This past weekend, we celebrated the Great and Holy Pascha, the high point of the liturgical year. This past Wednesday, we started the Pascha Book Study; that group is discussing a book by Dr. Jean Claude Larchet. Dr. Larchet is French; he is an Orthodox Christian, and the author of many books and articles. But the book that we are going to be reading throughout this Paschal Season is called The New Media Epidemic. It’s about the dangers that are becoming apparent as media and technology take over more and more of our lives. Most of us would agree that media and technology are a real challenge and the source of a good many problems, but what connection does all that have to do with Pascha? Why choose to focus on this particular book and this particular subject during the fifty days between Pascha and Pentecost?

This coming Saturday, we will experience one of the highlights of the entire week—and even though most of us will be watching all this at home on a streaming service, it will still be breath-taking. … That’s one of the most dramatic moments of the entire year; it’s a moment that everyone enjoys. But that moment is also part of a sequence, and that sequence begins today, on Palm Sunday. Because on this day, we commemorate the entry of our Lord and Master into Jerusalem; we are present as the gates of that city open before the King of Glory.

We always begin Holy Week with this commemoration because we are reminded that, at the end of all things, Christ Jesus will do for us what he does for His friend, Lazarus. He will call us forth from the tomb; our souls and our bodies will be reunited, and we will be resurrected. That should bring us comfort and peace and hope and joy. But even though resurrection is something that isn’t going to happen to us until history has run its course, we can experience a foretaste of that glorious blessing right now, because, on this day, Christ Jesus is already calling out to us. He is calling us to come forth from the tomb.

At St John’s we use the translation of the Psalms published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Some of the Psalms in the Antiochian Service Book are from that translation, and some are not, so please be aware that you may encounter some differences in that regard throughout the week. If you have a Psalter published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, please feel free to bring it to the services along with your Holy Week Book.

For most of us, this morning’s gospel lesson is really, really confusing.

That passage comes from St. Mark. At the conclusion of the passage, the apostles are arguing about which of them is the most important. Christ Jesus breaks up the argument and He tells the apostles that whoever wants to the greatest must be the servant of all.

But earlier in the passage, St. James and St. John approach our Lord and Master and they ask Him if they can sit at His right hand and at His left hand in the Kingdom of God. Now, you’d think that Christ Jesus would have said something like this to St. James and St’ John: “Guys, you don’t understand. We don’t have those kinds of distinctions in the Kingdom of God because we are all servants.” But that’s not what our Lord and Master says. What Christ Jesus says to St. James and St. John is this: “I’m sorry, guys, but those seats are taken.”