April 11, 2017
Tuesday of Holy Week
In the Absence of the Human,
the Divine is Revealed
Isaiah 49:
1-6 is the beginning of the second Song of the Servant. These songs
portray the ideal Servant of God,
the perfect Israelite, whose consecration to the divine will, even in the midst
of overwhelming suffering, ‘takes away the sins of many.’
The Servant’s identity is complex:
The Servant is “Israel, alive in all
of her great leaders and intercessors.... But the collective interpretation
leads to an individual Servant of supreme holiness, greater than any single
Israelite of the past.... It was Jesus who clearly identified himself as the
Servant.... The Servant is both a collective personality and an individual
messiah.[1]
For practical purposes we can apply what is said about the Servant
to Jesus, to Israel, to the Church, and to ourselves. Individually and
collectively, we are all engaged in his mission, and we experience what he
experiences in fulfilling it. Four points to keep in mind:
· The Servant
knows he was chosen “from my mother’s womb.” So do we — at least from the womb
of Baptism. And Jesus. But he was tempted to doubt it, as we are.[2]
· He feels he
has “toiled in vain and for nothing.” So did Jesus, who on the cross felt
failure and abandonment. So do we.
· He knows his
“reward is with the Lord.” So did Jesus. In his human consciousness he did not know
on the cross that he would rise from the dead. But like Abraham sacrificing
Isaac, he believed, “hoping against hope,” that he was inexplicably saving the
world and entering into his glory. We sometimes need to do the same.[3]
· In response
to his discouragement, God extends his mission beyond Israel to include the
whole earth: “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may
reach to the ends of the earth.” When the pot is empty, throw a party! After
Good Friday, Pentecost. “I will sing of your salvation.”
John 13:
21-38 shows us Jesus aware of betrayal and denial by two of his closest
followers, and his response is to say, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and
God is glorified in him!” He knew things were out of his hands. He was to be
delivered up. He had no human support. And he knew the Scriptural principle: In
the absence of the human the divine is revealed, The Virgin Birth: the absence
of a human father revealed the fatherhood of God. Sending his disciples without
resources to show they relied on God.[4] His present situation: the absence of all
human support meant he was in the hands of God. If God was allowing his total
abasement, God must be glorifying him. There was nothing more to do but
surrender in joy: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” “I will sing of your salvation.”
Initiative:
Find life in death, hope in despair, light in darkness, love in
abandonment, power in weakness. In the absence of the human, rejoice in God.
[1]
Jerome Biblical Commentary.
[2] See his
temptations, beginning with “If...” Matthew
4:1-11; 27:39-46.
[3] Romans 4:18; John 12:23-28.
[4]
Matthew 10:9-10.
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