What a difference a day makes! The gloom that enveloped Good Friday is dispelled at the dawn of new day – Easter day. The Jewish calendar differs from ours. Each of the three days in what we call “the Triduum” – the three days at the end of Holy Week – is actually reckoned from sundown to sundown. So the first day is Holy Thursday evening to Good Friday evening. The events from the Last Supper through the agony in the garden, the Passion and the crucifixion and burial of Jesus are all part of one day. The link between the institution of the Eucharist and Calvary is not interrupted but rather connected by the night that passes between them. A full day elapses between the burial and resurrection of Christ so that there can be no question that Jesus was dead and buried.
The New Passover
The actions of Jesus at the Supper both prefigure and sacramentalize the holocaust that was to be executed on Calvary. Together, the Synoptic and Johannine accounts reveal the full meaning of the sacrifice of the Cross which completes the mission of Christ to vanquish the human debt of sin. The Eucharist (Synoptics) reveals the depth of God’s love just as the washing of the feet (John) points to its breadth. None of the evangelists, however, mentions the traditional paschal lamb at the supper. Why not? The reason becomes obvious: The Lamb whose blood is to be shed is Jesus Himself. The New Passover unites the sacrificial Lamb of Calvary with all who consume His Body and Blood. This invitation to salvation now goes out to the ends of the earth as the servants of the Lord imitate their Master who bowed to wash the feet of sinners – “not only my feet but all of me Lord,” to paraphrase Peter: a total makeover in Christ.
A day of complete silence follows the death of Jesus. The Sabbath that intervenes is the rest from the work accomplished. “It is finished,” Jesus says. The work of the New Creation has been accomplished and the Lord, too, will rest once again as at the dawn of creation. No one knows of the glory yet to be revealed. The disciples of Jesus are despondent. We know of none of the Apostles – except John – who witnessed the horror of the last afternoon. The women at the foot of the Cross stayed to ensure the proper entombment before sundown. The stone was rolled into its place, and the guard posted. The end had come.
The first to be surprised were the women again, who came mourning the dead Jesus – in a garden of all places – who had paid the price of Adam’s sin. The long descent of humanity into the valley of death had also begun in a garden long ago from which there would be no turning back. But this time, an angel would not block the entrance – the place where death had settled in – but rather send all seekers forth: “He is not here; He is risen!” The dead Jesus is alive!
Living More Than Ever
The same men and women who were crushed and dispirited three days ago were now jumping in the streets for joy. What they witnessed left no doubt that the same Jesus who died was alive – and not just in some mystical or “spiritual” way. It was really Him – the same person they had known, loved and left for dead was living more than ever.
Call it bad karma or the mark of Original Sin, humanity has a propensity to think negatively, hard-wired, as it were, to relive our sordid past. This colors the way we look at the world and others and ourselves. Why attempt to reboot a failed program that has crashed or, as an older generation would say, play a broken record? It is time for a reset. Nothing but a total makeover can cure the ancient curse. Enter Jesus, risen and given to over to His Church, which is us, His body, the fullness of Him who fills all, as Paul writes (Eph 1:23). Happy Easter!
