The question of Jesus' identity is key in all gospels. This same key may help us to interpret Holy Week. In the Gospel we would have read in the Palm Sunday procession, the people of Jerusalem wonder, "Who is this?" (Matthew 21:11). The celebration of the Paschal Mystery helps us discern the identity of Jesus and raises a profound question: If this is Jesus, who will I be?
Jesus is the new Passover lamb. His crucifixion begins at the same time when the fires were lit to cook the lamb of the Jewish Passover dinner. Today, Good Friday, we read the version of the Passion according to John. In John, the last words of Jesus on the cross, "It is finished," are an echo of the words with which the Seder ends, the Jewish ritual dinner. Any Jew would recognize the connection at once, both around the end of the first century when they were written, and today.
Understanding the crucifixion and the connection to the Jewish Passover informs us of the deeper meaning of the Paschal Mystery. Holy Week is an invitation for us to live like Jesus lived and to learn to give our lives up for the salvation of others, dying to ourselves the way Jesus did on the first Good Friday. If we live like he lived and die to ourselves like he died, we also will be risen from death like He was, and as he promised his disciples many a time.
On Holy Thursday we reflect about how Jesus lived: loving those who were his own and loving them to the end; in the washing of feet, Jesus invites us to discover life’s purpose and meaning in serving others. In a normal year, we would then stay during the late hours of the night in adoration in a setting that symbolizes the garden of Gethsemane, where share on Jesus’ prayer, a prayer born of his deep love for life.
On Good Friday we reflect about how Jesus died, and we learn to die the same way. We imitate the death of Jesus by dying to ourselves, overcoming the original temptation we all have to place our needs above those of others, to be the center of our own universe.
Who is this? It is Jesus, who today, Good Friday, dies out of love for those who were his, disciples and friends who God had entrusted to him. It is Jesus, who not only dies for his own in this world, but also dies out of love for the human condition, as well—Jesus, Son of Man.
It is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah (first reading of Good Friday) who agonizes and pleads with the Father to set aside the chalice that is his turn to drink—the Jesus whose heart was broken long before it was pierced by a spear —betrayed, denied and abandoned by his own, insulted and repudiated by others. The Jesus who dies forgiving himself and others. It is Jesus who dies promising paradise to the crucified thief. In the midst of terrible suffering, Jesus continues to teach and heal. Jesus dies the way he lived.
If this is the Jesus of Good Friday—serving, healing, loving to the end—who are we going to be?
Jesus is the new Passover lamb. His crucifixion begins at the same time when the fires were lit to cook the lamb of the Jewish Passover dinner. Today, Good Friday, we read the version of the Passion according to John. In John, the last words of Jesus on the cross, "It is finished," are an echo of the words with which the Seder ends, the Jewish ritual dinner. Any Jew would recognize the connection at once, both around the end of the first century when they were written, and today.
Understanding the crucifixion and the connection to the Jewish Passover informs us of the deeper meaning of the Paschal Mystery. Holy Week is an invitation for us to live like Jesus lived and to learn to give our lives up for the salvation of others, dying to ourselves the way Jesus did on the first Good Friday. If we live like he lived and die to ourselves like he died, we also will be risen from death like He was, and as he promised his disciples many a time.
On Holy Thursday we reflect about how Jesus lived: loving those who were his own and loving them to the end; in the washing of feet, Jesus invites us to discover life’s purpose and meaning in serving others. In a normal year, we would then stay during the late hours of the night in adoration in a setting that symbolizes the garden of Gethsemane, where share on Jesus’ prayer, a prayer born of his deep love for life.
On Good Friday we reflect about how Jesus died, and we learn to die the same way. We imitate the death of Jesus by dying to ourselves, overcoming the original temptation we all have to place our needs above those of others, to be the center of our own universe.
Who is this? It is Jesus, who today, Good Friday, dies out of love for those who were his, disciples and friends who God had entrusted to him. It is Jesus, who not only dies for his own in this world, but also dies out of love for the human condition, as well—Jesus, Son of Man.
It is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah (first reading of Good Friday) who agonizes and pleads with the Father to set aside the chalice that is his turn to drink—the Jesus whose heart was broken long before it was pierced by a spear —betrayed, denied and abandoned by his own, insulted and repudiated by others. The Jesus who dies forgiving himself and others. It is Jesus who dies promising paradise to the crucified thief. In the midst of terrible suffering, Jesus continues to teach and heal. Jesus dies the way he lived.
If this is the Jesus of Good Friday—serving, healing, loving to the end—who are we going to be?
