Tenebrae

So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves.” And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. (Matthew 27:24-25 ESV).

Some Western churches still celebrate a medieval liturgy called the Tenebrae, or Service of Shadows, in which candles and lights are gradually extinguished until the congregation sits in complete darkness. This practice was the inspiration of our series recently, “The Light of Resurrection.” It is designed to be a representation of the darkness that covered the earth at the death of Jesus (cf. Mark 15:33). Typically there are reading from the Scripture and hymns that lead the participants in a communal repentance for the sins that made the Crucifixion necessary. One of the elements of the Tenebrae service is the conclusion. A typical Tenebrae ends with the strepitus, a loud, harsh noise such as the slamming of a book or crashing of a cymbal. This is intended to mimic several scriptural sounds: the final cries of Jesus, the earthquake at his death (cf. Matthew 27:46-53), the shutting of His tomb, and the second earthquake at His rising (cf. Matthew 28:2). It is so difficult to imagine what it must have been like for the disciples. This last week of Jesus life was in many ways a whirlwind of activity and a roller coaster of emotions. I’ve been in similar emotional circumstances. Usually it occurred at the bedside of a gravely ill individual. Often I would receive a call from family members to come quickly as they gathered near their loved one awaiting that final moment when death would overtake them. There are so many of those memories over the last 50 years, they seem to coalesce into one. The same components are always present. The pain of family, the struggle to understand what is happening, and prayers fading into the realization that death is imminent bring them gather and simply wait in resignation. The disciples see the day unfolding. It wasn’t as if they weren’t told of these things. Jesus told them; they just couldn’t bring themselves to believe it. And then, when the people chose Barabbas over Jesus, their last hope seemed destroyed. Now, like a nightmare slowly unfolding before them. Jesus is led away to be crucified. They just couldn’t imagine resurrection. No one could. Even those Jesus had raised from the dead couldn’t. They merely came back to life. Resurrection is entirely different. I’ve often wished for something at the death of a loved one that would jar us from our grief into a clear understanding that we are witnesses to a beginning, not an ending. Jesus’ death guaranteed that we would never need to fear the future again. While it may be dark in this moment, it is only a moment compared to the eternity of light awaiting us! Let the cymbals crash in their announcement that it is, indeed, finished!