Deacon Jerry’s Easter Reflection
Starting with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday, this is the busiest liturgical 72 hours of the year. It brings our focus to the gift of Salvation, the cost of the gift of Salvation and the promised reward of Salvation.
Consider Jesus who instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper. Holy Thursday was the first Lord’s Supper. Jesus was fully aware that his disciples would abandon him, one would deny him, and one would betray him. He was fully aware of how he would die, the humiliation, the scorn and the pain. Was he cynical on Thursday? No. No matter which Gospel account of the Last Supper you read, Jesus was instructing, and led by example. He provided us with the Eucharist! He used bread and wine as the “accidents” of the substance of his body and blood. He meant to be fully accessible to everyone. Clearly, he is divine. No one who is only human would have prepared those whom he knew would abandon and deny him for their future success.
Did the Father require the pain and suffering? No, he demanded obedience. The sacrifice was complete obedience to the Father’s will. We, the guilty, required the pain and suffering. Jesus’s effort was to get across the model he meant us to follow. Some clever folks ask questions such as could God have caused salvation by snapping his fingers? Of course. He is God and has infinite power. The more important question is…
“Would we have recognized how dear Salvation is if Jesus had done anything less than what he did on Good Friday?”
Holy Saturday is a time for introspection. No Mass is allowed on Holy Saturday. The pause that is Holy Saturday reminds us of the anxiety the sense of loss that is the period between Christ’s death on the Cross and the Resurrection.
The joy, the sense of mystery and even Thomas’s doubt are all part of the normal range of human emotion when one is confronted by an unexpected miracle. Then one has an inkling that the Resurrection is a promise of Salvation and everlasting life through Jesus –even though I failed.
Then on the Road to Emmaus, Jesus explains all that has happened and how it was anticipated in all of Scripture.
Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed!
Blessings,
Deacon Jerry
Readings for Easter Sunday, The Resurrection of the Lord: Lectionary 42
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