Grits and the Gospel - March 29, 2026

Hello friends and welcome to this week's episode of grits in the gospel My name is Reverend Katie Griffiths, and I'm excited to be with you today. This is a special service It's going to be very different than what we are used to We are going to start with the verses for Palm Sunday and then move throughout The scriptures of Holy Week, and it's a different way to be in worship together today, but I am Thankful that we get the chance to have these moments together It is the sacred time in our faith, and I am glad to be able to share it with you So let's start With our service today I hope that your Holy Week will be full of beautiful moments of reflection and pause as You move throughout this time of this of the year as we move from our time of Lent to Easter We will take time today to celebrate King Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem on a humble donkey And we will then move through the readings of each of his steps to death on the cross Each one of these moments in time is important to the life and ministry of Christ As we move through these scriptures and stories of Holy Week, let us all be reminded of the sacrifice That Jesus made for our salvation The sacrifice God made in the death of his son and the constant presence of the Holy Spirit That was there to be with Jesus and all of those who loved them through it all The first reading Mary anoints Jesus Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany the home of Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead There they gave a dinner for him and Martha served and Lazarus was one who one of those who was reclining with him And Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard Anointed Jesus's feet and wiped them with her hair The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume But Judas Iscariot one of his disciples the one who is about to betray him said Why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii and the money given to the poor? He said this not because he was he cared about the poor but because he was a thief He kept the common person used to steal what was put into it And Jesus said leave her alone She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me When the crowd of the Jews learned that he was there They came not only because Jesus because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus who he raised from the dead So the chief priest planned to put Lazarus to death as well since it was on his account That many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus Let us come together now in a time of prayer Dear lord, we are so thankful that we get to retrace your steps to the cross We get to be reminded of your love and grace That surrounds us all every day because you chose to love us in this way Hear us now as we pray those words that you taught us to pray our father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem After he said this he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem When he had come near beth page and bethany at the place called the mount of olives He set to his two of his disciples saying Go into the village ahead of you and as you enter you will find tied there a cult that has never been written Untie it and bring it here If anyone asks you why are you untying it? You say this the lord needs it So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them As they were untying the cult his owners asked them. Why are you untying the cult? They said the lord needs it Then they brought it to jesus and after throwing their cloaks on the cult they set jesus on it As he rode along people kept spreading their cloaks on the road Now he was approaching the path down from the mount of olives while the multitude of the disciples began to praise god Joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that he they had seen saying Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the lord Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven Some of the pharisees in the crowd said to him Teacher order your disciples to stop And he answered I tell you If these were silent The stones would shout out Here ends the first reading The second reading the last supper Then came the day of the unleavened bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed So jesus sent peter and john saying go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it And they asked him. Where do you want us to make preparations for it? Listen, he said to them when you have entered the city a man carry a jar of water will meet you Follow him into the house. He enters and say to the owner of the house The teacher asks you where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples He will show you a large room upstairs. I had already furnished Make preparations for us there So they went and found everything as he had told them and they prepared the Passover meal When it was evening, he took his place with the 12 disciples And while they were eating he said truly I tell you one of you will betray me And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after the other surely not I lord He answered the one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me The son of man goes that is as it is written of him But woe to the one that by whom the son of man is betrayed It would have been better for that one not to have been born And judas who betrayed him said surely not I rabbi He replied you have said so While they were eating Jesus took a loaf of bread and after blessing it he broke it He gave it to his disciples and said take Eat, this is my body Then he took the cup and after giving thanks he gave it to him saying drink of from it all of you For this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins I tell you I will never drink again of this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new With you in my father's kingdom Jesus washes the disciples feet Now even before the festival the Passover Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the father and after the meal Jesus Got up from the supper took off his outer robe and tied a towel around himself Then he poured the