"Enter the full drama of Holy Week: Your life will be renewed."
As you may have noticed by now, we have separated two major events usually co-joined on this Sunday before Easter: the Liturgy of the Palms, Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the Liturgy of the Passion and Death of Jesus.
I feel it is important to do this, in order to follow the true chronology of Holy Week and to better understand the drama of the whole story. Holy Week, which begins today, is an octave--that is, an eight-day week, a week with a Sunday on each end of it. It begins, as we began, with the reading of and reenactment of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, rightfully one of the most popular events in the life story of Jesus.
I have personally experienced this Palm Sunday entry, a process which begins at a little chapel in the town of Bethphage just outside the city of Jerusalem. The parade then winds its way down a hill through the Valley of Kidron and then up to Jerusalem which sits on another hill. The procession enters the very gate of the city which Jesus rode through and then up the temple steps to the site of the Great Temple of Herod. It is a powerful procession of faith and we have tried to recreate it, as best we can, with a real colt and children dressed as first-century disciples from Palestine.
The triumphant music which accompanies this procession tells the story of Palm Sunday:
"All glory, laud and honor to Thee, Redeemer, King
To whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring.
Thou art the King of Israel, thou David's royal Son,
Who in the Lord's name cometh, the King and blessed one."
But this is just the beginning of the week. Jesus' role as blessed King and Messiah will soon be tested and confronted by authorities; a whole lifetime of events will happen during the week ahead. He will teach in parable; He will heal; He will proclaim love as the great commandments; and He will predict the fall of Jerusalem and, indeed, the end of the world.
On Thursday evening, He will gather His disciples together to celebrate a Passover meal and institute the first Holy Communion and His Last Supper (which we know as Maundy Thursday).
A long, dark night of the soul will follow in the Garden of Gethsemane. The same kind of a long, dark night some of us have experienced in our lives. By Friday morning, all Hell breaks loose. Jesus will be arrested only five days after His triumphal entry. The week rapidly comes to a head and by noon on Friday He hangs on a cross...dying. His last words will be, "It is finished."
Christians in Jerusalem make this event of "Good Friday" with a second procession, "The Stations of the Cross." Carrying a full-sized cross, they will gather in small groups and walk through the streets of old Jerusalem along what is known as the Via Dolorosa, "The Way of Sorrow." There are fourteen places where the group stops to pray and sing and remember those special places where Jesus fell, or met His mother en route, or where Simon of Cyrene was forced to help Jesus bear the cross.
This procession ends in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the last station which contains both the hill of Golgotha, the place where Jesus died, and the tomb of Jesus, the place where Good Friday ends.
It is now Saturday, and as Jesus lies in the tomb, all is quiet. The world holds its breath. I think we have all experienced Saturday blues after a busy week, a time we don't quite know what to do with ourselves. Not much happens on "Holy Saturday."
But then comes the eighth day, a very popular day in our Old Testament. For example, after God rested from creation on the seventh day, life really got going on the eighth day. The emergence of Noah, his family and all God's creatures from the ark is often called the Eighth Day of Creation.
And so it is on the eighth day of Holy Week--Easter Sunday--a time when all Heaven breaks loose. The bonds of death are broken; Satan is defeated; and Jesus is resurrected by God, full of life, ready to begin anew. The octave of Holy Week is completed.
In Jerusalem, this event is celebrated by a third procession, this time a procession of light. On Holy Saturday, the Metropolitan of the Eastern Orthodox Church is sealed inside the Tomb of Jesus. At the stroke of midnight on Easter morning, the tomb is unsealed, the doorway opens, and the Metropolitan emerges with the "Holy Fire"--two fists filled with candles which have been miraculously lighted within the tomb the moment Easter Day began.
The Holy Sepulchre is jammed with people all holding unlit candles. The Metropolitan lights those closest to him and then, in turn, neighbor lights neighbor's candles, until the church is ablaze with Easter light and all are shouting, "He is risen! He is risen indeed!"
Suddenly the light of Holy Fire emerges from the doorway of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to light the candles of thousands of people waiting outside the church in the ancient streets. The light travels from person to person throughout Jerusalem (this is definitely not an organized Easter parade), carrying the Holy Fire to families and churches throughout Jerusalem. Within an hour, candles fill the night with Holy Fire and shouts are heard coming from the rooftops: "He is risen! Alleluia, He is risen indeed!"
It is a bit of chaos, but rightfully so, because it is the Eighth Day of Creation. It is Easter Sunday and time for life to begin anew. That's what Easter is all about.
And so we have it--the three great processions of Holy Week:
Palm Sunday: which begins outside Jerusalem, ends at the temple.
Good Friday: which begins at the temple, ends in the tomb.
Easter: which begins in the tomb, ends as light in the hearts of all.
My hope is that with the Palm Sunday as a beginning, you will enter the full drama of Holy Week at St. Margaret's (or wherever you are), especially celebrating the two other processions of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. If you do so, I guarantee you will experience the power of the Eighth Day of Creation--your life will be renewed with the light of Jesus in your heart. Amen.
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