Mid-Lent Wednesday

Tomorrow  is the Mid-Lent Wednesday;

 in Malayalam we call it Paathi Nombu. We are at the mid point of the Lent.

Tomorrow  is the day we erect the Golgotha in the middle of the church. There are several significances to the erection of Golgotha.

Today's Bible Reading says: 

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3: 14-15.

Jesus predicted his eventual crucifixion to his disciples in this verse.

Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the middle of the desert (wilderness) around the middle of the Exodus, the journey of the Israelites from slavery to their promised land. He lifted up the serpent so that those who are bitten by the snake might look at it and have life. 

Similarly the cross (Jesus) is lifted up in the middle of the church so that we are reminded that those who are bitten by sin can look at Jesus and gain eternal life by the Him.

The Golgotha and erection of cross in the of the church also signifies that God came down from heaven and dwelt among us in this world. This is why the Golgotha is in the middle of the church with us, the common folks, and not in the Madbaha as we normally expect to find it. 

 

On this day, there is a procession around the church carrying the cross. This is followed by an exaltation of the cross (Sleeba Aaghosham) facing the four directions; East, West, North, and South. Then the cross is placed on a big decorated cross like stand covered with a red cloth (Golgotha) in the middle of the church.

 This remains in the church until the Feast of Ascension of our Lord, which occurs 40 days after the Kyomtha (Feast of the Resurrection or otherwise known as Easter).  Especially  in the middle of the church till Good Friday (representing the Public Ministry of Jesus)   when it will be taken to Calvary and then buried.

On Easter, Jesus will rise from the dead and then the cross will be placed in the Madbaha for another 40 days till the Feast of Ascension. Between the Easter and Ascension, Jesus only revealed to selected people (no public ministry as earlier), so the veiled cross will be seen only in the Madbaha during this time.  

The 25th day of the lent which is always a Wednesday is known as mid lent. 

This is one of the very few days  ( also  on 40^th Friday)  during the great lent when the Holy Qurbana is celebrated on a weekday other than Sunday or Saturday , but in  outside kerala the service of mid lent  will be on tuesday evening.