Called to imitate Jesus

Holy Thursday – ABC

Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14; Psalm 116; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15

The liturgy of Holy Thursday reveals to us the mystery of the Eucharist rooted in the feast of Passover. Passover does not only commemorate the liberation from the slavery of Egypt, but it also contains within itself the hope of liberation from slavery to sin. At the center of the liturgy of Passover is a lamb that is killed. Its blood protects against the angel of death and its body is consumed with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (Ex 12:6-11).

At the center of the Eucharist is the bread and wine identified with the body and blood of the Lamb of God. The night before departing from Egypt, Israel offered a lamb, the night before his passion, Jesus takes bread and wine, and says, “This is my body;” “This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Corinthians 11:24-25). A new covenant between God and humanity is being established, a covenant foretold long age by Jeremiah (Jer 31:33-34). With this covenant also comes a new commandment: “love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34).

How has Jesus loved us? It was love that motivated the Word to leave the Father and dwell among us (John 1:14; John 3:16). Now, the time for Jesus’ “passover” has come, namely “to pass over” from this world to the Father (John 13:1). Jesus leaves this world and returns to the One who sent him into this world. But returning to the Father, Jesus takes with him from this world our redeemed humanity. Love motivated the Word dwelled among us, and the depth of this love shines fully on the cross: Jesus Christ has loved us to the end (John 13:1).

By washing the feet of the apostles, Jesus did what normally slaves were doing to their masters. Jesus’ action is the best commentary on the hymn of Saint Paul where we read that Jesus took the form of a servant and humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death on the cross (Phil 2: 7-8). Just as the water from a basin washes the feet of the disciples, so the blood of Jesus that will flow from the cross washes their hearts. But, the washing of the feet is also a commentary on the call to discipleship: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Lk 9:23). Thus the cross means washing each other’s feet, carrying one another’s burdens (Gal 6:2), and giving our lives for Christ, his Gospel, and our brothers and sisters.

Before the last supper Judas had already made his decision to betray Jesus (John 13:2-3). When did he make up his mind? Was it during that dinner in Bethany where he scolded Mary for using “a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard” to anoint Jesus (John 12:1-6)? On the other hand, Peter’s objection brings to mind his similar reaction to the announcement of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Then he said, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you”(Mt 16:22), now he says: “Lord, do you wash my feet? […] You shall never wash my feet” (John 13: 6,8). Thus, on the one hand Christ’s love to the end is being rejected (Judas) and on the other hand it is misunderstood (Peter). 

“How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me” (Ps 116: 12)? The answer is straightforward: participate in the Eucharist. “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord” (Ps 116: 13). The Eucharist means thanksgiving. How else shall I repay God for His love for me? By imitating Jesus’ loving service to one other (Gal 5:13): “For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:15).

The Source of Eternal Salvation

Good Friday – ABC

Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 31; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42

The first reading describes the suffering of God’s servant and explains its salvific meaning. Since he himself did not commit sin (Is 53:9; 1 Peter 2:22), he suffers for the sins of others, and his suffering will justify many (Is 53:11b). In that mysterious suffering servant, we immediately recognise the suffering Christ.

God was betrayed in the garden of Eden (Gen 3:1-7), the incarnated Word of God was betrayed in the garden of Gethsemane (John 18:1-3), and the victory over sin and death has also happened in a garden (John 19:41). Jesus’ confession “I Am” stands in opposition to Peter’s denial “I am not” (John 18:17,25). But Peter is not the only one who denied the truth. Pilate condemns an innocent man to death (John 19: 12-16), and the high priests cry out: “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15; see Ps 145:1). 

Two high priests faced each other. One according to the order of Levi and one according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:10). The first was sinful, the second is sinless. The former falsified reality, the latter reveals the truth. The former says “it is better that one man should die for the people” (John 11:50), the latter explains the meaning of love as laying down one’s life for friends (John 15:13). And yet, the high priest who paid tithes to Melchizedek through Abraham (Hebrews 7:6-10) condemns to death the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

“What is truth?” (John 18:38), asks Pilate standing in front of the truth (John 14: 6). Pilate was not a disciple of Christ, so he could not know the truth. Moreover, although he had the authority to release or to crucify Jesus (John 19:10), he was not a free man either (John 8:31-32). He was a slave to his own sinful character and to a political machine known as the Roman Empire. Yet unwittingly, he contributed to the evangelisation of the empire proclaiming in three main languages: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19-20).  Aramaic was the local language of Palestine, Greek was the lingua franca of the Roman empire, and Latin the official language of that empire. And so people of different walks of life can come to Jesus, worship him and begin a new life (Mt 2:2,11-12). 

“Behold the man!” (John 19:5). The first man was created on the sixth day (Gen 1:26), and the second man was disfigured on the sixth day (John 19:14): “his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind” (Is 52:14). “Behold, the Lamb of God” (John 1:36). Jesus died on the cross at a time when the paschal lambs were sacrificed in the temple (John 18:28; 19:14). “Behold the man!” Adam fell into a deep sleep and a woman was formed out of his rib (Gen 2:21-22). Jesus fell into a sleep of death and the bride of the Lamb has been ‘born’ from his pierced side (John 19:34). “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Blood and water flowing from Christ’s side become the fountain opened for us to cleanse us from sin (Zech 13:1). Jesus accomplished (John 19:30) the work that the Father gave him to do (John 17:4) and “became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Heb 5:9).

“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” (Gen 1:31). Joseph and Nicodemus buried the body of Jesus and the Mother of our Lord was taken home by Christ’s beloved disciple. But, we know that it was not the end. “The gardener” is about to surprise us all (John 20:15). Let us wait for the eighth day, the day of the Lord.

He descended into Hell

Holy Saturday

“And he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done” (Gen 2: 2). The Great Sabbath has come, Christ is resting from his work on earth. The bride of Christ is also resting – this is the only day the liturgy is not celebrated in our churches – awaiting the resurrection of her Bridegroom. And where did the Bridegroom go? He descended “into the lower parts of the earth” (Eph 4:9) to proclaim the Gospel to the dead (1 Peter 3:18-19; 4:6).

The Apostles’ Creed teaches us that after his death Jesus descended into the abode of the dead. According to the catechism, both evil and righteous were in it, but apparently only the latter awaited the Redeemer. Referring to the famous parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16: 22-26), the catechism teaches that “It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell” (CCC 633). The catechism also clarifies that “Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him” (CCC 633).

Jesus’ descent into hell is that “hour” when the dead hear the “voice of the Son of God” (John 5:25), who cries out “awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead” (Eph 5:14), and “those who hear will live” (John 5:25). This truth is beautifully explained in an ancient homily on Holy Saturday. “God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began” (see CCC 635). According to Matthew, at the time of Christ’s death the tombs were opened “and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised” (Mt 27:52). It seems, however, that they did not leave their tombs immediately, but patiently awaited Christ to leave his tomb (Matt. 27:53).

The icon of Christ’s descent into hell shows the doors of hell fallen down upon the devils and Christ extending his hands to Adam and Eve helping them to come out of their graves. Their time of waiting has come to an end. They can finally leave. The abode of death is not a place intended for humanity (Wis 2:24). But, where does Christ bring Adam? Back to the paradise? No. God has prepared for us something greater for us, something that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind can imagine (1 Cor 2:9). Moreover, He will make the cherubim to worship him “as they would God” (Ancient Homily on Holy Saturday). “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

Christ’s descent into hell is also known as “harrowing of hell”. The Lord entered the house of the “strong man”, bound him, and “plundered his things” (Mark 3:27). “This is the last phase of Jesus’ messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ’s redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption” (CCC, 634).