Wednesday of Holy Week

Lectionary: 259

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?

The traitor Judas Iscariot appears prominently in the weekday gospels of Holy Week. He introduces a shattering distress into the "college of apostles." There had always been quarrels, bickering and jockeying for position among these grown men. They contended for the Lord's favor like anxious children despite his gracious regard for each of them. But none had ever imagined that one of their fellowship might betray the Lord. They were astonished and mortified to realize the Iscariot had taken money for his treachery.

Our first reading today, the third of Isaiah's servant songs, accentuates the isolation of the Messiah. When "he sets (his) face like flint" he seems to assume a stoic posture before his abusers, "knowing that I shall not be put to shame."

But the Servant's champion is God, and that is entirely unlike the stoic's attitude. The latter neither accepts nor welcomes comfort. He assumes a romantic attitude, a heroic cast. "I am a rock!" he sings, "I am an island! And a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries."

Our Lord entertains no such illusions. With his faith in a personal God he needs no such nonsense.

He is near who upholds my right;

if anyone wishes to oppose me,

let us appear together (before God's throne.)

As we go with the Lord to Calvary we should notice his serenity. While his enemies rage and his friends disappear and the hour of tortured death approaches, he remains calm.

Our Catholic tradition especially honors the Mother of Jesus during his passion. Saint John tells us she was there on Calvary; the fourth station of the Way of the Cross describes their meeting along the way.

We can hardly imagine the sadness Mary felt on that day; but we can see her remaining with her son with the courage and spirit of the Maccabean widow. We can also believe that the Lord, even in his torment, was consoled by her presence. If his human suffering was limited by the limited capacity of our human bodies for pain, his ability to be consoled was infinite. And Mary, "full of grace" by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, could fill that infinite capacity.

How wonderful it is to be able to receive the comfort of loved ones during a crisis or grief. It might appear even as "an ordinary grace" to the casual bystander. The cynic, the stoic and the prideful will see a funeral and despise the "weaklings" who must cry in each others' arms. The blessed are those who give themselves to grief, disappointment and sorrow, and accept the comfort of loved ones.

Just as Mary comforted her son, she also accepted his consolation on that bleak Friday morning.

We have often heard Jesus speak of his Father and their intense relationship. In yesterday's gospel he declared:

"Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.

If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,

and he will glorify him at once.

Mary conveyed the Father's comforting assurance to Jesus. She also represented our compassion for him, as we, her children, are moved by the same spirit. As he poured out his blood, water and spirit in love for us he was also filled to capacity by her presence. 

Therefore he was not disgraced, he was not put to shame. The Lord was his help; there was no one who could prove him wrong.