Tuesday of Holy Week

Lectionary: 258

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.

Jesus knew the Word of God well. The historian Josephus observed that Jewish people taught their children to read. But the Child had heard God's word even before he could read. The Word-Made-Flesh pondered the Word every day of his life. 

Isaiah's "suffering servant psalms" especially resonated in his heart as he "grew in wisdom and grace." He knew that Isaiah spoke of the Jewish nation as the Servant of God, called from birth. Like any child of a minority race, he took personally his people's history of suffering conquest, oppression, and persecution for their faith in God. 

But as he matured and waited on the Spirit to direct him, he recognized his own destiny as the suffering servant of God. If John the Baptist and the crowd heard God declare, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” he alone knew what it meant. Being God's Son meant more than triumphal power, comfort, and luxurious ease. 

Isaiah had said as much when he spoke of the servant as a polished arrow hidden within a quiver, 

You are my servant, he said to me,

Israel, through whom I show my glory.

The Gospels celebrate the glory of God revealed by the Lord's crucifixion. The Evangelists describe Jesus as the crucified "King of the Jews" who carefully explains his authority to the procurator Pilate:

"My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants [would] be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.”

So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king. 

Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:36-37)

To that Pilate spat, "What is truth?" He knew the truth; he had heard it. But in his world it was trumped by power. Truth built no empires, ruled no kingdoms, amassed no navies, and commissioned no armies. Honest artisans, traders, lawyers, and politicians who dealt only in the truth were fools.  

Pilate's soldiers recognized Jesus as a king when they fashioned a crown of thorns for him, dressed him in a purple cloth, and hailed him as "king of the Jews." And the procurator honored his kingship when he set him on the judge's bench and announced to the mob, "Behold your king!" The cross became a throne for the king with its inscription, "Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews;” and the common thieves on his right and left were his courtiers.  

Of course, the story is told with deep irony. The Jews and their enemies, representing all humankind, unite and agree to destroy the man; but they bow before his majesty as they do so. Their contempt for the authority God and their own humanity intensified their violence and their guilt. 

Our Christian faith teaches us to see through the mock homage of the world and to bring our intensely -- and intentionally -- sincere homage to the cross of Jesus. We despise cynicism. It is cowardly at best; and only worsens the guilt of those who doubt God's mercy, goodness, and right to rule. If we're mocked for our piety we respond with frank devotion to the Lord. 

We might distance ourselves from mocking critics but we cannot turn their scorn back on them, for that would dishonor the image of God in them. Rather, we are like the sharp-edged sword, concealed me in the shadow of his arm. We are hidden like a polished arrow in his quiver. For we are his servants, "through whom I show my glory."