Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Challenged by the Servant

 

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.

 * [50:411] The third of the four “servant of the Lord” oracles (cf. note on 42:14); in vv. 49 the servant speaks; in vv. 1011 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 69:23, 1516, the waters of chaos) and literal (Ps 69:4, 5, 9, 1113, 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 14:1011). 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.

 

References

1

(n.d.). Isaiah, CHAPTER 50 | USCCB. Retrieved March 31, 2021, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/is/50:01 

2

(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 69 | USCCB. Retrieved March 31, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/69 

3

(n.d.). Matthew, CHAPTER 26 | USCCB. Retrieved March 31, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/es/node/4320?7= 

4

(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online .... Retrieved March 31, 2021, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/033121.html 

5

(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved March 31, 2021, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

6

(n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved March 31, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/03/31/181343/ 

7

(2021, March 31). Breaking the Cycle of Violence — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved March 31, 2021, from https://cac.org/breaking-the-cycle-of-violence-2021-03-31/ 

 

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Prepared to Serve

 

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite contemplation of our preparedness to serve as people who bring light and hope to situations where darkness and betrayal are present.
Serve hope and Love

 

The reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah presents the Servant’s Mission to bring light to the darkness of the world.

 

* [49:17] The second of the four “servant of the Lord” oracles (cf. note on 42:14). * [49:1] Gave me my name: designated me for a special task or mission (cf. Jer 1:5). * [49:3] Israel: the servant is identified with the people of Israel as their ideal representative; however, vv. 56 seem to distinguish the servant from Israel. * [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 is a prayer for lifelong protection and help.

 

* [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 71:14) on the basis of a hope learned from a lifetime’s experience of God; the second part describes the menace (Ps 71:913) yet remains buoyant (Ps 71:1416); the third develops the theme of hope and praise.2

In the Gospel of John, Jesus foretells His betrayal and Peter’s denial.

 

* [13:1] Before the feast of Passover: this would be Thursday evening, before the day of preparation; in the synoptics, the Last Supper is a Passover meal taking place, in John’s chronology, on Friday evening. To the end: or, “completely.” * [13:2] Induced: literally, “The devil put into the heart that Judas should hand him over.”3

The moral that Molly Mattingly takes from that story today is that God’s goal might be different than we imagine, and therefore our definition of failure might be different than God’s.

 

The important thing is to trust God and to keep communicating with God. In the second half of the first reading, Isaiah rejoices because of what God did after he seemed to work in vain for so long. God made him more than a servant to Israel, but a light to the whole world! We respond with the psalm, “I will sing of your salvation. … For you are my hope, O LORD; my trust, O God, from my youth.” This is where we’re headed this week, and where Jesus is situated in today’s Gospel: it’s about to look like all his ministry and promise was for nothing, a failure. And yet! The glory of the Resurrection is around the corner, and that Easter morning light will gild everything that came before it.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 Isaiah 49:1-6 comments that Jesus didn’t come just for the first disciples or the early Church. He came for our next-door neighbor. He came for the person driving past us on the highway. He came for the spouse in a difficult marriage or in the throes of addiction. He came for those people who have yet to come to faith. Jesus came for every person. He wants every single one of us to know him as Lord.

 

There is no darkness, whether it be a tough situation or a hardened or wounded heart, that is beyond God’s ability to touch. There is no sin he can’t forgive. As it says in today’s first reading, it would be “too little” for his servant to restore only the survivors of Israel (Isaiah 49:6). Jesus came to bring his light to everyone. What a message of encouragement this must have been to the Israelites—as it is for each one of us!6

Joseph A. Tetlow, SJ, currently the director of the Montserrat Jesuit Retreat House in Lake Dallas, Texas, offers an Examen for Holy Week.

 

Friar Jude Winkler shares the meekness that accompanies the mysterious suffering servant called to die for our sins in Isaiah. The Gospel of John is specific in identifying Judas and evil of the night. Friar Jude reminds that the hour of glory is Jesus Love on the Cross.


 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that the mystery of the cross teaches us how to stand against hate without becoming hate, how to oppose evil without becoming evil ourselves. We find ourselves stretching in both directions—toward God’s goodness and also toward recognition of our own complicity in evil. In that moment, we will feel crucified. We hang in between, without resolution, our very life a paradox held in hope by God (see Romans 8:23–25).

 

Etty Hillesum (1914–1943), a young Jewish woman who was killed at Auschwitz. In her diary, she recreates a conversation with her friend, writer Klaas Smelik, about the hatred and bullying she saw within her own community. “Klaas, all I really wanted to say is this: we have so much work to do on ourselves that we shouldn’t even be thinking of hating our so-called enemies. We are hurtful enough to one another as it is. And I don’t really know what I mean when I say that there are bullies and bad characters among our own people, for no one is really “bad” deep down. I should have liked to reach out to that [bully] with all his fears, I should have liked to trace the source of his panic, to drive him ever deeper into himself, that is the only thing we can do, Klaas, in times like these.”7

We meditate on the message for us in the paradox of the Cross and our call to be light in the darkness.

