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April 15, 2020

Holy and Great Wednesday: Scripture Readings


Holy and Great Tuesday

Matins

John 12:17-50

At that time, the crowd that had been with Jesus when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. The Pharisees then said to one another, "You see that you can do nothing; look, the world has gone after him."

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew went with Philip and they told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor him.

"Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd standing by heard it and said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." He said this to show by what death he was to die. The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains for ever. How can you say that the Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man?" Jesus said to them, "The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."

When Jesus had said this, he departed and hid himself from them. Though he had done so many signs before them, yet they did not believe in him; it was that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: "Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Therefore they could not believe. For Isaiah again said, "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and turn for me to heal them." Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke of him. Nevertheless many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

And Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And he who sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If any one hears my sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has bidden me."

Sixth Hour

Ezekiel 2:3-3:3

And he said to me, "Son of Man, I send thee forth to the house of Israel, them that provoke me; who have provoked me, they and their fathers to this day. And thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord. Whether then indeed they shall hear or fear. (for it is a provoking house,) yet they shall know that thou art a prophet in the midst of them. And thou, son of man, fear them not, nor be dismayed at their face; (for they will madden and will rise up against thee round about, and thou dwellest in the midst of scorpions): be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their countenance, for it is a provoking house. And thou shalt speak my words to them, whether they will hear or fear: for it is a provoking house. And thou, son of man, hear him that speaks to thee; be not thou provoking, as the provoking house: open thy mouth, and eat what I give thee." And I looked, and behold, a hand stretched out to me, and in it a volume of a book. And he unrolled it before me: and in it the front and the back were written upon: and there was written in it "Lamentation", and "mournful song", and "woe". And he said to me, "Son of Man, eat this volume, and go and speak to the children of Israel." So he opened my mouth, and caused me to eat the volume. And he said to me, "Son of man, thy mouth shall eat, and thy belly shall be filled with this volume that is given to thee."

Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

Exodus 2:11-22

And it came to pass in that length of time, that Moses having grown, went out to his brethren the sons of Israel: and having noticed their distress, he sees an Egyptian smiting a certain Hebrew of his brethren the children of Israel. And having looked round this way and that way, he sees no one; and he smote the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. And having gone out the second day he sees two Hebrew men fighting; and he says to the injurer, "Wherefore smitest thou thy neighbour?" And he said, "Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou slay me as thou yesterday slewest the Egyptian?" Then Moses was alarmed, and said, "If it be thus, this matter has become known." And Pharaoh heard this matter, and sought to slay Moses; and Moses departed from the presence of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Madiam; and having come into the land of Madiam, he sat on the well. And the priest of Madiam had seven daughters, feeding the flock of their father Jothor; and they came and drew water until they filled their pitchers, to water the flock of their father Jothor. And the shepherds came, and were driving them away; and Moses rose up and rescued them, and drew water for them, and watered their sheep. And they came to Raguel their father; and he said to them, "Why have ye come so quickly today?" And they said, "An Egyptian delivered us from the shepherds, and drew water for us and watered our sheep." And he said to his daughters, "And where is he? And why have ye left the man? Call him therefore, that he may eat bread." And Moses was established with the man, and he gave Sepphora his daughter to Moses to wife. And the woman conceived and bore a son, and Moses called his name Gersam, saying, "I am a sojourner in a strange land."

Job 2:1-10

And it came to pass on a certain day, that the angels of God came to stand before the Lord, and the devil came among them to stand before the Lord. And the Lord said to the devil, "Whence comest thou?" Then the devil said before the Lord, "I am come from going through the world, and walking about the whole earth." And the Lord said to the devil, "Hast thou then observed my servant Job, that there is none of men upon the earth like him, a harmless, true, blameless, godly man, abstaining from all evil? And he yet cleaves to innocence, whereas thou has told me to destroy his substance without cause?" And the devil answered and said to the Lord, "Skin for skin, all that a man has will he give as a ransom for his life. Nay, but put forth thine hand, and touch his bones and his flesh: verily he will curse thee to thy face." And the Lord said to the devil, "Behold, I deliver him up to thee; only save his life." So the devil went out from the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from his feet to his head. And he took a potsherd to scrape away the discharge, and sat upon a dung-heap outside the city. And when much time had passed, his wife said to him, "How long wilt thou hold out, saying, Behold, I wait yet a little while, expecting the hope of my deliverance? For, behold, thy memorial is abolished from the earth, even thy sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb which I bore in vain with sorrows; and thou thyself sittest down to spend the nights in the open air among the corruption of worms, and I am a wanderer and a servant from place to place and house to house, waiting for the setting of the sun, that I may rest from my labours and my pangs which now beset me: but say some word against the Lord, and die." But he looked on her, and said to her, "Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women. If we have received good things of the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil things?" In all these things that happened to him, Job sinned not at all with his lips before God.

Matthew 26:6-16

When Jesus was at Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment and she poured it on his head, as he sat at table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for a large sum, and given to the poor." But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her." Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What will you give me if I deliver him to you?" And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.