THEME: Personal gains betray friendship.
Today is Passion Sunday and it begins the Holy Week. The Liturgy reminds us that at the centre of our faith stands a man who died for love of us. It also re-affirms our faith in the Paschal Mystery. The Lamb of God is slaughtered for our sake. For the first time Jesus makes a public proclamation of who he is as he triumphantly enters Jerusalem. All along, Jesus will warn his disciples not to tell people who he is until scripture is fulfilled (Zechariah 9:9).
The first reading from the prophet Isaiah is the third of four servant songs found in the book of Isaiah (Is 42: 1-4, 49:1-6, 50:4-9, and 52: 13-53:12). These servant songs are found in Chapters 40 -55 of Isaiah often called the book of consolation because the prophet offers no judgment and condemnation of Israel, but only trust and confident hope that God is about to end the exile. The situation presupposed is that life in exile has become burdensome for the Israelites. In their dejection, it was the Word of God, spoken through the prophet that sustained them. The word of God sustains the weary. As he puts it, “The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher so that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word” (Isaiah 50:4a).
Indeed, God never grows tired of speaking through the prophet; giving him words of encouragement. And so the prophet says “Morning by morning he wakens – wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught” (Isaiah 50:4b).
The determination of the prophet to deliver the Word of God to wearied hearts brings him suffering. Yet, he must deliver it at the cost of his personal suffering. So he says “The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I did not turn backward. I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting’ (Isaiah 50:5-6). People who proclaim the word of God face stiff opposition. They must not be deterred under any circumstances.
However, the prophet is confident that God will eventually prove him right; that God will vindicate him someday. Therefore, the Servant firmly relies on God. Thus he puts it beautifully “The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore, I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame” (Isaiah 50:7).
In the same way, Jesus’ passion was the outcome of his obedience to His father in the face of rejection and his constant reliance on his Father to prove him right. Therefore, the Church is right to associate the Servant song with the passion and death of Jesus.
The Gospel reading of today identifies the Suffering Servant with Jesus. From his triumphant entry into Jerusalem through to his passion and death, Jesus demonstrates true love. The Gospel of our Lord's Passion which we have just heard brings out clearly the theme of betrayal: “One of the Twelve, the man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said: What are you prepared to give me if I hand him over to you”?
It all begins with a betrayal. It has to begin with a betrayal. Jesus has done nothing wrong so the only way to get him is to betray him. And so he is betrayed, and by one of his own. What could Judas have been thinking? And all for thirty pieces of silver. What could he have been thinking? What drove him to betray the Master? He probably imagined he had some cause, some reason, but he does not seem to have thought it through.
No one knows better how to betray than a disciple, one of the trusted inner persons. No one knows how to hurt the Church better than an ex-Catholic. He gave up everything so that humanity can draw from the fountain of mercy. Jesus freely underwent suffering and death so that all might attain salvation. Indeed, what others taught was evil turned out as a blessing for humanity. Jesus did it just for love of us.
The story of the suffering and death of Jesus which we heard in the Passion is basically a story of love – God’s love for us. Our response should be gratitude. Gratitude to Jesus should make us turn a new leaf and never go back to a life of sin. We would be the most ungrateful people if we should continue living the sort of life that made Jesus die. Gratitude should make us keep the memory of Jesus alive. No day should pass that we should not remember the love God has for us. Finally, God expects from us today gratitude – gratitude strong enough to make us hate sin of every shade and colour.
Everyone who turns away from Christ loses much more than he can ever hope to win. When Judas realised what he had done all his so-called 'reasons' came to nothing and he went out and hanged himself. What unkindness from a priest, what hurt, real or imagined, from a fellow Catholic, could ever justify walking away from Christ? When they handed him that money, from that moment he became a traitor; from that moment he looked for a way of handing him over. Judas was bought and paid for; no longer free. He had sold himself. He was a slave.
The betrayal of Judas is a betrayal of the Eucharist. Every bad Catholic betrays the Eucharist. Jesus speaks of Judas' betrayal in terms of the Scriptures and now, after supper, he speaks of his disciples' loss of faith 'in accordance with the Scriptures'. Peter and the rest of the disciples contradict him; they claim they will never lose faith. They contradict not only Jesus but also the Scriptures! But let us hasten to acknowledge that every betrayal is redeemable. No one ever needs to be lost. The road back to Christ is open to all - to Peter, to the other disciples, and even to Judas.
Jesus must have felt very lonely at that table. On the one hand sits Judas who would betray him and on the other hand sit the disciples who would desert him. Even now they reject his prophetic word which is, even though they do not realise it, essentially a rejection of Jesus himself, the Word of God. Judas has now left the community of the disciples. He has become the first bad Catholic. He has betrayed the fellowship, the community of the Lord, the Church.
The second reading also brings out clearly the characteristics of the Suffering Servant namely humility, self-emptying (Kenosis), obedience, service and the like. Jesus thought of others and became a servant. He emptied himself, laying aside the independent use of his own attributes as God; he permanently became man, in a sinless physical body; he took that body to the cross and willingly died. “ …Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God… but emptied himself taking the form of a slave and being born in human likeness…”(Philippians 2:6-7). Such was the grace he bestowed on humanity: from heaven to earth, from glory to shame, from master to servant, from life to death, even death on the cross.
Many people are willing to serve others if it does not cost them anything. But if there is a price to pay, they suddenly lose interest. “Jesus became obedient unto death, death on the cross” (Philippians 2:8). When love is the motive, sacrifice is never measured or mentioned. Is it costing you anything to be a Christian? It cost Jesus his life.
Just as the Servant of God was vindicated in the first reading, so was Christ exalted by his Father. The whole purpose of Christ’s humiliation and exaltation, therefore, is the glory of God. “Therefore, God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name…to the glory of God the father” (Philippians 2:9-11). As preachers, teachers, and parents, we have to guard against the possibility of transmitting prejudice or false interpretation of scripture as we celebrate the important feasts during the Holy Week. We have a responsibility to enlighten our minds and that of our little children to accept that in humility lies our victory; in the cross lies our glory.
In conclusion, Love is our identity. Love demands sacrifice. Where there is no sacrifice, there can hardly be any genuine love. This is because it is love that made us Christians. It cost Jesus his life for our sake. What are we also sacrificing for the glory of God? The celebration of the Paschal Mystery this week can only be meaningful if we show genuine love for God and one another. Jesus has a work to complete. He heads off to the Garden of Gethsemane, followed by his dazed and disheartened disciples. Let us go too, in all our weakness and hesitation. Perhaps we will, with the Eleven, learn what he wishes to teach us; to become what he wants us to become.
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