Servants called to Royal Wedding

The Commemoration of the Lord's Passion is the Christian event to which the texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary are addressed today. The last of the four poems of the Suffering Servant from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah is presented. The one who was among us rejected, despised and of whom we held no account is to be exalted and lifted up in expatiation of our sins. These poems in Deutero-Isaiah are described by Friar Jude Winkler as the texts Jesus cited about Himself. Friar Jude points out that they contain changes in Jewish theological thinking wherein human sacrifice replaces the killing of animals in the cleansing from sin. The resurrection of the suffering one to life by the Lord God is also a change in Jewish thought about resurrection. The letter to the Hebrews identifies Jesus as the "perfected" or ordained and authorized Priest to make prayer and supplication to the Father for the sins of all through His personal suffering. Uniquely, Jesus, the High Priest, is without sin and it is not necessary for Him to be personally cleansed of sin before He is offered as "Lamb-Servant". This passage emphasizes the obedience to the Will of God learned by Jesus and extended as the Way for His Disciples to continue to remain in intimacy with the Divine. The many images and scenes of the Passion according to John are so alive with deep meaning. The tension between the poetry, symbolism and the narrative "history" which is so preferred in the modern mind is in the text from the first scene where Jesus as King is recognized as the soldiers and those who have come to apprehend Him fall down before Him. Friar Jude positions this Passion account in parallel with Psalm 45 "Ode for a Royal Wedding". The many scenes which proclaim in word and symbol the Kingship of Jesus stand in stark contrast to the modern picture we have of leadership. The Easter weekend will open for our eyes some of the truth, rejected by Pilate, that the King reigns in the lives of millions on this planet. The example of leading in service, prompted by the Spirit, in accord with the Will of God, is the fruit of the Resurrection which continues to transform our focus on self, power, prestige and pride to humble thanksgiving as we stand among those born as priests, prophets and kings in the "Easter water".  The Passion on the cross concludes with the the marriage of the Son of God, the King of the Jews, to the Church in the symbolism of the giving of Mary, Jesus Mother, "the Church" to the "beloved Disciple", us, in the tradition of the brother of the Jewish man who dies without children taking the widow as wife to raise children with his brother's name. We marry the Church to obediently raise up children for Brother Jesus who will be called "Christian".