come yet.

People             We pray for perseverance amidst struggle.

Celebrant        Nation will rise in arms against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there will be plagues and famines and earthquakes in this region or that;

People             We pray for all who suffer and are afflicted.

Celebrant        Friends will give you up to persecution, and will put some to death; all the world may hate you because you cherish my name;

People             We pray for victims of hate, those who are killed for who they are.

Celebrant        The charity of many will grow cold, as they see wickedness abound everywhere; but they will be saved who endure to the last.

People             We pray that our hearts will be open and our vision for love.

Leader             And with these and other words Jesus admonished his disciples and followers preparing them for his death as they prepared for the days of unleavened bread. As that day approached they asked him, ‘Where wilt thou have us make ready for thee to eat the paschal meal?’. Jesus replied,

Celebrant        Go into the city, find such a man, and tell him, The Master says, My time is near; I and my disciples must keep the paschal feast at thy house.

Leader             The disciples did as Jesus bade them, and made all ready for the paschal meal there. When evening came, he sat down with the disciples, and, while they were at table, he said, 

Celebrant        Believe me, one of you is to betray me.

Leader             They were full of sorrow, and began to say, one after another, 

People             Lord, is it I?

Celebrant        The one who has put his hand into the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes on his way, as the scripture foretells of him; but woe upon that one by whom the Son of Man is to be betrayed; better for that one if they had never been born.

Leader             And while they were still at table, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, 

Celebrant        Take, eat, this is my body. 

Leader             Then he took a cup, and offered thanks, and gave it to them, saying, 

Celebrant        Drink, all of you, of this; for this is my blood, of the new testament, shed for many, to the remission of sins. And I tell you this, I shall not drink of this fruit of the vine again, until I drink it with you, new wine, in the kingdom of my Father.

HYMN: SANCTUS

the bread and wine are distributed

Celebrant        To-night you will all lose courage over me; for so it has been written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of his flock will be scattered. But I will go on before you into Galilee, when I have risen from the dead.

People             I will never disown thee, though I must lay down my life with thee.

Leader             So Jesus left, and they with him, to a Garden called Gethsemani, and he said

Celebrant        Sit down here, while I go in there and pray. My soul, he said, is ready to die with sorrow; abide here, and watch with me…My Father, if it is possible, let this chalice pass me by; only as thy will is, not as mine is… My Father, if this chalice may not pass me by, but I must drink it, then thy will be done.

Leader             As Jesus prayed thus for hours his disciples could not stay awake and watch. Thus, Judas, who was one of the twelve, came near; with him was a great multitude carrying swords and clubs, who had been sent by the chief priests and the elders of the people. The traitor had appointed them a signal; It is none other, he told them, than the man whom I shall greet with a kiss; hold him fast. No sooner, then, had he come near to Jesus than he said, Hail, Master, and kissed him.

Celebrant        The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People             And also with you.

share a sign of God’s peace

Leader             Then they came forward and laid their hands on Jesus, and held him fast.

Celebrant        You have come out to my arrest with swords and clubs, as if I were a robber; and yet I used to sit teaching in the temple close to you, day after day, and you never laid hands on me. All this was so ordained, to fulfil what was written by the prophets.

Leader             And now all his disciples abandoned him, and fled. As they fled each remembered saying:

People             I will never disown thee, though I must lay down my life with thee.

Leader             The chief priests and elders and all the Council tried to find false testimony against Jesus, such as would compass his death. But they could find none, although many came forward falsely accusing him; until at last two false accusers came forward who declared, 

People             This man said, I have power to destroy the temple of God and raise it again in three days.

Leader             Then the high priest stood up, and asked him, Hast thou no answer to make to the accusations they bring against thee? Jesus was silent; and the high priest said to him openly, I adjure thee by the living God to tell us whether thou art the Christ, the Son of God? Jesus answered, 

Celebrant        Thy own lips have said it. And moreover I tell you this; you will see the Son of Man again, when he is seated at the right hand of God’s power, and comes on the clouds of heaven.

Leader             At this, the high priest tore his garments, and said, He has blasphemed; what further need have we of witnesses? Mark well, you have heard his blasphemy for yourselves. What is your finding? And they answered, 

People             The penalty is death. 

Leader             Then they fell to spitting upon his face and buffeting him and smiting him on the cheek, saying as they did so, 

People             Shew thyself a prophet, Christ; tell us who it is that smote thee.

