Additional Resource Material for this Sunday
Ideal for catechetical and liturgical dramatization of today's gospel.
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Passion
Sunday & Good Friday (Cycle A)
A Man of the People The Lamb and the Unleavened Bread The New Alliance In the Garden of Gethsemane The Supper of the Passover Like a Thief Before the Cock Crows The Verdict of the Sanhedrin The Governor's Interrogation He Descended Into Hell A Crown of Thorns This is the Man The Road to Golgotha Until His Death on the Cross Inside A New Sepulcher |
Inside A New Sepulcher(Mt 27:33-50; Mk 15:22-38; Lk 23:33-46: Jn 19:18-30)
Jesus died on the Friday of the week of the Passover, which was a “day of preparation” for the Jews, since the following day, Sabbath (Saturday), no one was supposed to work. It was a day of rest as imposed by the Law. Since it was the great Sabbath of the Passover, that day was even more solemn than the rest of the Saturdays of the year. The great Sabbath began in the afternoon when the first stars started to appear in the sky. The corpses of the victims were “impure” and, according to the law should not mar, with their presence, the feast of that day. This explains the urgency with which the execution ended and Jesus’ interment had to be carried out. Some crucified victims remained hanging on the cross for days, in endless agony. The Roman laws had provided for a faster death: by fracturing the bones of the legs through violent blows. The crushed or smashed condition of the entire body triggered the fatal asphyxia. This brutal method was applied to the revolutionary zealots. In the case of Jesus, there was no need to break any bone. He had died soon enough. The piercing by the soldier was a way to ascertain that the victim was really dead. It was like a “coup de grace” or a death blow. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, of the ruling class, sympathized with Jesus, although clandestinely, and at the last moment, they dared to claim the body and have it buried with a certain dignity. A classic image and very much loved by the pious people through the centuries, has been of Mary with her dead son in her arms. It is “La Pieta,” sung by musicians and poets, and immortalized in paintings and sculptures. Jesus’ death was the ultimate proof of Mary’s faith, who, like her own son, did not count on the resurrection. Mary, who had vaguely understood his son’s projects during the first moments, and who had tried to share with him his risks and hopes, must have felt on that day an infinite solitude, a profound feeling of failure, of sadness, of nothingness. She must have felt the pride too, for the courage shown by her son. For the Israelites, a respectable burial was of great importance; it was a show of affection for the dead. That of Jesus, because of the circumstances, had to be done with the minimum of traditional requirements. The corpse was cleansed and anointed with oil. The myrrh was an aromatic resin of great value, and this was also used to anoint the bride and groom on their wedding day. The aloe was a fragrant essence from the sap of certain trees from India. It was used to perfume bedding, dresses and shrouds. A sheet was used as a shroud, or canvasses as sashes, although it is not known exactly how these were placed on the body of the deceased. Since the ancient times, Israel buried her dead in natural caves to spare arable lands. Jesus was placed in a private tomb, bought by Joseph of Arimathea for his family and in which no one had been buried before. By making use of the natural excavation of the rock, the place was set up in the form of a room, with one or a few stone tables where the cadavers were put. Sometimes, niches were dug along the walls. In many cases – and one was that of Jesus’ sepulcher – this room or sepulchral chamber was preceded by an antesala or a small hall. The entrance to the tomb was sealed with a heavy, round stone that could turn like a wheel. After two thousand years, the stone bench where Jesus’ cadaver was desposited is still preserved in the exact place where that garden near Golgotha was found. Inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, in the Arabic barrio of Jerusalem, is this place, so transcendental for the Christian faith. In spite of the abundant decoration accumulated throughthe centuries, the structure of that cave can still be perfectly distinguished: the anteroom, and a notice: “He is not here. He resurrected.” Ever since Saint Helen, the mother of the Roman emperor, Constantine, discovered the exact location of the Calvary through excavations ordered by her within this area of Jerusalem, the so-called Holy Places (initially Golgotha and the burial place of Jesus) were converted to centers of pilgrimage for Christians from a number of neighboring countries. This happened about three hundred years after Jesus’ death. The Holy Places also became a reason for cruel wars. About a thousand and hundred years after Jesus’ death, these places were in the hands of the Muslims. Men from all over Christian Europe became involved in wars called the Crusades. Aside from the other political and economic motives, they tried to recover these Holy Places. The Crusades lasted for two hundred years including some intervals. They failed to redeem the Holy Sepulcher. What was worse was, that in the name of the cross of Jesus, all sorts of plundering and crime against the Arabs were committed, who also fought the Christians with great violence. (Mt 27:51-61; Mk 15:38-47; Lk 23:47-56; Jn 19:31-42) Taken
from the book: A Certain Jesus, Vol. 3 (Chapter
123) This book offers a new approach to appreciating the life of Jesus. The first part of the Chapter is in dialogue form in an up-to-date conversational language. This makes the reader realize that Jesus was once a very ordinary guy, a typical man in his time. The last part of each chapter contains an explanation of the biblical references, thus giving one the perspective for reflection. |
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