Holy Tuesday: The Day of Questions and Disputations
Christ as Teacher, Scholar, Disputer
The Medieval Holy Week Series:
Matthew 21:23–27 — Jesus questioned by the chief priests
Matthew 22:15–46 — Debates with Pharisees and Sadducees
Matthew 23 — Woes against the scribes and Pharisees
Matthew 24–25 — Apocalyptic teachings and parables:
Parable of the Ten Virgins
Parable of the Talents
The Last Judgment (Sheep and Goats)
Given Gospel readings in which Christ confronted Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes — not with anger, but with brilliant argumentation, Holy Tuesday was the day of debate. In a culture that loved scholastic disputation, this made Tuesday a favorite among clergy and students. To better understand this, some background on medieval education is important.
Christ as Master of the Disputation
Unlike today's scholastic disputes that consist largely of calling others morons and accusing them of illiteracy with a heavy sprinkling of Eff You, medieval universities trained students in public disputations through formal debates with strict rules that required actual logic and facts. They saw Christ’s dialogues in the Temple as the ultimate model:
He answers questions with questions.
He exposes faulty logic.
He reveals deeper truths beneath surface arguments.
To the medieval mind, Christ was not only Savior but the greatest teacher who ever lived. They aspired to follow His methods.
Parables of Judgment and Responsibility
Holy Tuesday’s readings including the parables of the Ten Virgins and the Talents, and prophecies of the Last Judgment, which often gave way to warnings to Guilds to use their skills wisely, to clergy to shepherd their flocks faithfully, and to laity to prepare their souls, it's not surprising that Holy Tuesday was often a day of:
- confession (it was required during Holy Week)
- making restitution
- acts of charity
- reconciling with others
- spiritual preparation for the Triduum
- focusing on penitence
- focusing on teaching
- reflecting on judgment
- listening to sermons
- fasting
- Christ confronting hypocrisy
- Warnings of Judgment and urging people to prepare for death
- The need for vigilance and repentance
- Rebuking greed
- Warning corrupt officials (hey, we should do that again!)
- call out false piety
Early Forms of Tenebrae
Gradual extinguishing of candles
Chanting of Lamentations
A final loud noise (the strepitus) symbolizing the earthquake at Christ’s death
This was a foretaste of the darkness to come.
Holy Tuesday can be characterized as a day to sharpe the medieval mind and soul. It was a day to wrestle with truth, to listen to Christ the Teacher, and to prepare for the moral weight of the Passion.
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An education founded in the Trivium (3 roads) and Quadrivium (4 roads), leading to Scientia (which at the time encompassed religion, alchemy, and philosophy). Trivium included grammar, logic (dialectic), and rhetoric. How to read and write correctly (yes, there is a correct way to do these things...), how to distinguish truth from falsehood (and particularly logical fallacies), and how to communicate effectively and persuasively. Interestingly, in school, this was done across at least 3 languages (Greek, Latin and one's local language). In higher schools, they may add a number of other languages to the mix, including Hebrew.
ReplyDeleteThe Quadrivium were the arts of number - arithmetic (number in itself), geometry (number in space), music (number in time, including harmonics and proportion), and astronomy (number in space and time).
These arts taught not what to think, but how. How to unify knowledge and understand the structure of reality. Today, we are consumed by the structure of unreality, and splitting knowledge even from itself. Consider that Christ was God - that he wanted the people to understand, particularly those (the Pharisees and Sadducees) who had proven themselves to be close to leading people AWAY from God, not to Him. Meaning, they faced an urgent and dreadful judgement. People who seemed like they followed God but indeed led others astray. Why would He not want these people back? And so He taught. And taught... I learned in Sunday school long ago that the Israelites were a "stiff-necked people". Well, aren't we all, when it comes to God?
And so let us rejoice that he took on our sin, from all, from all times, and for all times to come. Every sin flowed through His body, wrenching Him completely and consuming Him. And yet, He transcended that death and will come again.
Marana Tha - come Lord Jesus, come.