Leader             At day-break, all the chief priests and elders of the people laid their plans for putting Jesus to death, and they led him away in bonds, and gave him up to the governor, Pontius Pilate. And now Judas, his betrayer, was full of remorse at seeing him condemned, so that he brought back to the chief priests and elders their thirty pieces of silver; saying

PeopleI have sinned in betraying the blood of an innocent man.
What is that to us? they said. It concerns thee only. Whereupon he left them, throwing down the pieces of silver there in the temple, and went and hanged himself. Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor while the chief priests and elders brought their accusation against him, he made no answer. Then Pilate said to him, Dost thou not hear all the testimony they bring against thee? But Jesus would not answer any of their charges, so that the governor was full of astonishment. At the festival, the governor used to grant to the multitude the liberty of any one prisoner they should choose; and there was one notable prisoner then in custody, whose name was Barabbas; so, when they gathered about him, Pilate asked them, Whom shall I release? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ? 

People             Barabbas

Leader             Pilate said to them, What am I to do, then, with Jesus, who is called Christ?

People             Let him be crucified.

Leader             And when the governor said, Why, what wrong has he done? they cried louder than ever, 

People             Let him be crucified.

Leader             And so, finding that his good offices went for nothing, and the uproar only became worse, Pilate sent for water and washed his hands in full sight of the multitude, saying as he did so, I have no part in the death of this innocent man; it concerns you only. And the whole people answered, 

People             His blood be upon us. 

Leader             And with that he released Barabbas as they asked; Jesus he scourged, and gave him up to be crucified. The governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the palace, and gathered the whole of their company about him. First they stripped him, and arrayed him in a scarlet cloak; then they put on his head a crown which they had woven out of thorns, and a rod in his right hand, and mocked him by kneeling down before him, and saying,

People             Hail, king of the Jews

Leader             And they spat upon him, and took the rod from him and beat him over the head with it. At last they had done with mockery; stripping him of the scarlet cloak, they put his own garments on him, and led him away to a place called Golgotha, that is, the place named after a skull. Here they offered him a draught of wine, mixed with gall, which he tasted, but would not drink, and then crucified him, dividing his garments among them by casting lots. There, then, they sat, keeping guard over him. Over his head they set a written proclamation of his offence, 

People             This is Jesus, the king of the Jews

Leader             and with him they crucified two thieves, one on his right and one on his left. The passers-by blasphemed against him, tossing their heads; 

People             Come now, thou who wouldst destroy the temple and build it up in three days, rescue thyself; come down from that cross, if thou art the Son of God.

Leader             The chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him in the same way. 

People             He saved others he cannot save himself. He trusted in God; let God help him now.

Leader             Then there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour when Jesus cried out with a loud voice, 

Celebrant        Eli, Eli, lamma sabachthani? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Leader             Hearing this, some of those who stood thought he was calling upon Elias: and thereupon one of them ran to fetch a sponge, which he filled with vinegar and fixed upon a rod, and offered to let him drink; many wondered whether Elias would come and save him. But then Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. And all at once, the veil of the temple was torn this way and that from the top to the bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks parted asunder; and the graves were opened, and many bodies arose out of them, bodies of holy ones gone to their rest: who, after his rising again, left their graves and went into the holy city, where they were seen by many. So that the centurion and those who kept guard over Jesus with him, when they perceived the earthquake and all that befell, were overcome with fear; 

People             No doubt, but this was the Son of God.

Leader             Many women stood watching from far off; they had followed Jesus from Galilee, to minister to him; among them were Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. And now it was evening, and a man came forward, by name Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea, who followed Jesus as a disciple like the rest; he it was who approached Pilate, and asked to have the body of Jesus; whereupon Pilate ordered that the body should be given up. Joseph took possession of the body, and wrapped it in a clean winding-sheet; then he buried it in a new grave, which he had fashioned for himself out of the rock, and left it there, rolling a great stone against the grave-door. When he had gone, there were two who sat on there opposite the tomb, Mary Magdalen and the other Mary with her. On the next day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gained permission from Pilate to make the tomb secure and they put a seal on the stone and set a guard over it. The male disciples cowered in locked rooms while the women came to the tomb showing little fear, waiting for the festival of unleavened bread to end so that they could tend the body and begin their time of mourning.  

HYMN: WHERE YOU THERE

 Leader            Do not cower, but wait, showing little fear.

People             Thanks be to God.