 

References

1

(n.d.). Isaiah, CHAPTER 49 | USCCB. Retrieved March 30, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/49 

2

(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 71 | USCCB. Retrieved March 30, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/71 

3

(n.d.). John, CHAPTER 13 | USCCB. Retrieved March 30, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/13 

4

(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online .... Retrieved March 30, 2021, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/033021.html 

5

(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved March 30, 2021, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

6

(n.d.). Tuesday of Holy Week - The Word Among Us. Retrieved March 30, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/03/30/181340/ 

7

(2021, March 30). Opposing Evil without Becoming It — Center for Action and .... Retrieved March 30, 2021, from https://cac.org/opposing-evil-without-becoming-it-2021-03-30/ 

 

Monday, March 29, 2021

Anointed Servant Disruption

 

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us with the image of the Suffering Servant and the power of Love as the Divine Disrupter of our human self centeredness.
Anointed for love

 

The reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah presents The Servant, as a Light to the Nations.

 * [42:14] Servant: three other passages have been popularly called “servant of the Lord” poems: 49:17; 50:411; 52:1353:12. Whether the servant is an individual or a collectivity is not clear (e.g., contrast 49:3 with 49:5). More important is the description of the mission of the servant. In the early Church and throughout Christian tradition, these poems have been applied to Christ; cf. Mt 12:1821.1

Psalm 27 is a triumphant Song of Confidence.

 

* [Psalm 27] Tradition has handed down the two sections of the Psalm (Ps 27:16; 714) as one Psalm, though each part could be understood as complete in itself. Asserting boundless hope that God will bring rescue (Ps 27:13), the psalmist longs for the presence of God in the Temple, protection from all enemies (Ps 27:46).2

In the Gospel of John, Mary anoints Jesus and the religious authorities plot to kill Lazarus.

 

* [12:18] This is probably the same scene of anointing found in Mk 14:39 (see note there) and Mt 26:613. The anointing by a penitent woman in Lk 7:3638 is different. Details from these various episodes have become interchanged.3

David Crawford comments that we can (and should) be followers of Jesus.  We can have an intimate friendship with Jesus, one that welcomes Him into our homes, our hearts and any other space we consider private and personal.  Jesus has called us to step out of darkness and offers us New Life.

 

We can live a life that testifies to the power of the Messiah, not because of anything we say or do on our own, but precisely because we respond to His call and enter into an intimate relationship with Him.  You can be involved in “the victory of justice” described by the prophet Isaiah.  You can work “to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.” This does not mean that we won’t face difficulties or opposition.  Quite the opposite.  Do not fear, though.  As the psalmist told us today, the Lord is our light and our salvation.  Trust.  Have courage.  The Lord is our refuge.  Of whom should we be afraid?4

Don Schwager quotes “God first loved us,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

 "Fulfill the commandments out of love. Could anyone refuse to love our God, so abounding in mercy, so just in all His ways? Could anyone deny love to Him Who first loved us despite all our injustice and all our pride? Could anyone refuse to love God Who so loved us as to send His only Son not only to live among human beings but also to be put to death for their sake and at their own hands?." (excerpt from Catechetical Instructions 39)5

The Word Among Us Meditation on Isaiah 42:1-7 notes that In her visions, Julian of Norwich saw that through the cross, Christ “wraps us” and “encloses us” in his tender love. Through the cross, he grasps us by the hand (Isaiah 42:6). He lifts us up from the pit of sin. And he embraces us. That’s the headline for Holy Week: “God is love!”

 

This week, as you accompany Jesus on the way to Calvary, remember Julian’s vision of the hazelnut and God’s staggering love. Like Julian, you can ask for your own glimpse into the passion—a glimpse of the suffering of Christ and of the deep joy in the heart of God. And you can ask for the grace to see the world through the lens of Jesus’ love. “Lord, I open my heart to receive the vastness of your love, which you have wrapped around me.”6

Friar Jude Winkler examines the Suffering Servant in Deutero Isaiah who destroys evil through love. Martha has been suggested as a model for women deacons in the early Church. Friar Jude reminds us that love precedes social justice in Christian action.


 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that Jesus became the scapegoat to reveal the universal lie of scapegoating. He became the sinned-against one to reveal the hidden nature of scapegoating, so that we would see how wrong even educated and well-meaning people can be. This is perfectly represented by Pilate and Caiaphas (state and religion), who both find their artificial reasons to condemn him (see John 16:8–11 and Romans 8:3).

 

In worshiping Jesus as the scapegoat, Christians should have learned to stop scapegoating, but we didn’t. We are still utterly wrong whenever we create arbitrary victims to avoid our own complicity in evil. It seems it is the most effective diversionary tactic possible. History has shown us that authority itself is not a good guide. Yet for many people, authority soothes their anxiety and relieves their own responsibility to form a mature conscience. We love to follow someone else and let them take the responsibility. It is a universal story line in history and all cultures. With the mistaken view of God as a Punisher-in-Chief that most Christians seem to hold, we think our own violence is necessary and even good. But there is no such thing as redemptive violence. Violence doesn’t save; it only destroys all parties in both the short and long term. Jesus replaced the myth of redemptive violence with the truth of redemptive suffering. He showed us on the cross how to hold the pain and let it transform us.7

Jesus' response to being anointed by Mary teaches us primarily to express love as servants of the Lord.

 

References

1

(n.d.). Isaiah, CHAPTER 42 | USCCB. Retrieved March 29, 2021, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/42:16 

2

(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 27 | USCCB. Retrieved March 29, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/27 

3

(n.d.). John, CHAPTER 12 | USCCB. Retrieved March 29, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/12 

4

(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online .... Retrieved March 29, 2021, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/032921.html 

5

(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved March 29, 2021, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

6

(n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved March 29, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/03/29/181336/ 

7

(2021, March 29). A Temporary Solution — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved March 29, 2021, from https://cac.org/a-temporary-solution-2021-03-29/