The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate our response to the injustice and betrayal that we endure or that we encounter in our relationship with others.
Persecute the Servant
The reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah shares the Servant’s humiliation and vindication.
* [50:4–11] The third of the four “servant of the Lord” oracles (cf. note on 42:1–4); in vv. 4–9 the servant speaks; in vv. 10–11 God addresses the people directly. * [50:5] The servant, like a well-trained disciple, does not refuse the divine vocation. * [50:6] He willingly submits to insults and beatings. Tore out my beard: a grave and painful insult.1
Psalm 69 is a prayer for deliverance from persecution.
* [Psalm 69] A lament complaining of suffering in language both metaphorical (Ps 69:2–3, 15–16, the waters of chaos) and literal (Ps 69:4, 5, 9, 11–13, exhaustion, alienation from family and community, false accusation). In the second part the psalmist prays with special emphasis that the enemies be punished for all to see ...The Psalm prays not so much for personal vengeance as for public vindication of God’s justice. There was, at this time, no belief in an afterlife where such vindication could take place. Redress had to take place now, in the sight of all.2
In the Gospel of Matthew, Judas agrees to betray Jesus after He shares the Passover with the Disciples.
* [26:15] The motive of avarice is introduced by Judas’s question about the price for betrayal, which is absent in the Marcan source (Mk 14:10–11). Hand him over: the same Greek verb is used to express the saving purpose of God by which Jesus is handed over to death (cf. Mt 17:22; 20:18; 26:2) and the human malice that hands him over. Thirty pieces of silver: the price of the betrayal is found only in Matthew. It is derived from Zec 11:12 where it is the wages paid to the rejected shepherd, a cheap price (Zec 11:13). That amount is also the compensation paid to one whose slave has been gored by an ox (Ex 21:32).3
Tamora Whitney notes that Jesus and his friends are all sharing a meal together: they are in an intimate setting. Betrayal indicates that trust has been broken. There has to be love and trust for there to be betrayal. A stranger can’t betray you. A stranger can harm you, but unless you have trusted someone, there’s not a sense of betrayal at the harm.
The suffering servant in Isaiah talks about his distress in his situation. He has the words of God to share with others, but he is attacked physically and verbally and emotionally. He suffers for the good of others, but it’s not easy. He is abused, but he knows what he is doing is important and necessary. Our lives as Christians can be a little like that. It seems like we do not get the rewards for doing the right thing but are instead punished for our faith and faithfulness. And with our human bodies and emotions we feel pain and frustration and sorrow. But we know that Jesus also has human emotions and also had a human body. He felt sorrow when he was betrayed. He felt physical pain when he was crucified. He understands our sorrow and frustration because he also felt that.4
Don Schwager quotes “God's help for a complete conversion,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"When we transform our old life and give our spirit a new image, we find it hard and tiring to turn back from the darkness of earthly passions to the serene calm of the divine light. We thus ask God to help us that a complete conversion may be brought about in us." (excerpt from Confessions 10,4)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Isaiah 50:4-9 comments that there is a current of hope running through the passage. We can see that the servant in the reading has put his hope in the Lord. But it isn’t just a vague optimism; in fact, it is an act of complete trust. “The Lord God is my help,” he says, “therefore I am not disgraced. . . . I shall not be put to shame” (Isaiah 50:7).
Jesus had hope because he knew that his Father was utterly trustworthy. Our hope is founded on the same kind of reliance on God. We can trust that our difficulties won’t have the final word because we have a Father in heaven who will never abandon us. The best way to face down the situations that threaten our hope, whether internal dispositions or outward circumstances, is to fix our eyes on God and his faithfulness and love.6
Friar Jude Winkler notes that the vocabulary used by Jesus is drawn from the songs of the suffering servant in Deutero Isaiah and the title Son of Man in Daniel 7. The actual betrayer is more ambiguous in Matthew’s account compared to Mark. Friar Jude reminds us that Jesus knows His betrayer and allows it to bring freedom through dying on the Cross.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, does not need to point out the many ways we practice scapegoating in our society today. We do it on both the political left and right, in our churches and community groups, by finger-pointing and punishing. We are convinced that “they” (whoever “they” are) are the entirety of the problem. It takes great spiritual and psychological maturity to recognize and break the cycle. Felicia Murrell, a writer, editor, and friend of the CAC, shares her own desire to walk a new and courageous path as an African American woman.
With transformation comes power. . . . What will we do with our power? What will we call forth? There at the threshold, we decide. Do I wield my power to force control, to shape the narrative and determine what will be and how it will be? Do I allow myself to be honest about humanity’s failings and the abuse of power, seeing the ways in which I too could become like that which I oppose? Can I acknowledge the monster side of my humanity: lament it, forgive it, and let it go, realizing that it may cycle around again? . . .7
The journey of the humble servant and disciple of Jesus passes through persecution and betrayal as we become open to the transformation that breaks the cycle of fear and violence.
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