Psalm
118:1–2, 19–29; Mark 11:1–11; Isaiah 50:4–9a; Psalm 31: 9–16; Philippians 2: 5–11;
Mark 14:1 – 15:47
This is the homily given
at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, March 25,
2018.
“THE SHAPE
OF HOLY WEEK, THE SHAPE OF OUR FAITH LIFE”
Holy
Week has a distinctive shape as the events of this last week of our Lord’s
earthly life unfold:
It
begins on a high note, as the Lord makes His triumphal entry into the Holy
City, Jerusalem. Crowds greet His entry, spreading their garments and palm
branches along the road, and crying, “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is
he who comes in the name of the Lord”.
Then,
perhaps early in Holy Week, things begin to head downhill as the Lord confronts
the corruption of the Temple by driving out the moneychangers who were
exchanging Roman currency into acceptable, Temple currency. (The corruption
stemmed from the rate-of-exchange that was offered to worshipers between the
two currencies, which the Temple priests controlled, enabling themselves to get
rich in the process.) With this confrontation, the stage is now set for the
High Priests and Jesus’ other enemies to seek to get rid of Him.
On
Maundy Thursday, events again move toward higher ground as the Lord institutes
the legacy He will leave with His disciples, a legacy which will continue to
remind them of His presence, a legacy which will continue to uphold them in
their faith walk as the centuries unfold. That legacy is, of course, known by
many names. It is the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Communion, the Holy Eucharist,
and the Mass.
But
then, on that same night, events move sharply downward as Judas comes to the
Garden of Gethsemane, accompanied by a band of soldiers. Jesus is arrested and
is taken to Caiaphas, the High Priest. After questioning, Jesus is led away to
Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea.
We
reach the lowest ebb of Holy Week in the events of Good Friday, as Jesus is led
away to the hill of Calvary, where He is crucified. He is buried, and for His
disciples, there seems to be no hope for the future, none whatsoever. For them,
the Lord and their leader had been killed, and now His lifeless body lies in a
tomb. They fear for their own lives, lest they, too, find themselves on crosses
of their own.
But
on Easter Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene and the other women go to the tomb,
expecting to be able to anoint Jesus’ body. Instead, they find the stone that
had been rolled against the door had been rolled back. They are greeted by
angels who say that the Lord is not there. An angel tells the women to go and
tell the disciples that the Lord has risen from the dead.
The
shape of Holy Week is somewhat like a tent. The structure is supported by the
high points of this holy week: The triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, the giving
of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper on Maundy Thursday, and the marvelous
rising from the tomb on Easter Sunday morning.
The
low points of this week are framed by the uplifting, high points with which
this week begins and ends. In between, there is the high point of the
institution of the Lord’s memorial of the Holy Communion. Were it not for these
three aspects of the week, the low points would have threatened to engulf those
first disciples in despair and hopelessness.
The
shape and structure of this week might offer us an opportunity for reflection
on our own faith walk with God.
It
is likely that most, if not all, of us experience high points and low points as
we make our way on the journey of life. We might even call the high points
“mountaintop experiences”. We might characterize the low points as being “in a
valley”, or “in a wilderness”. And, like those first disciples, perhaps the
highs and the lows take place in short succession to one another. We might feel
as though we’re riding a spiritual and emotional rollercoaster.
The
events of this Holy Week remind us that, as we experience the joys of life, we
will also experience the disappointments that life can put in our path. But we
are sustained by the knowledge that nothing can separate us from the love of
God, made known in Christ Jesus. Nothing can separate us from that love, just
as no power of death and destruction could not separate our Lord from His
enduring life.
Along
the way, the Lord gives us fuel for our journey in the form of the Holy
Eucharist. We are gathered at the holy table to be united to the Lord in the
Sacrament, for it is the reminder and the guarantee of the Lord’s continuing
presence among us until He comes again.
And
we are sustained by the record of the Lord Jesus Christ’s intervention in human
affairs, that written record we call the Bible. The Word of God exists to pass along
to us the mighty deeds and the victory of our Lord over sin, death, disease and
evil. That record is received by faith, and as it is received, unmistakable
signs of the Lord’s power to renew and reshape human life take place in the
believer. This transformation then becomes an encouraging and uplifting sign of
God’s continuing actions in human affairs. The believer becomes, in the words
of St. Paul, a “living sacrifice to the Lord”.
AMEN.