water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with a towel That was tied around him He came to Simon Peter who said to him lord Are you going to wash my feet? And Jesus answered you do not know how what i'm going what i'm doing, but later you will understand And Peter said to him you will never wash my feet And Jesus answered unless i'll wash you You have no share with me And Simon Peter said to him lord Not my feet only but also my head and my hands And Jesus said to him one who has bathed does not need to wash except for the feet But it is entirely clean And you are clean though not all of you For he knew who was to betray him for this reason he said Not all of you are clean After he had washed their feet had put on his robe and had reclined again. He said to them Do you know what I have done for you? You call me teacher and lord and you are right for that is what I am So if I your lord and teacher have washed your feet you also ought to wash one another's feet For I have set you an example that you also should do as I have done to you Very truly I tell you Slaves are not greater than their master nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them If you know these things you are blessed if you do them I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen But it is to fulfill the scripture the one who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me I tell you this now before it occurs So that when it does occur you may believe that I am he Very truly. I tell you whoever receives one whom I send receives me And whoever receives me Receives him who sent me Here ends the second reading The third reading Jesus in the garden Then they went to a place called Gethsemane and he said to the disciples Sit here while I pray He took with him Peter and James and John and began to be distressed and agitated and he said to them my soul Is deeply grieved Even to death remain here and keep awake And going a little further he threw himself on the ground and prayed that if it were possible The hour might pass from him. He said abba father For you all things are possible remove this cup from me yet. Not what I want but what you want And he came and found them sleeping And he said to Peter Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak And again, he went away and prayed saying the same words And one more he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were very heavy and they did not know what to say to him And he came a third time and said to them. Are you still sleeping and taking your rest enough? The hour has come The son of man is betrayed at into the hands of sinners Get up Let us be going Look my betrayer is at hand Here ends the third reading If you can do anything else any other job Do that Well You chose this I hear those things a lot about ministry Just because ministers choose to be in this field This job that it sometimes requires that we sit with death and pain and suffering Doesn't mean it's easy Despite the hard parts Despite the days that break our hearts We still choose to be a part of our neighbor's lives especially the hard parts And no matter how hard ministry becomes no matter how hard it is for each of us to live out our own callings Callings to medicine and the law and teaching and administration and civil civic work Our hard days are a fraction A mere glimpse Into the calling and choice that jesus made that day to save all of humanity His choice saved us all In the garden of gasemite jesus went to pray it was there Surrounded by olive trees that jesus showed us his humanity one more time Before he went to be tried and crucified he prayed and he went to pray and speak with his father He was frustrated and scared and apprehensive He threw himself on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from him He said abba father for you. All things are possible Remove this cup from me yet. Not what I want but what you want if At all possible It was there on the ground Scared and worried that jesus made a choice Grace He chose us He chose you And he chose me He chose the salvation and grace that each one of us is given over his own fear He chose his father's will over his own We will see with each verse that we read next that he continues to choose us At any point he could have changed the outcome at any point he could have walked away at any Point he could have chosen a different path But at each and every step of this journey going forward he chose salvation Not salvation for himself But for us And it all began in the garden As we continue to hear the stories of holy week as you hear the scriptures of his judgment punishment and death remind yourself that he chose this All he asks of us Is that we choose to accept? The love and grace that he lived out in those days He chose you He loves You his death was for you So this easter resurrection moment would come for you as well Amen the fourth reading Jesus before the council They took jesus to the high priest and all the chief priests the elders and the scribes were assembled Peter had followed him at a distance right into the courtyard of the high priest And he was sitting with the guards warming himself by the fire Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for testimony against jesus to put him to death, but they found none For many gave false testimony about him Their testimony did not agree Some stood up and gave false testimony against him saying we heard him say I will destroy this temple That is made with hands and in three days. I will build another not made with hands But even on this point their testimony did not agree Then the high priest stood up before them and asked jesus. Have you no answer What is it that they testify against you? But he was silent And did not answer Again the high priest asked him. Are you the messiah the son of the blessed one? And jesus said I am And you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven jesus before pilot Now the men who were holding jesus began to mock him and beat him They also blindfolded him and kept asking prophesy Who is it that struck you? They kept heaping many other insults on him While peter was