Jesus' Funeral

As part of the Holy Week services every year, the Orthodox church basically has a funeral service/wake on the evening of Good Friday/Holy Friday. Jesus body is taken down from the cross, wrapped in linen, put in the tomb, and lamentations are sung. The lamentations always move me as they are sung by a mature Lebanese woman from our parish who sings them in Arabic which is close enough to Aramaic to my uneducated ears. When I close my eyes and hear that foreign language, it is like being transported back to that first Holy Friday. I imagine that is what good liturgy is supposed to do--to make you remember and participate as if you were actually there at the events that are being commemorated. Part of that magic to me is hearing the lamentations start off in Arabic. I don't think it would be the same if it was English, Greek, or Russian. The Arabic makes me imagine I am hearing the women who were there at the cross lamenting Jesus death. The lamentations are also what helps to set up the Pascha (Easter) service for such joy. It's like experiencing an emotional roller coaster--from the horrible death to the glorious resurrection.