Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Wednesday of Holy Week

(Isaiah 50:4-9a; Matthew 26:14-25)

Of the four gospels Matthew gives the most complete portrait of Judas Iscariot.  As in Mark and Luke, Judas is named on Matthew’s list of apostles in the last place because he will betray Jesus (10:4).  In the passage read today, Judas bargains with the chief priests for thirty pieces of silver in exchange for handing Jesus over.  During the Last Supper Matthew alone pictures Judas as disobeying Jesus’ explicit directive not to call anyone “Rabbi.” In Gethsemane Judas again defies Jesus by calling him “Rabbi” and then treacherously kisses him as a sign to the arresting party that he is their man (26:47-50).  Finally, only Matthew describes Judas’ returning the money he received from the high priests out of regret for what he had done.  Then, according to Matthew alone, Judas hangs himself (27:3-5).

Judas betrays Jesus out of greed.  The thirty pieces of silver comprise 120 days of wages for a skilled laborer in gospel times.  In the end Judas appears remorseful when he goes back to the chief priests to return the silver.  Is he expressing contrition for his sin?  Not really. He offended Jesus, not the chief priests.  If he were truly sorry, he should have sought Jesus’ forgiveness. 

Judas evidently was at least gifted enough to attract Jesus’ attention and to be elected an apostle.  Perhaps he was blinded enough by the desire for silver that he bought into the criticism of Jesus by the Jewish leaders.  In any case he lacked the fortitude to ask forgiveness of the person he offended.  Looking at ourselves, we may find some of the same character faults.  Hopefully, we pray every day that God will strengthen us so that we never betray our friends, least of all, Jesus, the greatest of our friends.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Tuesday of Holy Week

(Isaiah 49:1-6; John 12:21-33; 36-38)

The gospel today invites us to compare and contrast Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial of Jesus.  Preachers sometimes say that the two offenses amount to the same sin of infidelity.  That opinion, however, seems mistaken.  It would be like equating setting a house on fire and failing to call the fire department when we see the blazes.  “First, do no harm,” wrote the primordial physician-philosopher Hippocrates. 

Other preachers may condemn Judas for treachery but dismiss Peter’s failure because he was afraid.  This way of thinking also seems misguided.  There is no evidence that Peter suffered clinical anxiety.  Indeed, he appears as a head-strong man.  Doing good almost always involves some difficulty.  Peter’s failure to act righteously when confronted about Jesus indicates that he considers his losses in declaring his loyalty as greater than his benefits.  Although his repeated denials comprise lies, we should see Peter’s principal sin as one of omission.

Nor can Judas’ treason be defended by saying that the devil made him do it.  Although the passage states, “Satan entered him,” a bit later, when Judas leaves the supper, it adds, “...it was night.”  This reference is made not so much to give the time of day but to indicate that Judas deliberately chose the darkness of evil to the light of Christ.  We are wise to consider that we too are susceptible to the same tragic mistake and to avoid it at all costs.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Monday of Holy Week

(Isaiah 42:1-7; John 12:1-11)

Jews read the passages about the “Suffering Servant” with a question in mind: “To whom does the prophet Isaiah refer?”  Is it the prophet himself, or Job or possibly the entire Jewish people who suffered terribly at various points in history?  Christians, in turn, have no doubt that the passages refer to Jesus Christ whose passion and death fit quite squarely with Isaiah’s descriptions.

Jesus did not come with an army of followers and much less did he use violence to impose his teaching.  He established justice on earth by exemplifying God’s love to what became myriads of followers.  With his crucifixion, God established an eternal covenant which is by no means in retreat despite the fact that relatively fewer people attend church in Western societies.  Jesus also opened the eyes of the blind, physically in some cases but, more critically, morally to all people who seek fulfillment from power, pleasure, or possessions.  Finally and most importantly, he freed prisoners of sin who may not even be aware of the harm they do.

We will hear readings from the Suffering Servant passages throughout Holy Week.  They remind us how Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecy through his passion and death.  Although everyone has difficulties, they leave us in awe at the price Jesus paid for our freedom.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Jeremiah 20:10-13; John 10:31-42)

The woman feels forlorn.  Having taken care of her grandson as an infant, she has a very special affection for him. But her daughter-in-law and son seem to deprive her of opportunities to see him.  Her daughter-in-law even avoids speaking to her.  Perhaps the isolation she feels is not of the magnitude of Jeremiah’s in the first reading today or of Jesus’ in the gospel, but certainly many of us know the distress it creates. In turn, these feelings from being excluded in different situations help us to understand what the Scriptures point to today.

The gospel portrays the debate between Jesus and the Jews of his time.  It also reflects the situation between Christians and Jews in late first century Palestine.  The Jews could no longer tolerate Christians claiming the Sonship of Jesus in their synagogues.  Their religion had been devastated by the Roman razing of their Temple.  As humans tend to do when in distress, these Jews reassessed who they were and what they believed.  They concluded that there was no place among them for adherents to belief in Jesus as Lord.  As they were in the majority at that place and time, the Christians had to go. Like Jesus in today's gospel, the latter withdrew to other places to find their future.

When we find ourselves misunderstood, isolated, and even, perhaps, our good names attacked, we may find a resolution to the distress in doing what Jesus does here.  We need to examine our words and works to test whether we are acting in accord with God's will.  If we find ourselves innocent of wrong-doing, then we can take consolation in assuming the posture of Jesus who suffered after doing what is right.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Genesis 17:3-9; John 8:51-59)

The charismatic heretic of the fourth century Arius had the same problem which vexes the Jews in today’s gospel.  If God is infinite, he argued, then he could not become incarnate in a singular subject.  This, he claimed, would be like putting a mountain into a box.  Therefore, Arius concluded, Jesus must have been created like all other beings and then raised to divine status by God’s special indulgence.  In the gospel reading the Jews critique Jesus as coming to a similar erroneous conclusion when he claims, “Before Abraham came to be, I AM.”  The Jews think that Jesus is identifying himself with the eternal “I AM” when he is obviously a creature born in time. 

Recently Fr. Robert Barron, one of today’s gifted theologians, published an essay which can be used to explain how Arius and the Jews are mistaken.  Like his great predecessors Saints Augustine, Anselm, and Thomas Aquinas, Fr. Barron understands God not as just the highest being but qualitatively different from all other beings so that he cannot be compared to any other.  We have glimpses of who God is through Jesus, but His nature is really beyond human understanding. It is only because God has revealed it that we can say He became human.  Again how this happens is beyond reckoning.

God became human in Jesus so that humans can become like God.  Knowing ourselves as sinners, this may seem incredible although the saints provide us a glimmer of hope.  Jesus’ death and resurrection has given them the grace to become holy.  The same Easter mystery will sanctify us.