Tuesday of Holy Week

The historic lectionary reads Mark's account of the Last Supper, the Garden, and the Crucifixion for today. The passion narratives are read, over and over. This whole week, we hear from all of the Evangelists about the Passion. Different views of the same event, with different things pointed out.

Sometimes, we might think, "just be dead already, so we can get to the Resurrection."

The thing about that is, though, is that there's no Resurrection without the Crucifixion. There's no Easter without the Passion. There's no Easter Sunday without Good Friday - in fact, no Sunday at all, as we remember the events of Easter in a smaller form every Sunday.

We are fast approaching the Paschal Triduum - the Holy Three Days, from the Vigil of Good Friday to the Evening Prayer of Easter Sunday. The three days around which the entire Christian calendar, the entire Christian experience, turns. All of what we hold dear as Christians, all that we are in Christ, is in the tension of death and Resurrection.

Christ is risen, yes. We are not awaiting His death and Resurrection, but remembering. Remembering what He has done for us, and what that means. Remembering His promise. Remembering that we die with Him in Baptism, that we have died to our old selves, and have been made new.

This is why we read the Passion narratives over and over. To remind us that we, too, are dead, just as we remember that we too are made alive by God in Christ. We are Christ-ians, little Christs. We live in that tension, where we are both dead and made alive. Where we remain sinner and saint. Where we live in Christ.