BIBLE STUDY: March 18th

The meeting opened with prayer.
After a short introduction, we proceeded to consider the thirteenth & fourteenth Stations.

The Thirteenth Station: Jesus dies on the cross

Mark 15:33-39

See also Matthew 27:45-60, Luke 23:44-48

We noted that the three Synoptic evangelists gave the time of darkness over the land from the sixth hour (i.e. noon) until the ninth hour (about three in the afternoon); they say it was at about the ninth hour that Jesus uttered his last words.

We had seen four weeks ago that John gives noon as the time when Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified. We remembered also that the distance from the Praetorium to Golgotha was not great; it would have taken maybe a quarter of an hour at the slow pace at which Jesus would have walked. So we understood the time from noon to three to include both the walk to Golgotha and the time Jesus hung on the cross before he died. We recalled also that noon was when the priests in the Temple would begin sacrificing the Passover lambs; noon was also the time that the Lamb of God began his sacrifice of universal redemption.

We noted that both Matthew and Mark record that after saying "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", he uttered a loud cry. We understood this loud cry to be Jesus exclaimimg "It is finished", as recorded by John below. Luke says that "Jesus, having cried in a loud voice, said: 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.'" We understood this loud cry also to be "It is finished."

The words "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?") are, in Aramaic, the opening words of Psalm 21 (22). We saw in these words the utter abasement of the man Jesus. Although he was the incarnate Word, God from God, Light from Light, true God from True God, he was also true man. We recalled that in Gesthemene he was in immense agony, as witnessed by the hematohidrosis recorded by Luke, and this agony continued to the end. Now at the point death the man, Jesus, in his human nature feels utterly remote from his divine nature.

All three Synoptic evangelists noted that the veil of the Temple was torn in two at the moment of Jesus' death. The veil hung in front of the most sacred part of the Temple, the Holy of Holies. Only the High Priest could enter here, and he only once a year on the Day of Atonement. At his death, Jesus entered the true sanctuary of Heaven where he is our eternal High Priest. As we read in the Letter to the Hebrews: "But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be, passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation, he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption" (Heb. 9:11 & 12).

We noted also that all three Synoptics record the reaction of the centurion who witnessed Jesus' death. There was some surprise at his saying "Truly this man was the Son of God!", for did not the Romans believe in many gods? Certainly the pagan religion had many gods; but it was well enough known that the Jews worshipped only one God, who they believed was the universal God. We remembered also that there were proselytes among the Romans, that is Romans who had adopted the Jewish religion; we recalled the incident where Jesus cured a centurion's slave (see Matthew 8:5-13, and Luke 7:1-10). We may conclude that the centurion was sympathetic towards the Jewish religion but it was surely the Holy Spirit who gave him he insight that this was truly the Son of God,

We then read these three verses from John's Gospel

John 19:28-30

John omiits the words "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" because they have already been recorded in earlier Gospels and because John's Gospel stresses right from the start the divinity of Christ. John wants to concentrate on this final word shouted by Jesus when he had tasted the wine.

We noted that some translations give this as 'vinegar'; we thought this could be misleading. It is sour wine, the common wine or what is commonly called today 'plonk,' It was there to help those suffering cope with the pain.

We recalled that Jesus, after instituting the Eucharist at the Last Supper, the Passover Meal, had said he would not drink the fruit of the vine until he drank it in his Father's kingdom. He had broken off the Meal without completing the customary Passover ritual: he had not drunk the fourth cup, the 'cup of Consummation.' We remembered also that when he was offered wine after he had been nailed to the cross, he refused it. It was not the time for that last cup.

Now, however, he has stood up to all his suffering, he has endured the passion; he is offering his life to redeem fallen creation. Now is the time to drink the 'Cup of Consummation' - the sacriifice is consummated. The Seder Meal he had begun in the Upper Room is finished. Therfore he triumphantly cries out the word of victory: "It is finished!"

What does this mean? Just this:

• The Jewish Passover was the covenant sacrifice that Jesus was to fulfil by his own self-offering as both priest and victim.
• The three Synoptic evangelists make it clear that Jesus instituted the Eucharist within the Passover Meal (Seder) he ccelebrated with his Apostles.
• Jesus did not finish that Passover Meal until the moment of his death when he drank the 'Cup of Consummation.'
• The Eucharist is inseparably united with Jesus' death; Calvary began in the Upper Room with the institution of the Eucharist, the first Mass, and that Eucharist was completed only with Christ's sacrifice on the Cross. The Eucharist and the Cross are one and the same sacrifice; the Mass is the one eternal sacrifice of salvation.

Having triumphantly completed the sacrifice, whereby he reconciled fallen creation with its Creator, Jesus entrusted his Spirit to his Father and entered into his Father's kingdom.

The Fourteenth Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb

Matthew 27:57-61

See also Mark 15:42-47, Luke 50-56 and John 19:38-42

It was evening, just as Preparation day was ending and the Sabbath was about to begin. John mentions that besides Joseph of Ariimathea, another member of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus, came to lay the body of Jesus in the rock tomb (part of which is preserved in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem) and that as well as wrapping Jesus in a linen cloth, they also annointed the body with about 100 pounds weight of a myrrh and aloes mixture.

It was mentioned that some people add a fifteenth station of the Cross: the Resurrection. The group thought this not appropriate, but should rather form a separate meditation. Jesus has come triumphantly through his bitter passion and agony. We thought it appropriate we should finish our meditation leaving our Lord at peace in his sepulchre.

It was mentioned that there is set fourteen meditations known as the 'Via Lucis' or 'Stations of the Resurrections'. It was considered this was more appropraite than tacking on a 15th station to the 'Via Crucis' or 'Stations of the Cross.' Both the Cross and the Resurrection are worthy of their own meditations. We will finish ours leaving our Lord's body which has suffered much and won our redemption, lying at peace.

There was some speculation about the 'harrowing of Hell'. But we recalled that Jesus had told the repentant thief that he would be with him in Paradise that very day. We thought speculation about details of what was going on while the body of our Lord lay in the tomb was not profitable. We recalled that in his letter to Timothy, Paul tells us that "God wills everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4). This must apply to all those who lived on earth before Christ as well as to those all were living at Jesus' time and have lived since.

Christ is our universal saviour. We trust and believe that God enables Christ's sacrifice to be efficacious for all people at all times and in all places who say to him "Thy will be done" and not "My will be done." Amen.
 

Conclusion
We brought to a close our series of readings and contemplations, as we prepared for the Paschal Triduum at the end of this week, by saying together the prayer of St Alphonsus Liguori:

I love you Jesus, my Love, above all things;
I repent with my whole heart for having offended you.
Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always,
then do with me what you will.
Amen.
 
Our Lady - pray for us.
St Peter - pray for us.

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Most of the scripture texts on this page are taken from the New American Bible with Revised New Testament and Revised Psalms © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C.