April 12, 2017
Wednesday of Holy Week
The
Responsorial (read all of Psalm 69) is the constant prayer of the
servants of God:
“Lord, in your great love, answer me.”
Isaiah 50:
4-9 is the third Song of the
Servant. The Servant neither depends on human support nor fears human
opposition. His confidence is in God.
• God has equipped him: “The Lord God has given me a well-trained
tongue.” Think of how God has equipped us in the Church. But for our “tongue”
to serve, it must be “trained” through use
of “word and sacrament.”
• Training is ongoing: “Morning after morning he opens my ear that
I may hear.” The Servant is a continuing disciple.
He listens. Daily. “The Servant must first be a disciple, prayerfully receiving
God’s word, before he can presume to teach others.”[1]
• He accepts persecution and suffering without resentment: “I have
not rebelled, have not turned back. I gave my back to those who beat me....”
The “way of the cross” is to endure evil and love back.
• He relies on God for strength and victory: “ “The Lord God is my
help, therefore I am not disgraced.”
• This is the source of his courage and perseverance. Nothing is
going to turn him aside from his mission:
“I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to
shame.” “See, the Lord God is my help.”
Mathew 26:
14-25 shows us another contrast. Judas looks ahead and sees that Jesus
is going to go down. So he takes care of himself. He takes his stakes out of
the pot and invests in the future. He goes over to the enemy, the “chief
priests,” and asks, “What will you give me if I hand him over to you?”
When the disciples look ahead, they go to Jesus: “Where do you
wish us to prepare the Passover supper for you?” They are with him and have
cast in their lot with him. They trust in whatever he says.
Jesus answers as he did when they asked him how to feed the crowd
that was following him in the wilderness. He told them to call on the
community, ask them to share. “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” They
found a boy with “five barley loaves and two fish.”
Now he says, “Go to this man in the city...” — obviously a
believer — “...and tell him, ‘the Teacher says my appointed time draws near. I
am to celebrate the Passover with my disciples in your house.” Jesus knows he
will share.
“When it grew dark, he reclined at table with the Twelve” — soon
to be eleven. As night approached, all they had was themselves and God. It was
enough.
Except for Judas. After receiving the “bread” from Jesus’ hand, he
“immediately went out.” Then, John wrote, “It was night.”[2]
Initiative:
In any need, pray “Lord,
in your great love, answer me.”
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