April 16, 2025
Wednesday of Holy Week
Lectionary: 259
Reading 1
The Lord GOD has given me
a well-trained tongue,
That I might know how to speak to the weary
a word that will rouse them.
Morning after morning
he opens my ear that I may hear;
And I have not rebelled,
have not turned back.
I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
My face I did not shield
from buffets and spitting.
The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
He is near who upholds my right;
if anyone wishes to oppose me,
let us appear together.
Who disputes my right?
Let him confront me.
See, the Lord GOD is my help;
who will prove me wrong?
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm
69:8-10, 21-22, 31 and 33-34
R. (14c) Lord, in your great love, answer me.
For your sake I bear insult,
and shame covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my mother's sons,
because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak,
I looked for sympathy, but there was none;
for consolers, not one could I find.
Rather they put gall in my food,
and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
I will praise the name of God in song,
and I will glorify him with thanksgiving:
"See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not."
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
Verse Before the Gospel
Hail to you, our King;
you alone are compassionate with our errors.
Or
Hail to you, our King, obedient to the Father;
you were led to your crucifixion like a gentle lamb to the slaughter.
Gospel
One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,
went to the chief priests and said,
"What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?"
They paid him thirty pieces of silver,
and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
the disciples approached Jesus and said,
"Where do you want us to prepare
for you to eat the Passover?"
He said,
"Go into the city to a certain man and tell him,
'The teacher says, "My appointed time draws near;
in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.""'
The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered,
and prepared the Passover.
When it was evening,
he reclined at table with the Twelve.
And while they were eating, he said,
"Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me."
Deeply distressed at this,
they began to say to him one after another,
"Surely it is not I, Lord?"
He said in reply,
"He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me
is the one who will betray me.
The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him,
but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
It would be better for that man if he had never been born."
Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply,
"Surely it is not I, Rabbi?"
He answered, "You have said so."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041625.cfm
Commentary on
Isaiah 50:4-9
Today’s reading presents the third Song of the
Servant of Yahweh. The fourth and last Song will be read during the liturgy
of Good Friday.
This ‘Servant’ passage from Isaiah also speaks very
graphically of what Jesus will go through in his passion. God provides his
Servant with the words he needs to speak, especially for those who need
encouragement. And Jesus will speak words of encouragement to his disciples
before his passion. He will speak to the women who sympathise with him on the
way to Calvary.
The Lord God has given me
a trained tongue,
that I may know how to sustain
the weary with a word.
Jesus is the Word of God, communicating God’s love and
encouragement. Later, Jesus will say:
Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy
burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matt
11:28-29)
The Servant says:
Morning by morning he wakens,
wakens my ear
to listen as those who are taught.
The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I did not turn backward.
This is a way of describing the total submission of Jesus to
his Father:
Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what
he suffered… (Heb 5:8)
and
[He] emptied himself, taking the form of a slave… (Phil
2:7)
In these actions, Jesus’ behavior is a contrast to that of a
rebellious Israel. In the Gospel, he frequently tells his disciples to listen;
in other words, to submit totally to the Way of life to which he is calling
them.
The Servant continues:
…I was not rebellious;
I did not turn backward.
This will be described in greater detail in the fourth Song
(on Good Friday). The Servant willingly submits to insults and beatings and
will not return in kind. To do so would be to bring himself down to the level
of his attackers. Plucking the beard was a great insult. He offers his back for
a beating, something given only to criminals. This, of course, will happen
during the scourging, and similarly for the mocking and spitting. It requires
great inner strength not to respond in kind to such provocation. But when it is
undergone with dignity, it is the attacker who seems small.
The Servant makes no resistance to his attackers. He will
not meet violence with violence. He will not resist when he is beaten, when his
beard is plucked, when he is struck and spat upon. However, it must be made
very clear that this is not weakness, but a sign of great inner strength and
peace, and:
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…
God comes to help so that he is not “disgraced”—he is
untouched by the insults. This is the sign of the inner security and strength
that comes from trusting in God. Insults and violence cannot change the inner
reality of the person. And ultimately the Lord is on his side. Insults are
either true or false. If they are true, they are not really insults, but simply
a statement of fact. If they are false, they can be ignored. In either case, to
respond with violence is to show weakness and insecurity.
The Servant meets insults and physical attacks with
firmness. He will not be turned away from the way that the Father is asking him
to go. He knows that the ultimate outcome will not be shame, but vindication
and glory because:
It is the Lord God who helps me…
Towards the end of his public life, we are told that Jesus:
…set his face to go to Jerusalem. (Luke 9:51)
Today’s passage ends with the Servant saying:
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand in court together.
