The Old Testament proclaimed Christ, in
both word and symbol. The people of Israel looked for a savior, a messiah, an
anointed one, who would come to redeem them. The Prophet Zechariah proclaimed: Exult greatly, O daughter Zion!
Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! Behold: your king is coming to you, a just savior is he,
Humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.[3]
The Psalms spoke of the hope of the
people for their savior, and indeed, these very psalms would become the prayers
of Jesus, as we see in Psalm 56: quite possibly a prayer he prayed this very
night:
Have mercy on me, God, men crush me;
They fight me all day long and oppress me.
My foes crush me all day long,
For many fight proudly against me.
When I fear, I will trust in you,
In God whose word I praise.
In God I trust, I shall not fear:
What can mortal man do to me?
All day long they distort my words,
All their thought is to harm me.
They band together in ambush,
Track me down and seek my life.
More and more, I take a certain comfort
in the realization that from the beginning of time, humanity has wrestled with
God. Our history, biblical or otherwise, demonstrates clearly the earnest
struggle either in living one’s life in an expansive relationship with God, or
only within the limited context of the world; the finite parameters of time and
space; the fleeting horizon of self.
Even when God chose to enter into our human existence in the person of
Jesus, there were still those who rejected Him and His teaching; either unable
to believe that God could and would take on our human existence, or unwilling
to embrace the consequences of living in obedience to the fullness of truth
revealed in this God / Man, Jesus Christ.
The depths of that truth are what we
reflect upon in these holiest of days.
In the midst of this human struggle, of
this divine drama, in the context of the ultimate questions that make the human
person question if there is not more to life than ‘this life’, the human heart
still longs to look upon the face of God, which is discovered in the face of
Jesus.
In John’s Gospel, there is a singular
‘key’ to this desire to see Jesus.
In the events leading up to the celebration of the Passover Feast, a
group of Greeks went to Philip asking to see Jesus[4]. Philip and Andrew took their request to
Jesus, and got a very interesting response. We do not know if these Greeks were given an audience with
Jesus or not, but these are the words of Jesus to their request, and they give
insight into the events of Jesus’ approaching passion, death and resurrection: The hour has come for the Son of Man to be
glorified. Amen, amen, I say to
you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a
grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit[5].
This response of Jesus to the request of the Greeks is as if he were saying,
‘Soon, through the events of my passion, death, and resurrection, all people
will have access to me.’ This is God’s great desire, accomplished in Christ, to
be available and present to all His people, for intimacy, for love, for
life.
This mystery of Christ, the Grain of
Wheat fallen to the earth to die, is the kernel of the mystery we recall
tonight, and during these holy days of the Triduum, that lead to the new life
of the Resurrection.
For us to “see Jesus”, to know the
revelation of Jesus as the Son of God, and the revelation He IS in expressing
God’s love for the world, it was necessary that he suffer, die, and rise
again. Not only are these holy
events of the paschal mystery the key to understanding Jesus…but they are also
his greatest teaching to us regarding the path of every human person to achieve
wholeness, and integrity.
Just as He could only reveal the depths
of the Father’s love through the total gift of self, in complete obedience to
the Father’s will, the same holds true for every person. We too, are to learn
how to live in obedience to the Father’s will, to live lovingly and selflessly
for others. As Jesus came forth
from the Father, remained in intimate communion with the Father, and now
prepares to return to the Father, so each of us is drawn forth from the love of
God, for a fleeting journey through this life, to be in communion with the
Father through Jesus, only to return again to the embrace of God in eternity.
John’s Gospel sheds further light upon
this topic by telling us that Jesus came that we might share in this Life of
the Father that we might have life and have it more abundantly[6]. Only by incorporation into this Life of
Jesus are we thus able to dwell in the one flock, which Jesus comes to
re-establish[7].
And we will recall the words of Jesus in the days ahead: No one takes my life from me.
I lay it down freely, and take it up again[8].
Because it is the will of the Father
through Jesus to share His Life with us, He provides us through the Church the
sacred meal of the Eucharist. The
Eucharist is the means, the ‘instrument’ through which Christ now shares His
Life with us! The Eucharist is the continuing self-gift of Jesus by which He
makes us into the one family of God.
Thus, adoration and ‘communion’ are
part and parcel of Eucharist.
Adoration is our personal acknowledgement that Christ is truly present
to us; that He may personally communicate with us, and we may know of His
intimate presence, care, concern and love for us.
Communion, the re-establishment of the
One Family of God is also accomplished in every Eucharist as Christ shares with
us what He handed on to St. Paul: This is my body that is for you. This cup is the new covenant in my
blood. Do this, as often as you
drink it, in remembrance of me[9].
Because Christ has transcended this
worldly life and conquered death, He is now accessible to all people. In the Eucharist, we participate in His
Life. Through the Eucharist,
through our unity with Christ, we share a communion with all of humanity. Thus, that this communion may
continually grow, Christ gives us this night the great commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.”
God in the person of Jesus has humbled
Himself completely. God, in the
person of Jesus Christ, has given Himself completely. God, in the person of Christ, has come to our aid, and He
now sends us in His name, strengthened by His Body and Blood, to live selfless,
loving lives for others. Please,
God, may it be so! ■
[1]
The Easter
Triduum is the proper name for the three days that precede Easter
Sunday. Starting with the Mass of the
Lord's Supper on the evening of Holy Thursday, continuing through the Good Friday service, and concluding with
the start of the Easter Vigil on the
evening of Holy Saturday, the Easter
Triduum marks the most significant events of Holy Week (also known as Passiontide).
[2]
Thursday 28th March, 2013, Holy Thursday. Readings: Exodus
12:1-8, 11-14. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the blood of Christ - Ps
115(116):12‑13,
15-18. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. John 13:1-15.
[3]
Zech 9:9
[4]
John 12: 21
[5]
Id., 23-26
[6]
John 10:10
[7]
Id., v. 16
[8]
Id., vv. 17-18
[9]
1 Cor 11:23-26
