Here is Jim Spencer's sermon for last Sunday in Montreal

PASSION SUNDAY, 2003 - 2004
Mt. 20: 20 - 28

Since the Holy Eucharist is not being celebrated here today we didn’t get to hear the Gospel reading for Passion Sunday. I’ll read it to you now. It is found in the 20th chapter of Matthew, beginning at the 20th verse.

“THEN came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great, exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

When I was a kid, I used to be confused when I would come across Scripture passages like this. “Drinking of my cup”? The cup that I was used to in Church was the chalice with which the grownups received the Blood of Christ. “Drinking of my cup” must have something to do with that! But no.........the Lord says that it is the cup from which He Himself is to drink. It can’t be the communion cup. I really couldn’t understand it when in the garden the night before His crucifixion, Jesus asked the Father to remove this “cup” from Him...if such a thing were possible. I later came to understand that “drinking from a cup” is figurative language - not literal. A person drinks the contents of a cup willingly. What passes from the cup - through the lips and into the human body - effects the body for better or for worse - but one drinks from the cup understanding the outcome in advance. Figuratively “drinking from a cup” involves counting the cost of what one is going to be involved in - becoming reconciled to the process and the outcome - and resolutely proceeding in that direction. Once the decision is made - once the cup is consumed - it’s a “done deal”. There’s no turning back. The context in which Our Lord was using the expression means to willingly embrace the will of the Father - regardless of how much personal suffering is involved - regardless of the outcome.

When I was a kid, I used to be content with my understanding of the word “baptism”. I was baptized on my parents’ first wedding anniversary - just a little over two months after I was born. I got to see lots of babies baptized in my church - so I thought I had a pretty good idea of what baptism was all about. Later I became confused when I was told by some non-Anglicans that to be baptized means to be put under the water - to be dunked. It was explained to me not long ago that submersion in water is not what the word “baptize” necessarily means at all - although great throngs of Christians are convinced that it means that - and only that. When I would read the words of today’s Gospel - the Lord telling James and John that they will be baptized with the baptism with which He Himself is baptized - my brain would go into meltdown. With what I had been told about baptism, what could Our Lord’s words possibly mean?

Lately I have come to understand the word “baptize” in a clearer light. To be baptized actually means to be “overwhelmed” by something. It might be “overwhelmed by water”. It might be “overwhelmed” by something else. But it does not necessarily mean to be placed under water. When Jesus tells the sons of Zebedee that they are to be baptized with the baptism with which He, Himself is baptized - It is not a reference to the waters of Christian initiation. He is actually telling them that they are to be “overwhelmed” in the same way in which He is “overwhelmed”. They will drink from the cup from which their Master drinks. They will be overwhelmed just like Jesus will be overwhelmed. In other words - they will follow in His steps by being baptized or - overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit. They will be like Him not just in the sense that they will try to pattern themselves after their sinless Lord by mortifying their natural sinful inclinations - important as holiness is. They will be like Him in the sense that they will also drink the cup of God’s Holy Will and - like their Lord, will suffer the consequences of being the unwelcome light in a world that prefers darkness. Let’s not forget that if we are going to be like Jesus - we are not going to be universally popular.

In the first chapter of John we read, “He was in the world - and the world was made by him - and the world knew him not. He came unto his own - and his own received him not.”
He was welcomed by some - but not by most. Some received Him - most rejected Him. He says in John 3:19:

“... this is the condemnation - this is what mankind will have to account for some day - that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

Is it only Our Lord who gets to have all the persecution and all the suffering? Are you and I somehow exempt from it? Not according to these words of Jesus to His apostles at the Last Supper. In John Chapter 15, He says:

18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.

Furthermore He tells them in the following chapter:

1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.

The cup from which we drink is - as it was for Our Lord - to be committed with all our heart to God’s will - in spite of the consequences.

