Faith

Why is good Friday Good?  When man was at his worst, God was at His best.

If you have one minute to live and one call to make, who would you call and what would you say? This is a question I often pose to young people and the answers are always the same: “I’ll call my mother, my parents or a loved one.” What would they say? The reply is text book, “I am sorry, I love you, forgive me.” So why not say it now? Why wait for that ‘tragic end’?

Words are so powerful; they have the power to build or break. A child’s first words may be garbled gibberish but we still hear in them a mama or a dada. The words of the liturgy may sound solemn, but we still hear the loving voice of our Saviour. And then there are those words that break us; “I wish you were never born,” “you make me sick” or “I hate you.”

Today, on Good Friday we hear the words of a dying man. His words are true and full of openness. These are ‘His last Words’; yet filled with love, not hate. He preaches not once, but seven times for these are the seven last ‘words’ and yet more than words.  The first three are about Him; the last four are about others. His pulpit is His cross. There is no microphone and so at times He cries out in a loud voice, “Father into your hands I commend my spirit.”

His last will and testament is being dictated even as He dies; He inks it in His own blood. Ironically, a dying man gives us ‘life giving words.’ This homily needed no preparation, for His life was a homily and now, though words come from His lips, they emanate from His heart. Every part of His body is bruised except His tongue and He uses it to forgive. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

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Faith

 Sacred Tridum – Maundy Thursday – John 13:1-15

Even though it is called the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, there is no reference to the meal per se in the choice of this text. John is the only gospel, among the four, that focuses on the foot washing.  The meal becomes the setting for the foot washing of His disciples; a meal in which He institutes the Eucharist, institutes the commandment of love, ‘to do as He has done,’ and institutes the priesthood through the foot washing ritual and a pastoral commandment to the eleven ‘newly ordained ministers’.

Interestingly, unlike the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), John holds that Jesus died on the ‘day of preparation’. This is the day when the lambs were sacrificed in the temple and this is the day for John on which Jesus, ‘the Lamb of God’ dies on Calvary.

Now before you start getting uppity and wondering how the gospels can be giving us ‘contradictory’ evidence, remember what the Gospel’s were meant to be, not biographies! The Gospels are post resurrection narratives, written by the evangelists in the context of their communities, to whom they were writing for.

So, in John’s Gospel, the Jewish Passover takes place on what we celebrate as ‘Holy Saturday’. Not so for Luke or Mark. For them, Jesus celebrates the Jewish Passover on Maundy Thursday (Mark 14: 12-15, Luke 22:15). Is there a point to why John in his gospel does this?

Some scholars opine that John wanted the death of Jesus to coincide directly with the day of the preparation of the Passover. While the lambs were being sacrificed in the temple, Jesus is sacrificed for us. Others believe that John’s community had simply come to accept that Jesus was crucified on the 14th day of Nissan (the first month of the Jewish year) which was the day of Passover (references from the JBC).

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Faith

The betrayer at hand- The Holy Week – Wednesday- Mathew 26:14-25

Matthews’s account of the betrayal of Jesus is preceded by the anointing of Jesus feet by ‘a woman’ at the house of Simon the leper. Interestingly in Mathew’s account, the woman is not Mary of Bethany, nor is the meeting at Lazarus’s house, but at Simon’s house. Noteworthy is that Matthew blames ‘all the disciples’ for being ‘angry’ at this ‘wasteful’ use of the expensive ointment.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Judas does not have an active role in the episode, unlike in John’s Gospel. But Matthew continues this incident, of the anointing of Jesus feet, with a Judas incident. Perhaps, a far more deadly one! Matthew thus contrasts the woman’s love with Judas hate.

The Gospels never explicitly tell us why Judas betrayed the Lord. We know that satan entered him and he gave into temptation. What we do see, is what happens after he gives in to satan’s invitation to sin. Judas surely played hardball with the chief priests in negotiating a deal. His question to them is pointed, “What will you give me if I betray Him to you?” The parameters of the deal were clear; it involved betrayal and a consideration.