Who are my adversaries?
Let them confront me.
It is the Lord God who helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Jesus is perfectly innocent of all the charges thrown
against him. He has no fear of court proceedings, even when they are corrupt.
Final vindication will be his.
We could reflect today on how we respond to criticisms or
statements about us we regard as unfair or untrue. Are we prone to
violence—physical or verbal? And, even if we do not respond externally, do we
allow statements and events to turn us into cauldrons of anger, hatred, anxiety
and tension? The Way of Jesus is the way to peace.
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Commentary on
Matthew 26:14-25
The stage is being set for the final drama of Jesus’
mission. Judas has gone to the chief priests to make a deal for handing Jesus
over to them—to betray him. The term, ‘betray’ (or in the Greek, ‘hand over’),
is like a refrain all through the Gospel and reaches a climax here. John the
Baptist was handed over. Now, we see Jesus being handed over—the term ‘betray’
occurs six times in today’s passage alone. Later, the followers of Jesus will
also be handed over, betrayed into the hands of those who want to put an end to
their mission.
Judas sells his master, betrays him, for 30 pieces of
silver. Only Matthew mentions the actual sum given to Judas. The sum derives
from a passage in Zechariah (11:11-13), where it is the wages paid to the
shepherd (Zechariah himself) rejected by the people. He is then told by God to
throw the money into the Temple treasury as a sign of God’s rejecting those who
reject him. Judas, too, will throw back the money to the priests after
realising what he has done.
What people will do for money! Judas is not alone. What he
did is happening every day. Perhaps I, too, have betrayed and handed over Jesus
more than once.
On the first day of the Feasts of Unleavened Bread, Jesus’
disciples ask him where he wants to celebrate the Passover. Little do they know
the significance of this Passover for Jesus—and for them.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover are closely
linked, but there is a distinction between them. The Passover was the
commemoration of the Israelites being liberated from slavery in Egypt, their
escape through the Red Sea (perhaps the Sea of Reeds?), and the beginning of
their long trek to the Promised Land. The feast began at sunset after the
Passover lamb had been sacrificed in the Temple, on the afternoon of the 14th
day of the month Nisan.
Associated with this, on the same evening, was the eating of
unleavened bread—the bread that Jesus would use when he said over it: “This is
my Body”. The eating of this bread continued for a whole week (to Nisan 21) as
a reminder of the sufferings the Israelites underwent, and the hastiness of
their departure. It was a celebration of thanks to God for the past, and of
hope for the future.
Jesus tells the disciples they are to contact a man who will
provide all that they need for a Passover meal.
During the meal Jesus drops the bombshell:
One of you is about to betray me. [Greek, ‘hand
me over’]
It is revealing that none of them points a finger at someone
else. They ask, “Is it I, Lord?” Each one realises that he is a potential
betrayer of Jesus. And, in fact, in the midst of the crisis, they will all
abandon him.
Nor is it one of his many enemies who will betray Jesus. No,
it is one of the Twelve; it is someone who has dipped his hand into the same
dish with Jesus, a sign of friendship and solidarity.
All of this has been foretold in the Scriptures, but how sad
it is for the person who has to take this role, even though it is a role he has
deliberately chosen. There is a certain cynicism when Judas asks with an air of
injured innocence:
Surely not I, Rabbi?
Jesus’ brief reply to him is:
You have said so.
The whole approaching drama is now set in motion.
Let us watch it carefully during the coming three days, not
just as spectators, but as participants. We too have so often betrayed Jesus,
we too have so often broken bread with Jesus and perhaps have sold him for
money, out of ambition, out of greed, out of anger, hatred, revenge or even violence
for our own personal gain. We can, like Judas, either abandon him in despair
or, like Peter, come back to him with tears of repentance.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/l1064g/
Wednesday,
April 16, 2025
Holy Week
Opening Prayer
God our Father,
when the hour of your Son
Jesus had come to accept suffering and death out of love of you and his saving
love for us, he did not refuse that suffering and deep pain.
In the hour of trial that
we may have to pass through, do not let us become rebellious but keep us
trusting in you, for you save us through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Gospel Reading - Matthew 26: 14-25
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?' They paid him thirty silver
pieces, and from then onwards he began to look for an opportunity to betray
him.
Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came
to Jesus to say,
'Where do you want us to
make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?' He said, 'Go to a certain
man in the city and say to him, "The Master says: My time is near. It is
at your house that I am keeping Passover with my disciples." The disciples
did what Jesus told them and prepared the Passover. When evening came he was at
table with the Twelve. And while they were eating he said, 'In truth I tell
you, one of you is about to betray me.' They were greatly distressed and
started asking him in turn, 'Not me, Lord, surely?' He answered, 'Someone who
has dipped his hand into the dish with me will betray me. The Son of man is
going to his fate, as the scriptures say he will, but alas for that man by whom
the Son of man is betrayed! Better for that man if he had never been born!'
Judas, who was to betray him, asked in his turn, 'Not me, Rabbi, surely?' Jesus
answered, 'It is you who say it.'
Reflection
Yesterday the Gospel spoke of the betrayal of Judas and of
the denial of Peter.
Today, it speaks once again
of the betrayal of Judas. In the description of the Passion of Jesus in the
Gospel of Matthew, the failure of the disciples is strongly stressed. In spite
of having lived three years together with Jesus, not one of them defends Jesus.
Judas betrays him, Peter denies him, and the others flee. Matthew narrates
everything, not to criticize or to condemn, neither to discourage the readers,
but in order to underline that acceptance and the love of Jesus exceed the
defeat and the failure of the disciples! This way of describing the attitude of
Jesus was a help for the Communities at the time of Matthew. Because of the
frequent persecutions, many were discouraged and had abandoned the community
and asked themselves: “Will it be possible to return? Will God accept and
forgive us?” Matthew responds by suggesting that we can break the relationship
with Jesus, but Jesus never breaks it with us. His love is greater than our
infidelity. This is a very important message which we get from the Gospel
during Holy Week.
•
Matthew 26: 14-16: The Decision of Judas to
betray Jesus. Judas took the decision after Jesus did not accept the criticism
of the disciples concerning the woman who wastes a very expensive perfume only
to anoint Jesus (Mt 26: 6-13). He went to the chief priest and asked: “What are
you prepared to give me if I hand him over to you?” They agreed on the sum of
thirty silver pieces. Matthew recalls the words of the Prophet Zechariah to
describe the price agreed upon (Zc 11: 12). At the same time, the betrayal of
Jesus for thirty silver coins recalls the sale of Joseph by his brothers,
decided by the buyers for twenty coins (Gn 37: 28). It also reminds the price
of thirty coins to be paid for the wounding of a slave (Ex 21: 32).
•
Matthew 26: 17-19: The preparation for the
Passover. Jesus was coming from Galilee. He did not have a house in Jerusalem.
He spent the night in the Garden of Olives (cf. Jn 8: 1). In the days of the
feast of the Passover the people of Jerusalem increased three times in number
because of the enormous number of pilgrims who went there from all parts. For
Jesus it was not easy to find a big room where to celebrate the Passover
together with the pilgrims coming from Galilee, as himself. He ordered his
disciples to find a person in whose house he had decided to celebrate the
Passover. The Gospel does not offer any other information and allows the
imagination to complete what is missing in the information. Was this a person
known by Jesus? A relative? A disciple? Throughout the centuries the
imagination of the Apocrypha has known how to complete this information, but
with little credibility.
•
Matthew 26: 20-25: The announcement of the
betrayal of Judas. Jesus knew that he will be betrayed. In spite of the fact
that Judas did things secretly. Jesus knew. But in spite of that, he wants to
act fraternally with the group of friends to which Judas belongs. When all were
together for the last time, Jesus announces who is the traitor “Someone who has
dipped his hand into the dish with me will betray me.” This way of announcing
the betrayal renders even clearer the contrast. For the Jews, the communion
around the table, to dip the hand together in the same dish, was the maximum
expression of intimacy and trust. In this way, Matthew suggests that in spite
of the betrayal made by someone who was a friend, the love of Jesus is greater
than the betrayal!
What strikes in the way in which Matthew describes these
facts? Between the denial and the betrayal there is the institution of the
Eucharist (Mt 26: 2629): the betrayal of Judas first (Mt 26: 20-25); the denial
of Peter and the flight of the disciples, afterwards (Mt 25: 30-35). Thus, he
stressed for us the incredible gratuitousness of the love of Jesus, which
exceeds the betrayal, the denial and the flight of the friends. His love does
not depend on what others do for him.
Personal Questions
•
Am I capable of being like Judas and to deny and
betray God, Jesus, the friends?
•
In Holy Week it is important to reserve some
moments to become aware of the unbelievable gratuity of God’s love for me.
Concluding Prayer
Sing to God, play music to his name,
build a road for the Rider of the Clouds, rejoice in Yahweh, dance before him.
Father of orphans, defender of widows, such is God in his
holy dwelling. (Ps 68: 4-5)
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