How can we possibly follow in the steps of Jesus through rejection by men, through anti-Christian governments, through prisons, through beatings - through death? Where will we ever get the strength needed to be faithful to Him unto death? Today’s gospel introduces the answer. We drink from the cup of Christian commitment and determine to follow Jesus - no matter what. But thank God we aren’t stuck with having to do that by means our own very limited resources. Indeed, in and of ourselves, we are completely incapable of serving Our Lord faithfully to the end. There is good news for us, however. We have His promise that we can be baptized - overwhelmed - with that which overwhelms Him. Without the indwelling Holy Ghost we are mere mortals trying to do the impossible. With the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, we are more than conquerors everywhere God leads us. Through the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Confirmation we are abundantly supplied with God’s Holy Spirit. If we find ourselves weak - it is up to us in faith to appropriate the graces which God has already bestowed on us and proceed to walk in the Spirit.

Read the book of Acts. We find there a portrait of the life of the first Christians. After Pentecost, great signs and wonders accompanied those who believed in Jesus. It wasn’t all rosy however. There was imprisonment, beatings and martyrdom. And yet we read there of men emerging from cruel punishment full of joy - thanking God from their hearts that they were counted worthy to be beaten for their faith in Jesus. Normal people never rejoice over being mistreated. But the Holy Spirit can take us beyond the inclinations and attitudes of normal people. We don’t have to settle for what we can glean from our natural repertoire. The Holy Spirit takes us beyond that and enables us to live supernaturally.

This is Passion Sunday. When the Church speaks of the Lord’s Passion, she refers to His sufferings - especially those which precede and include His crucifixion. During the next two weeks we shall be spending a great deal of time prayerfully focusing on His sufferings. We need also to be ever aware that we as His disciples are heir to His sufferings. We need to ask God to form us and mold us into what we need to be if we are to remain strong in the face of persecution. All over the world, Christians are paying the ancient price of belonging to Jesus. It is estimated that during the 20th century more Christians were martyred for their faith in Jesus than the combined total of martyrs throughout the previous 19 centuries. Are we exempt from partaking of Christ’s Passion? I don’t think so. Our own Canadian society over the last 50 years has changed from being basically Christian in its assumptions to one which is now almost militantly anti-Christian.
Darkness has to yield to light - but spiritual darkness does everything it can to prevent the entry of God’s light.

It has been a revelation to me that to focus on Our Lord’s Passion and crucifixion is in and of itself a doorway to healing and transformation. Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ” has been playing only since Ash Wednesday and already its impact on human lives has been immense. A group of people who are in no way connected to Mel Gibson - financially or otherwise - are busy preparing a TV documentary for Easter weekend - which is just around the corner. They will be showing us people whose lives have been changed radically by having seen the movie. One young woman saw The Passion and decided she could not to go through with the abortion which she had scheduled. At least three criminals - two of whom are murderers - have turned themselves in to the police as a result of having watched the vivid depiction of Our Lord’s sufferings in Gibson’s movie. One of the murderers turned himself over to the Texas police - knowing full well that a death sentence awaits him in that state. At least one Jew has been convinced that Jesus is his Messiah and has turned to Christ - something that for a Jew means the very likely loss of one’s spouse, mother, father, friends - indeed one’s whole world. In other words apparently the stark realization of what Jesus suffered because of His love for us is inspiring a wide variety of people - including in some cases evil people - to put their lives behind them and receive the true life which is only found in Christ.

And I’ve been observing something I didn’t expect to see. Protestant Christians who normally have no comprehension of the Sacramental life are going to the movie in droves and a great many of them are saying that from now on they will never again see Holy Communion in the way they have traditionally seen it. Suddenly there seems to be a leaning in the direction of the Lord’s Supper being something more that plain symbolism. I don’t know about you - but I see all this as something very encouraging and even miraculous.

May our fellowship with Our Lord in His sufferings over the next two weeks be fruitful in producing in us - men and women determined to drink of His cup and - walking in the power of the Holy Spirit - to carry His cross - and to know the power of His resurrection.