Tuesday of Holy Week 2023
Hear me, O islands,
listen, O distant peoples.
The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother's womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.
He made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me.
You are my servant, he said to me,
Israel, through whom I show my glory…
I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
-Isaiah 49:1-6
As I was reflecting on the Readings for this Tuesday of Holy Week, I wondered how many homilists and commentators would focus their energy on Judas and his actions during the Last Supper (during which today’s Gospel takes place).
How will they try to make sense of Judas’ motives?
How many of them will try to equate Judas’ betrayal with our own sins or selfishness?
When I consider today’s Gospel passage in light of the First Reading, however, I believe the liturgy is inviting us to focus our attention on the mystery of Christ and the call to discipleship.
First, the First Reading (taken from the Prophet Isaiah) presents Gods’ chosen servant as a “sharp-edged sword” and a “polished arrow”—weapons honed enough to pierce armor and flesh. These striking images reminded me of the powerful words in the Letter to the Hebrews in which the writer proclaims, “The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account” (4:12-13).
In his Homily for Sunday of the Word of God in 2020, Pope Francis spoke of this dynamic, when he reflected:
“The word of salvation does not go looking for untouched, clean and safe places. Instead, it enters the complex and obscure places in our lives. Now, as then, God wants to visit the very places we think he will never go… But as [the Gospel] tells us: “Jesus went about all Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity” (Matthew 4:23). He passed through all of that varied and complex region. In the same way, he is not afraid to explore the terrain of our hearts and to enter the roughest and most difficult corners of our lives. He knows that his mercy alone can heal us, his presence alone can transform us and his word alone can renew us. So let us open the winding paths of our hearts – those paths we have inside us that we do not wish to see or that we hide – to him, who walked “the road by the sea”; let us welcome into our hearts his word, which is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword… and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12).”
As Jesus demonstrates this divine wisdom, he anticipates Good Friday when he—who is both the Word-Made-Flesh and the High Priest of the new Covenant—offered himself for the salvation of the world.
Rather than being a hapless victim of circumstance or the machinations of his enemies, Jesus shows his agency and power to discern as he sees what is in the hearts of both Judas and Peter. He saw them as they were. At the same time, there is also an absence of judgment for these two men whom he had chosen as his own (cf. Matthew 10:1-4; Mark 3:13-19; and Luke 6:12-16). Surprisingly, even Judas still receives the morsal from Jesus, although his actions will ultimately move forward a process that will lead to Jesus’ suffering and death.
As we continue our journey through Holy Week, the liturgy is inviting us to recognize the glory within Jesus that shines through what many—then and now—would perceive to be weakness.
While some would see him as a victim of a system infinitely bigger than an itinerant preacher from Galilee, the liturgy today invites us to recognize him as the One who is the Incarnate Word of God, who sees and embraces all that is to happen. And here, we find Jesus making real in his own life what it means to take up the cross, recalling for us the Gospel proclaimed on the Thursday after Ash Wednesday:
"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?"—Luke 9:23-25
Pray that the Lord will grant us the strength to live the mystery of the Passion in our own lives, as we make God’s healing love known to all those whom we encounter.
Almighty ever-living God,
grant us so to celebrate
the mysteries of the Lord's Passion
that we may merit to receive your pardon.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for Tuesday of Holy Week
