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Today is Good Friday. Today, we fervently recall the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. We also receive the sacrament of Holy Communion from elements reserved during the Maundy Thursday liturgy. We will not celebrate Holy Eucharist on Holy Saturday, though we will gather nonetheless to sit amidst the liminal space between life and death.
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are the center of liturgical gravity for us and called the Easter Triduum, Paschal Triduum, or simply Triduum. Originating as the Latin word for “three days”, the Triduum is celebrated in the Anglican Communion (of which we Episcopalians claim proud membership) but also the Lutheran, Methodist, Moravian, Reformed, and Roman Catholic traditions.
The Triduum is the epicenter of Christ’s suffering for our sake. But herein lies a conundrum: our modern English lexicon falls short when using the word suffer to describe exactly what it is we are remembering as Easter arrives. In a way, the word suffer “suffers” a similar fate as that of the word love. These two words carry meanings far too broad to capture their depth. These words are like cooking with a complex recipe, with what you pull from the oven not even remotely close to the picture in the book. They are a utilitarian’s dream and a poet’s nightmare.
Maybe we have lost some of what it means to suffer. We may strain to see how suffering leads to anything good. That’s not surprising considering that our modern age castigates weakness and sees it as opportunity for exploitation. The phrase “Jesus suffered and died on the cross” is not a great opening salvo of a sermon on being called as a suffering servant for Christ.
It’s time to reclaim this word suffering for our Christian lives. Jesus’ suffering for our sake is linked to the word’s original meaning: the Latin word patior, as “enduring, bearing, permitting, or being passive”. You might catch a hue of the word compassion (enduring with), or even Paul’s words to the Corinthians about love bearing, believing, hoping, and enduring all things (1 Cor 13:7).
To be clear: the act of suffering, as Jesus taught us, is less about what might happen to our bodies and more about what does happen to our spirit as a result of our sacrifice and service. It is about what happens to those around us and the world through our servanthood. Jesus’ suffering through servanthood is the flourishing and revealing of God’s unconditional love for us.
The Ancient Greeks had many words for love. But the type of love of which I was thinking as I wrote this reflection would be called agápe (ἀγάπη) by the Greeks. The Passion of Jesus is the agápe of God made real in the hearts of each of us.
We can bring that same state of God’s unconditional love into the world every day if we would only remember that the base of suffering is not a pain endured but a joy revealed.
Look past the soldiers who nailed Jesus to the cross. Look beyond Judas’ betrayal. Look past what you have done and what you have failed to do.
Lift your head above that weight you continue to bear and be ready to
see the stone rolled away forever. For weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy cometh in the morning (Psalm 30:5)!
God’s Peace,
Stephen +
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