What was this consideration? We know that Judas settled on silver; we have no idea how long and hard he negotiated. Did he ask for precious stones? And why did he settle for silver and why thirty? Scholars opine that 30 pieces of silver was equivalent to 120 days of work some even suggest a half years salary. In Hebrew culture, thirty pieces of silver was not a lot of money. In fact, it was the exact price paid to the master of a slave, if and when his slave was gored by an ox (Exodus 21:32). The slave’s death was compensated by the thirty pieces of silver.

Perhaps here in lies a thought. This was the price of the life of ‘a slave’. Jesus came to be a slave not a servant, as the English translation has it to be (Doulos in Greek). He ransoms us from satan for the price of a slave; so much does He love us.

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Faith

Deserters, Betrayers, Deniers- Holy Week – Tuesday- John 13:21-33, 36-38

I admit, to a certain extent, I would be flummoxed as to what I was to do, if I was told that tonight was the last night of my life.  Eating a meal would be the last thing on my mind and even if I did, who would I share that with?

Meals were an integral part of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus practically ate his way through the gospels. Today’s reading consists of extracts from the last supper with a deliberate intent to focus on Judas. But before we really go harsh on Judas don’t forget that Jesus sat down to His last meal with all sorts.

Peter would deny the Lord not once but three times. James and John, along with Peter, were singled out ‘remain with Him and stay awake’ in Gethsemane; they failed Him thrice. The gospel of Mark 14:51, tells us that a ‘certain young man was following Him wearing nothing but a linen cloth but when they caught hold of him he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.’ By the time they reach the foot of the cross all the men, barring John, have gone into hiding.

So am I waving a flag for Judas? Certainly not! But here is the Lord, eating His last meal, with all sorts and kind. But it’s not who He is eating with, that most important but rather what’s he feeding them with, at this meal. To betrayers, deniers and deserters, Jesus offers His body and blood; this while scripture tells us that Jesus was deeply trouble and said, “ Amen, amen, I say to you, one of your will betray me.”

And yet, it is to Judas, that He gives His body and blood. The Lord never stopped giving and the Lord never stopped loving. That’s why He came, for sinners and the lost! Scripture tells us that Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners. Today we add a few more to that list of table guests; betrayers, deniers and deserters. Even at His last meal on earth, Jesus is ministering to the lost.

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Art/ Heritage

PICTURING THE PASSION: ‘The Entry into Jerusalem’ by Giotto (1305)

The story of art has been ruled by great artist like Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli etc. The ‘father figure’ they sought to their career began his life as a shepherd boy. He used his brush to bring the Bible to life and made art more natural, more real. His name was Giotto. Regarded as the ‘Father of the Renaissance’, Ambrogiotto (Little Ambrose) was born in Tuscany in 1267.

Legend states that while tending sheep, Giotto would sketch on a sharp stone. His nature based drawings were so spectacular that it captured the attention of Cimabue, the then famous, ‘bull headed’ artist. Cimabue carried off the boy to Florence to be his apprentice. However he was not spared of the young man’s banter. When Cimabue was absent, Giotto painted a lifelike fly on the face of a painting which appeared so real that the master, on his return, tried several times to shove it off. This impressed Cimabue who now invested more time and opportunities in his brilliant pupil.

Giotto’s greatest masterpieces are the frescos he painted inside the Arena or Scrovegni Chapel located in Padua, Italy. It was commissioned by Enrico Scrovegni, a wealthy Italian banker in the early 1300’s. It served as restitution for his father’s involvement in unjust usury dealings.

One of the most famous and spectacular paintings in the Chapel is ‘The Entry into Jerusalem.’ Against the backdrop of the brilliant blue sky, Giotto enlivens the procession scene in the foreground. The main protagonist i.e. Jesus Christ is placed at the center of the composition. The disciples (passive group) follow Him while the people of Jerusalem (active group) hail and honour Him.

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