During the supreme days of Holy Week, the weight of time changes pace; the liturgy slows down, takes another breath, and calmly accompanies the last days of Jesus: from the entry into Jerusalem until Magdalene’s rush into the garden when she sees the tombstone clothed with angels.
Sadly, hate for Jesus is growing, but he leaves the temple and the harsh conflicts and takes refuge in Bethany: in the house of friendship, in the warm circle of friends, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, as if to regain the breath of courage. He needs to feel not only the Master but the Friend.
Friendship is not a minor theme of the Gospel. “I don’t call you servants but Friends.” On that last evening, Jesus will unveil God’s face, kneeling before his disciples, their feet in his hands. The Son of God makes very human gestures. He loves with a heart of flesh, just before his passion.
Then Jesus gives himself up to death. Love knows many duties, but the first is being with the beloved. God enters death because that is where each of his children goes. The cross is the abyss where God becomes the lover. And he will carry us out, upward, with his Passover.
He enters death and passes through it, gathering us all from the remotest distances, and God raises him up so that it may be clear that such love cannot be lost and those who live as he lived will have his unbreakable life as a gift