Big Week and Big Night: Holy Week as Feast

There’s a week in our year that’s bigger than any other holiday -- Thanksgiving, President's Day, even Christmas! We call it Holy Week.

As we begin to turn toward this week, I'd like to help us prepare by thinking about a movie called Big Night. There will be spoilers, and I'm going to use more than a few words to get there, but like waiting for il timpano, it's worth it.

Big Night
Big Night is about two brothers from Italy trying to make their restaurant in America, called Paradise, a success. With the help of a friend, the spend the last of their money on a great feast in honor of jazz legend, Louis Prima.

The best parts of the film are during the feast. The food looks exquisite, the guests are enraptured as they dine. "To eat good food is to be close to God," says the chef and older brother. Even their friend who promised to invite Prima is there, but Prima never shows because their friend betrayed them. The restaurant is doomed.

But the real story is the conflict between the brothers. They've never seen eye to eye. One wants to succeed in America; one wants to stay true to his craft as a chef. Only in the dawning reality of failure, standing on a beach, does it all come out. They wrestle, and then older brother says if he sacrifices his work, he dies, and he leaves his brother on the beach alone.

In the final scene, the younger brother is back in the kitchen. He cooks an omelet. In walks his older brother. Silently, they share the meal with arms around each other.

The brothers think that saving the restaurant, or cooking the perfect meal, is more important than anything. Instead, through the night, they learn what food is for -- to be shared with the ones you love.

The Great Feast
In Holy Week, everything -- paradise, the entire universe -- hangs in the balance. There was never a Bigger Week in the history of the world. There is a feast, betrayal, even death. All is lost. But after several long nights, one morning, Christ returns to his friends on a beach and cooks them a meal. All is restored.

Nothing is more extravagant than Holy Week. Nothing more satisfying. After the guests in Big Night have dined on several courses, and closed their eyes and heaved a deep sigh, the doors of the kitchen open. They look over to see, in a kind of mix of wonder and horror, the cooks bringing in a full roast pig festooned with colorful vegetables. And then they all cheer.

God is not to be nibbled on. God overwhelms our sensibilities. Holy Week is the abundance of God.

Enough with the weak coffee of abstract religion, and to hell with the daily multivitamin of personal gods! We worship one who is all God and all human. This God is more potent than Maria's salsa, and more spiritual than malbec. The thick mystery of Holy Week rivals any gravy, its richness stands up to even the best of Sam Hopkins's chili.

During Holy Week, there is a seat for you -- always. Come and sit! Come and feast! Taste and see -- the Lord is good!

Pastor Eddy