The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with our experiences of humiliation, persecution, and betrayal.
Reversal of Fortune
The reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah describes 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 (Ps 69:23–29). Despite the pain, the psalmist does not lose hope that all be set right, and promises public praise (Ps 69:30–36). The Psalm, which depicts the suffering of the innocent just person vividly, is cited often by the New Testament especially in the passion accounts, e.g., Ps 69:5 in Jn 15:25; Ps 69:22 in Mk 15:23, 36 and parallels and in Jn 19:29. 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 as He celebrates 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
Beth Samson reflects about the setting where it becomes evident that one of these closest people was going to betray him.
Jesus, our sacred companion, in your full humanness, you know of what it feels like - the suffering, pain, sadness, loneliness. In your full divinity, you know that this is not the end of the story, that light and love win. Today, you ask us to be with you in your suffering, to journey alongside you to your death. We cannot alleviate it, we cannot remove it. We ask for the strength to be with you, to imagine your suffering, to know that you know pain. Amen.4
Don Schwager quotes “God's help for a complete conversion,” by 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 Matthew 26:14-25 asks what was Jesus ready to give Judas—and what is he ready to give us? Let’s look at just a few of the great gifts he is holding out to us. At the Last Supper, he revealed that he is ready to give us his own Body and Blood. And not just once, but “as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup” (1 Corinthians 11:26). On the cross, he revealed that he is ready to give us forgiveness for all our sins. At the resurrection, he revealed that he is ready to give us the hope of everlasting life. And in his ascension, he revealed that he is ready to give us the gift of his everlasting ministry of intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). What he is willing to give us is priceless!
We are in the middle of Holy Week. This is the time when Jesus wants to show us how much he has for us. Let’s make sure we are open to receiving it. Let’s bring him our questions, our needs, and our longings and ask him to fill us. There is so much he wants to give and to reveal. Expect more! “Jesus, thank you for giving yourself to me so completely! Help me turn my heart to you so that you can fill me.”6
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the Suffering Servant who finds refuge in doing the Will of God. Matthew’s version of Jesus' betrayal is more ambiguous than the account in the Gospel of John. Friar Jude points to different witnesses and different audiences in the secondary differences in the Gospel accounts.
Cynthia Bourgeault comments that the heart of Jesus’ ministry is summed up in the way he radically surrenders himself for the sake of love. And he left us a method for practicing this path ourselves, the method he himself modeled to perfection in the garden of Gethsemane.
When surrounded by fear, contradiction, betrayal; when the “fight or flight” alarm bells are going off in your head and everything inside you wants to brace and defend itself, the infallible way to extricate yourself and reclaim your home in that sheltering kingdom is simply to freely release whatever you are holding onto—including, if it comes to this, life itself. The method of full, voluntary self-donation reconnects you instantly to the wellspring; in fact, it is the wellspring. The most daring gamble of Jesus’ trajectory of pure love may just be to show us that self-emptying is not the means to something else; the act is itself the full expression of its meaning and instantly brings into being “a new creation”: the integral wholeness of Love manifested in the particularity of a human heart. [1]7
Our journey may take us through “fight or flight” experiences where we are nudged by the Spirit to seek the peace of the path that surrenders to the Will of God.
References
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