A homily by: Fr. Gene
Tucker
Given at: Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, April 1, 2012
Given at: Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, April 1, 2012
Here we
stand on the leading edge of Holy Week.
Perhaps as
we look ahead into this week, facing Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy
Saturday, and the celebrations of Easter, a good question to ask ourselves
might be this one:
Am I a “Good Friday Christian”, or am I an “Easter Christian”?
As you read (or hear) that question, perhaps you’re wondering why I pose it for our consideration.
The reason
is simple: It seems to be difficult for us human beings to focus on the entirety
of a subject. We often tend to gravitate
toward a focus on one aspect of a topic, to the exclusion (partial or total) of
other parts of it.
Perhaps
this tendency stems from a basic survival skill that we humans have: We tend to remember the good things about
events in our lives, and we tend to try to forget the bad or harmful
things. Even the negative events in our
lives will often be remembered for the good that came out of a bad situation.
I guess
this is to state the perfectly obvious.
Of course,
it’s important to add that we ought to remember at least some of the bad or
harmful things that have taken place in the course of our life’s journey. For if we properly reflect on those events,
we can learn from them, so as to be better prepared to face the future.
But I think
I am digressing a little.
Let’s
return to the matter of Good Friday and Easter.
As we enter
this Holy Week, we can see that there is a definite emotional and dramatic
pattern to it:
·
It begins
on a high note, as Jesus enters the Holy City of Jerusalem, acclaimed by the
crowds, who shout “Hosanna! Blessed is
He who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our father
David that is coming! Hosanna in the
highest!” (Mark 11: 9 – 10)
·
In the course of this week, Jesus will drive out
the money-changers and their animals from the Temple complex. By this action, the confrontation with the
rulers of the people is set, a confrontation which will reach its climax on
Good Friday.
·
As Passover approaches, Jesus gathers with His
disciples to celebrate this important feast (on the day we now call Maundy
Thursday). But during the course of the
Passover meal, Jesus takes bread and says, “Take, this is my body.” A little while later, He said, “This is my
blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” Not long before saying these words, Jesus
said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” A pall falls over the Passover celebration as
He says these words.
·
As Jesus and His disciples go out to the Mount of
Olives, one of the disciples, Judas, comes with an armed band to arrest Jesus.
·
After two mock trials, Jesus is beaten and then
is led away to be crucified. Most of His
disciples have fled for fear of their lives, but Jesus’ mother and some other
women stand nearby His cross, watching his lifeblood fall to the ground.
·
Burial takes place nearby in a garden tomb. Hope seems lost, the great cause which Jesus
had proclaimed seemed to lie in ruins.
Things have reached the lowest point possible.
·
Early on the first day of the week, Mary comes
to the tomb, seeking to anoint Jesus’ body.
But the stone which had been rolled across the opening to the tomb has
been rolled back, and she does not find His body. Then it is that despair gives way to
exaltation and exhilaration, as Jesus appears to those whom He loved, alive,
with His body intact.
May we
return to the matter of our selective memory for a moment? We raised this idea at the beginning of this
morning’s homily.
We said
then that we tend to focus on the “good stuff” of life, and we try to stay away
from (or forget) the “bad stuff”.
Applied to
the matter of Holy Week, that tendency might prompt us to celebrate Jesus’
entry into Jerusalem on this day, that day when He entered in triumph. And, that same tendency might prompt us to
skip Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and “fast forward” to Easter.
“I don’t have much stomach for the Good Friday
story,” we might think to ourselves.
But the
heights of Easter become all that much higher and greater if we are willing to
descend into the valleys of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
The point
is this, it seems to me: We can’t get to
Easter without Good Friday. The two
events go together….Jesus’ seeming defeat on Good Friday turns out to be His
great victory over death.
And, of
course, as we proceed into this Holy Week, we will remember (as in the sense of
“putting it all together again”) the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday
liturgically:
· On Maundy
Thursday, we will remember Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet during the
Passover meal. Then, we will celebrate
the Holy Communion, just as He did that first night of the Last Supper. As we conclude our celebration, we will take
away all the sacred vessels and the liturgical furnishings. The Reserved Sacrament will be removed, and
the sanctuary lamp will be removed, too.
The altar will be stripped of all of its linens and candlesticks,
standing bare. All of this will take
place as we recite Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Everyone leaves in silence, fleeing just as
the original disciples did on that first Maundy Thursday night.
· Good Friday arrives. We gather in silence, and we lament our sins
and our role in bringing the Lord to this awful day. A wooden cross is brought into the church as
the ancient chant “The Cross of Christ” is sung three times. Those in attendance are given a chance to
venerate the Cross, to kneel in silence, prayer and thanksgiving for the holy
sacrifice which makes our new life in Christ possible. What is left of the Reserved Sacrament is
consumed by all in attendance, and the Church, for the first time in a year,
stands empty, the Lord’s Body and Blood having been entirely consumed. The sanctuary lamp is extinguished, and the
place is cold and dark.
But just as
a seed of wheat falls into the ground and dies, as our Lord said in our gospel
reading from a week ago (see John 12: 20 – 33), new life comes forth on Easter
Sunday morning. We stand watch during
the Great Vigil of Easter on Saturday night.
We will gather as the Easter (Paschal) Candle is brought into the
darkened Church as the chant “The Light of Christ” (yes, it’s the same tune as
the Good Friday chant “The Cross of Christ”) is sung. As we gather in the darkness, we hear the
ancient chant of the Exultet during
the Easter Vigil on Saturday night….”This is the night” we sing. We renew our baptismal vows on that occasion,
and the Sacrament is blessed and given to the faithful. New life has come out of the depths of
despair and hopelessness. The Lord is
present among us again under the forms of bread and wine.
Thanks be
to God!
Come and
walk this journey, each step of the way, through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday,
Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday morning.
Your life will be the better for having taken up this discipline, I
guarantee it. Make the choice to be a
Good Friday and an Easter Sunday
Christian this year.
