In the Book of Genesis we read that God created everything in six days and rested on the seventh day. In the early Church, the Christian Fathers spoke of Easter Day as the Eighth Day of Creation, for what use would anything have been if it had not been redeemed, re-made, by the Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. So it is that Holy Week and the celebration of Easter are ONE great celebration, and we should make every effort to be in church day after day, especially for what is called the Easter Triduum - the three great days, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Day.
The week begins with Palm Sunday and the Procession of Palms from the Precinct into church, when we recall the entry of our Lord into the City of Jerusalem where the people waved palm branches and shouted 'Hosannah to the Son of David'. Soon the crowds were to divide and as we hear in the solemn reading of the Passion from St Matthew, they were to soon shout 'Crucify Him'! In the other readings the language of suffering is heard, and the darker and sombre implications of Holy Week are set out.
Maundy Thursday is the night of the Last Supper and of the Lord washing the feet of His Disciples. Our main celebration is in the evening with a simple Eucharistic Meal, that spells out our Lord's own supreme act of love in humble service. Christ takes the lowest place, a reminder to us that we too should give humble service to others. Then at the end, we follow our Lord and His Disciples into the Garden of Gethsemane for the watch of prayer at the Altar of Repose in the chapel.
Good Friday and the theme of the day is the Kingship of Jesus as set out in St John's Passion reading. The crown of thorns, the purple robe, the cry 'Hail King of the Jews', the accusation that he was claiming to be King. Pilate's challenge and the Jews' reply, 'We have no king but Caesar'. St John's picture of the Crucified Christ is human and realistic. The focus is upon the person of Christ, his love, his agony, his triumph.
And God rested on the seventh day, and Jesus rests in the tomb in the sleep of death; but very early in the morning, his disciples and the women who followed him, came to the tomb, to finish, as they imagine, the work of embalming his body, which sabbath law had made impossible.
So in the darkness of this most holy night, night is turned to day, darkness to light, death to life. The ceremonies of the lighting of the new fire and the great Easter candle, remind us yet again, of the victory of light over darkness. We begin the new day, the Eighth Day of Creation - Easter Day. In joy and thanksgiving we celebrate the Paschal Victory of Jesus Christ and we receive His Risen Body in Holy Communion. Christ is Risen - Alleluia!
written by Fr Malcolm Ferrier
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page last updated 1 APRIL 1999