below in the courtyard one of the female servants of the high priest came by When she saw peter warming himself She stared at him and said You also were with jesus the man from nazareth But he denied it saying I do not know or understand what you're talking about And he went out into the forecourt then the cock crowed And the female servant on seeing him began to say to the bystanders this man is one of them But again, he denied it Then after a little while the bystanders again said to peter certainly you are one of them for you are a galilean And you talk like one But he began to curse And he swore an oath I do not know this man you are talking about At that moment the cock crowed for the second time then peter remembered what jesus said to him Before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times And he broke down and wept Here ends the fourth reading Let us pray together Dear lord, we are thankful for each and every step that we have read about that you chose to take to the cross As we look to hear these words of your crucifixion and death Let us be reminded of your choice To get up on the cross To die to take away our sins And to bring us salvation In your sins name up and and your your name your holy name the son of god I pray i'm in the crucifixion and death of jesus The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head and they dressed him in a purple robe They kept coming up to him saying hail king of the jews and striking him on the face Then they took jesus And carrying the cross by himself He went out to what is called the place of the skull Which in hebrew is called galgatha There they crucified him and with him two others one on either side With jesus between them And pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross it read jesus of nazareth the king of the jews Many of the jews read this inscription because the place where jesus was crucified was near the city And it was written in hebrew in latin and in greek And the chief priest of the jews said to pilate do not write king of the jews But this man said i am king of the jews and pilate answered What i have written I have written When the soldiers crucified jesus they took his clothes and divided them into four parts One for each soldier They also took his tunic Now the tunic was seamless woven in one piece from the top So they said to one another Let us not tear it but cast lots for it to see who will get it This was to fulfill what the scripture says They divided my clothes among themselves and for my clothes they cast lots And that is what the soldiers did Meanwhile standing near the cross of jesus where his mother And his mother's sister mary the wife of clopas and mary magdalene And when jesus saw his mother the and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her he said to his mother woman Here is your son And then he said to the disciple here is your mother And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home The death of jesus From noon on darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon And about three o'clock jesus cried with a loud voice Eli Eli Lema sabath shani That is my god my god Why have you forsaken me? When some of the bystanders heard it they said this man is calling for elijah At once one of them ran and got a sponge filled with sour wine put it on a stick and gave it to him But the others said wait Let us see whether elijah will come to save him Then jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom the earth shook And the rocks were split The tombs also opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised And after his resurrection they came out of the tomb and entered the holy city and appeared to many Now when the centurion and those with him who were keeping watch over jesus saw the earthquake And what took place they were terrified and said truly this man was the son of god Many women were also there looking from a distance they had followed jesus from galilee ministering to him Among them were mary magdalene and mother Mary the mother of james and joseph and the mother of the three sons of zebedee Since it was the day of preparation the jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath Especially because that sabbath was a great day of solemnity So they asked pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed When the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and the other who had been crucified with him But when they came to jesus and saw that he was already dead they did not break his legs Instead one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and once and at once blood and water came out He who saw this had testified so that you may also believe his testimony is true And he knows that he tells the truth so that you may also continue to believe These things occurred so that scripture might be fulfilled None of his bones shall be broken And again another passage of scripture says they will look on the one whom they have pierced After these things joseph of arimathea who was the disciple of jesus Though in secret because he was in fear of the jews asked pilate to let him take away the body of jesus Pilate gave him permission So he came and removed his body Nicodemus who had first come to jesus by night also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about 100 pounds And they took the body of jesus and wrapped it with the spices and linen cloths according to the burial custom of the jews Jesus Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid And so because it was the jewish day of preparation and the tomb was nearby They laid jesus there the word of god For us the people of god Thanks be to god in john 1930 scripture tells us that jesus says it is finished Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit Today It is finished today Jesus is dead The light has left the world We extinguish extinguish the paschal candle as a symbol of jesus's death on the cross But we do not extinguish the flame The flame goes on and will come back to us on the third day Although we sit in the shadow of the cross today The light of the empty tomb on easter morning Is just in sight