High Theology

Tracing our Lord’s footsteps on Holy Week

04/13/2022

Mt 26:14-25 One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says, AMy appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘“ The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered, and prepared the Passover.

Fr. Daniel likes to say that my homilies are “high theology”. That is a diplomatic way of saying that no one understands what I am talking about. Well, even I will agree that today’s homily will be high theology, so high, in fact, that you might pass out from lack of oxygen. That is a diplomatic way of saying you will probably fall asleep. Speaking of high theology, I am reminded of that joke about how popes are elected using different color smoke.

If you see white smoke rising from the chimney at St. Peter’s during the conclave of cardinals, you know that we have a new pope. If you see black smoke billowing out, you know that we have not yet elected a new pope. But if you see green smoke rising from the chimney it means Willie Nelson has gotten into the conclave. I am sorry, I really do love Willie Nelson. But that is another kind of “high theology”.

Do you know how the date of Easter is calculated each year? First of all, why does it even need to be calculated: isn’t it obvious what day Easter falls on? No, it is not that simple because Easter is a “moveable feast”, meaning it moves from one date to another each year. For example, last year Easter was celebrated on April 4, this year we observe Easter on April 17, and next year Easter will be celebrated on April 9.

What causes the difference in dates? The short answer is because we are trying to combine the solar calendar based on the sunrise and sunset and the lunar calendar based on the waxing and waning of the moon. Both the sun and the moon are important in determining the date of Easter. How so? Well, we use a basically three step process, and see if you can notice both the sun and the moon’s involvement.

Easter always falls on the first Sunday (step one), after the first full moon (second step), after the vernal equinox (step three). The vernal equinox means the date in which we have equal sunlight and darkness. That is the role of the sun. The first full moon after the vernal equinox is the part played by the moon. And Sunday is, well, Easter Sunday. So, this is how we determine the date of the moveable feast of Easter: the Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. I think I hear some snoring…

Now comes the really fun stuff. What day did Jesus celebrate the Last Supper with his disciples in the Upper Room? Well, that at least is an easy question to answer, right? Not so fast. The gospel of Matthew today tells us: “On the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, ‘Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover’?” And we all know that Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples on Holy Thursday, and he died on Good Friday. And you would be correct if you ONLY read Matthew, Mark and Luke.

But you would come to a different day if you read the gospel of John, namely, Tuesday. According to the gospel of John, Jesus celebrated the Last Supper on Tuesday evening. And so I’m sorry to tell you this, but you missed it because it was last night. In other words, in the Gospel of John, Holy Thursday is really Holy Tuesday. If you are interested in reading a very sharp and succinct explanation of how John’s gospel assumes a Holy Tuesday date for the Last Supper, I recommend you read Pope Benedict’s book “Jesus of Nazareth” vol. 2.

Here is one point he makes about why Holy Tuesday works better than Holy Thursday for the Last Supper. He writes: “[You] have to compress a whole series of events into a few hours: the hearing before the Sanhedrin, Jesus being sent over to Pilate, Pilate’s wife’s dream, Jesus being handed over to Herod, his return to Pilate, the scourging, the condemnation to death, the way of the Cross, the crucifixion.” He concludes: “To accomplish all this in the space of a few hours seems scarcely possible.”

Now, I’m not going to get into the weeds of his whole explanation; I will leave the weeds to Willie. But suffice it to say that if you look closely at the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, on the one hand, and John’s gospel, on the other hand, you will arrive at two different dates for the Last Supper: Holy Thursday or Holy Tuesday, respectively. Now, don’t worry, folks, we are not going to change the day of the Last Supper to Tuesday.

But I think this shows how the Sacred Tradition helps to resolve some of the rough edges of the Sacred Scriptures. In other words, we need both Scripture and Tradition to know how best to love and live like Jesus, especially during Holy Week. Christians cannot live by Scripture alone. Why not? Well, because quite frankly, it is just too high theology.

Praised be Jesus Christ!