Palm/Passion Sunday 2015

Palm/Passion Sunday 2015

I suppose it’s fair to wonder why it is that we do this whole thing every year—all of the pageantry, certainly all of the liturgies… Why in the world do we subject ourselves to all of these rehearsals and stories of the events leading up to the Crucifixion before we get to the celebration of Easter?

I mean, certainly our Evangelical sisters and brothers see no need of it. Even some of the other more liturgical traditions have ceased keeping many of the Holy Week liturgies. And still some others may even see what we do in Holy Week as terribly strange and depressing.

But still we keep doing it, and for those of us who have followed this journey of Holy Week—specifically the Triduum, those services beginning on Maundy Thursday and leading through the Easter Vigil—those of us who have experienced these liturgies know how life changing they can be…

This week is life changing, because we’re invited (even in a symbolic way) to share in the story of Jesus and his disciples in those final days before Jesus’ death. In this week, we prepare ourselves by getting to know these stories intimately; taking time to reflect upon our own stories of suffering and pain and loss so that we might find some meaning for them in the way of the cross.

 Our ancestors in the faith understood all of this very well. Taking their cues from the Jewish Holy Days, which rehearsed and recalled the sacred stories of Israel through richly symbolic observances—the First Christians found ways of retelling, and “re-experiencing” the events of Christ’s betrayal and death. And through this active remembering, the Early Church could prepare itself, as well as new converts to the faith, for the mystery of the resurrection of Jesus. So, like our ancestors in the Church, we also prepare ourselves for Easter.

Finally, (and this, I think is something we forget at our own peril) this week—especially the services from Maundy Thursday through the Easter Vigil—is perhaps one of the greatest evangelistic opportunities we have in the Church… In fact, it’s my belief that if a “non-church” person were willing to come to the Triduum services, I’d imagine that person’s life would be changed. Because, wherever we find ourselves, and our faith in this particular season of our lives, if we’re willing to live with these stories; participate in these stories, I believe we’re given the opportunity to be renewed in Holy Week. This isn’t simply because the liturgies are beautiful (and they are beautiful), but instead because we’re invited to participate again in the great story—the Gospel story—which is very much life changing if we allow it to be such.

 So, if you’re wondering at the point of all of these services, and why we can’t just get on to Easter…well, it’s because Jesus didn’t get to do that, so neither do we. What’s more, if we’re ever to trust in the promise of resurrection for ourselves one day, then we have to be able to make sense of the pain of the world, and know that Jesus bore all of it for us—and still joins us in it, even now. And in this way, we eventually arrive at Easter with a reasonable and living hope—hope that looks beyond this life, and sees the Risen One at last, calling us to life again, and himself raised glorious with his wounds.

This is why we do all that we do in Holy Week.