Today, Christians in the West begin what is called the Easter Triduum. “Triduum” is Latin for \u201cthree days\u201d and it refers to the observance of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. They are, without a doubt, the holiest days in the Christian calendar and they lie at the core of our identity as Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTriduum\u201d is more a liturgical expression than a theological one. The role of liturgy is to focus us, to make us remember in the biblical sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Bible, God is often called upon to \u201cremember.\u201d At the Last Supper, Jesus institutes the Eucharist and tells the disciples to \u201cdo this in my remembrance\u201d (Lk 22:19). When God is asked to remember in the psalms, it is not an indication that God has somehow forgotten. Remembrance, zakar<\/em> in Hebrew, means to bring something into effect, to make it present in a dynamic and concrete way. When the psalmist prays, \u201cRemember me, O Lord\u201d (Ps 106:4), it is the same as praying, \u201cSave me, O God!\u201d (Ps 69:2). Remembering is a way that makes you powerfully and salvifically present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Triduum calls us to remember or to make present three central events in salvation: the Last Supper, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Christ. These are three distinct events that happened in a specific place and time. They are not set in the atmosphere of \u201conce upon a time,\u201d but rather on a concrete day in the history of humanity \u2014 in the Hebrew month of Nisan just before Passover, while Pontius Pilate was Roman procurator in Judea. The liturgy stresses the concrete, that is, the very incarnational nature of these three events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the liturgy focuses and makes present, it often does not show the full theological sweep of things. Therefore, while Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday are central to the Christian message of salvation, they do not exhaust that message. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Theologically, we speak of the one, great saving act of God in Christ. We find it to some extent in the gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke. However, the Gospel of John and some letters of Paul refer to, in Greek, the katabasis <\/em>and anabasis<\/em>, the \u201ccoming down\u201d and \u201cgoing up.\u201d The one, great saving act of God is indivisible: It begins with the Incarnation (coming down) of the eternal Word \u2014 his life, teaching, death, resurrection (going up), ascension and exaltation at the right hand of the Father (cf. Phil 2:6-11). <\/p>\n\n\n\n In John\u2019s gospel, Jesus says no one goes up (anabasis<\/em>) to heaven except the one who has come down (katabasis)<\/em>, and he speaks of the Son of Man being lifted up (Greek hypso\u014d)<\/em>, so the believer can have eternal life (3:13-15). Later in John’s gospel, Jesus states: \u201cWhen I am lifted up (hypso\u014d)<\/em> from the earth, I will draw everyone to me.\u201d The evangelist adds, \u201cBy these words he indicated the kind of death he would die,\u201d that is, crucifixion (12:32-33).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lifting up of Jesus in crucifixion in John\u2019s gospel is related to how Jesus, having finished the Last Supper, declares, \u201cNow is the Son of Man glorified\u201d (13:31). Written in the past tense (Greek aorist)<\/em>, the one, great saving act of God is both coming to fulfillment and is, in a sense, already accomplished. The lifting up on the cross is the beginning of the \u201clifting up\u201d that leads through the ascension to the exaltation of Christ at the right hand of the Father. It is theologically and salvifically one act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the one, great saving act of God in Christ can be broken down, observed and celebrated in discrete points of time \u2014 from the Annunciation to Pentecost \u2014 it is basically one act of God. It is the saving act of God in Christ through the Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a sense \u2014 an especially important sense \u2014 it is like a magnificent mosaic, composed of hundreds of pieces and hundreds of colors. We can focus in and marvel at any small section of it. However, it is the whole mosaic that shows the magnificence of the entire scene. So, too, with the Triduum. We focus in on specific events that took place in a specific place and time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, on Easter Sunday we need to stand back and get a broader look at the whole picture: Jesus of Nazareth, incarnate Word of God, born of Mary, crucified, died and buried, has been raised from the dead \u2014 raised, lifted up and exalted as Christ and Lord at the right hand of the Father, sending the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 16:7) on all who believe and are baptized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Triduum helps us to focus, but ultimately we need to stand back and see the whole \u201cmosaic\u201d \u2014 in its cosmic power and glory \u2014 as the one, saving act of God in Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"