The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to struggle with the resolution of glorification and betrayal in the lives of servants of the Lord and in our own experience.
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| A path of hope |
The passage from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah describes the nature of the Suffering Servant of the Lord.
* [49:6] The servant’s vocation extends beyond the restoration of Israel in order to bring the knowledge of Israel’s God to the rest of the earth; cf. Lk 2:32.1
Psalm 71 pleads for help (Ps 71:1–4) on the basis of a hope learned from a lifetime’s experience of God.
* [Psalm 71] A lament of an old person (Ps 71:9, 18) whose afflictions are interpreted by enemies as a divine judgment (Ps 71:11). The first part of the Psalm pleads for help (Ps 71:1–4) on the basis of a hope learned from a lifetime’s experience of God; the second part describes the menace (Ps 71:9–13) yet remains buoyant (Ps 71:14–16); the third develops the theme of hope and praise.2
In the Gospel from John, the Beloved Disciple sets the stage for announcement of Judas’s betrayal.
Announcement of Judas’s Betrayal3
Dennis Hamm, S.J. concludes Jesus was able to sustain the betrayal and denial of some of his closest friends and to hope that his followers would become not only Isaiah’s “restored Israel” but also “a light to the nations.
Lord Jesus, what happened to you in the betrayal and denial of friends, will likely happen to us as well, as we try in our own frail way to collaborate in your mission of being a light to the nations. Help us to hold up under those disappointments and to trust that our small efforts to follow you will somehow fit your larger plan of nothing less than the salvation of the world.4
Don Schwager quotes “Fight sin and put up with trials,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"Your first task is to be dissatisfied with yourself, fight sin, and transform yourself into something better. Your second task is to put up with the trials and temptations of this world that will be brought on by the change in your life and to persevere to the very end in the midst of these things." (excerpt from Commentary on Psalm 59,5)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on John 13:21-33, 36-38 recognizes that betrayal is so damaging because we instinctively want to protect ourselves from being hurt a second time. Jesus shows us how powerful forgiveness can be. It can restore even the most damaged relationship.
If you are hurting from a betrayal, you may have no desire to forgive that person. Ask for this grace anyway. Even if you think it’s impossible to forgive or that the relationship can be restored, remember: nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37).6
Friar Jude Winkler reviews the origins of the second song of the suffering servant and how it most identifies Jesus. The Hebrew superlative technique, applied to Peter, expresses the most horrendous denial. Friar Jude underlines the choice of Judas made in the dark in the very dualistic Gospel of John.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that the deep-time message of Jesus’ death is presented through a confluence of three healing images from his own Hebrew Scriptures: the scapegoat whom he talked about on Sunday; the Passover lamb which is the innocent victim (Exodus 12); the “Lifted-Up One” or the homeopathic curing of the victim (Numbers 21:6-9) who becomes the problem to reveal the problem.
The victim state has been the plight of most people who have ever lived on this earth, so in all three cases we see Jesus identifying with humanity at its most critical and vulnerable level. It is God in solidarity with the pain of the world, it seems, much more than God the omnipotent who, with a flick of the hand, overcomes all pain. But Jesus walks the victim journey in an extraordinary way. He neither plays the victim card himself for his own aggrandizement, nor does he victimize anybody else, even his murderers. He forgives them all.7
Father Richard offers the conclusion today that we are invited to gaze upon the image of the crucified and to realize that God the Father suffers with Jesus. This softens our hearts toward God and all of reality. We see that God’s heart has always been softened toward us, even and most especially in our suffering. This softens us toward ourselves and all others who suffer.
References
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(n.d.). Isaiah, chapter 49 - usccb. Retrieved April 16, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/49
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(n.d.). Psalms, chapter 71 - usccb. Retrieved April 16, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/71
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(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - OnlineMinistries - Creighton University. Retrieved April 16, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
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5
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(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved April 16, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
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(n.d.). Tuesday of Holy Week - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily .... Retrieved April 16, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/04/16/
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7
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(n.d.). Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations - Daily Meditations Archives .... Retrieved April 16, 2019, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/
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