20180328
APPEAL OF TRUTH, LOVE AND MERCY
28 MARCH, 2018, Wednesday of Holy Week
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Isaiah 50:4-9 ©
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Who thinks he has a case against me? Let him approach me
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The Lord has given me
a disciple’s tongue.
So that I may know how to reply to the wearied
he provides me with speech.
Each morning he wakes me to hear,
to listen like a disciple.
The Lord has opened my ear.
For my part, I made no resistance,
neither did I turn away.
I offered my back to those who struck me,
my cheeks to those who tore at my beard;
I did not cover my face
against insult and spittle.
The Lord comes to my help,
so that I am untouched by the insults.
So, too, I set my face like flint;
I know I shall not be shamed.
My vindicator is here at hand. Does anyone start proceedings
against me?
Then let us go to court together.
Who thinks he has a case against me?
Let him approach me.
The Lord is coming to my help,
who will dare to condemn me?
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 68(69):8-10,21-22,31,33-34 ©
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In your great love, O Lord, answer my prayers
for your favour.
It is for you that I suffer taunts,
that shame covers my face,
that I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my own mother’s sons.
I burn with zeal for your house
and taunts against you fall on me.
In your great love, O Lord, answer my prayers
for your favour.
Taunts have broken my heart;
I have reached the end of my strength.
I looked in vain for compassion,
for consolers; not one could I find.
For food they gave me poison;
in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
In your great love, O Lord, answer my prayers
for your favour.
I will praise God’s name with a song;
I will glorify him with thanksgiving.
The poor when they see it will be glad
and God-seeking hearts will revive;
for the Lord listens to the needy
and does not spurn his servants in their chains.
In your great love, O Lord, answer my prayers
for your favour.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
Hail to you, our King!
Obedient to the Father, you were led to your crucifixion
as a meek lamb is led to the slaughter.
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
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Or:
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Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
Hail to you, our King!
You alone have had compassion on our sins.
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
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Gospel
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Matthew 26:14-25 ©
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'The Son of Man is going to his fate, as the scriptures say he
will'
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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 that moment he looked 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?’ ‘Go to so-and-so
in the city’ he replied ‘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 disciples. And while they were eating he
said ‘I tell you solemnly, one of you is about to betray me.’ They were greatly
distressed and started asking him in turn, ‘Not I, 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 I, Rabbi,
surely?’ ‘They are your own words’ answered Jesus.
APPEAL OF TRUTH, LOVE AND MERCY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [IS 50:4-9; PS 69:8-10,21-22,31,33-34; MT 26:14-25 ]
What do we do
when we come across wilful sinners who are set on doing what is wrong? Do we use force and pressure
to stop them from doing evil? Most people would refer them to the
authorities to clamp them down, or expose them on social media. Or do we just
sit by and do nothing, and allow the evil to perpetuate? What happens if
you know that you are the one being targeted by this person? Do we play
along with him and allow him to deceive us? This was the case of the
Suffering Servant and our Lord Jesus who were the targets of evil plots.
The story of
Judas’ betrayal of Jesus is one of the most painful stories in the life of
Jesus.
We are not speaking simply of Jesus’ enemies nor even the crowd that followed
him; not even one of His disciples, but one among the inner circle of
apostles. It was an act of betrayal at the highest level. We can
imagine the pain and dilemma of Jesus when He came to know of the attempt of
Judas to betray Him. In the same vein, the suffering servant, Isaiah,
sought to help his people from falling into greater problems by aligning
themselves with their neighbours just to protect themselves for the short
term. Instead, his people turned against him and He was persecuted for
trying to save them. The people betrayed God by seeking alliance with the
pagan country, Assyria.
Why did Judas
betray the Lord? Scholars give a few hypotheses for this betrayal.
One of the obvious suggestions is that Judas was greedy for money. He was the treasurer of the
group. If that were so, it must have been the most ridiculous bargain
Judas made with the religious leaders because selling the Lord for 30 silver
pieces is tantamount to paying the price for a slave. (cf Ex 21:1)
Others suggest that Judas, being a zealot, had political ambitions to be given
a position in the new government when He came into power, just like the rest of
the apostles. He was impatient with Jesus for not acting against the
Romans. He began to hate Jesus for not being aggressive enough. So
in his anger, he sold the Lord to them. But most likely, as some scholars
think, it would be because Judas was impatient with the Lord. By inviting
the religious leaders to arrest Him, he had hoped that Jesus would then react
by revolting. This explains his remorse when Jesus was arrested, scourged
and then crucified.
Regardless,
the crux of the sin of Judas was that he wanted his will to be done. He could not wait for Jesus
or for God to unfold their plan. He wanted to take things into his own
hands. Instead of submitting to Jesus’ plans, he sought to make Jesus
follow his own plans. Isn’t this what sin is all about? To do our
will instead of God’s will. This, too, was the sin of the Israelites
during the time of Isaiah. Instead of following God’s will for Israel and
relying on His help, they sought the help of their pagan neighbour.
Earlier on, the Lord rebuked Israel, “Is my hand shortened, that it cannot
redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? By my rebuke, I dry up the
sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of
water, and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and make
sackcloth their covering.” (Isa 50:2f)
So how did
Jesus deal with such wilful and stubborn people? One thing that Jesus
refused to do was to retaliate or use violence. This has always been
His approach for He has taught us many times not to retaliate against our
enemies. He said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye
and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But
if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if
anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and
if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.” (Mt 5:38-41)
This, too, was the attitude of the Suffering Servant. “For my part,
I made no resistance, neither did I turn away. I offered my back to those who
struck me, my cheeks to those who tore at my beard; I did not cover my face
against insult and spittle.”
Instead, the
Lord used the weapon of appeal of truth, by first confronting the sin, not so
much the sinner. He told Judas and the rest about the consequences of the
sin of betrayal. He said, “‘I tell you solemnly, one of you is about to
betray me’ They were greatly distressed and started asking him in turn, ‘Not I,
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!’” Unfortunately, Judas who was so bent on
what he wanted to do, could not hear the warning of the Lord about his
devious plan to betray Him.
Secondly,
when that failed, the Lord appealed to his conversion by the appeal of love. “Judas, who was to
betray him; asked in his turn, ‘Not I, Rabbi, surely?’ ‘They are your own
words’ answered Jesus.” Jesus must have looked at Him, eye to eye,
and yet Judas lied through his teeth and pretended that he was not the
one. Looking into the eyes of someone is most threatening because the
eyes reveal our true intentions. When someone is not telling the truth,
he or she would avoid looking straight into our eyes. The eyes give away
the intention of our hearts. That was how Peter repented later on when
the Lord looked at his eyes after his repeated disavowal of the Lord, betraying
his relationship with Him. “At that moment, while he was still speaking,
the cock crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter
remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows
today, you will deny me three times.’ And he went out and wept
bitterly.” (Lk 22:61f)
Thirdly, the
Lord appealed to Judas for mercy. By looking into his eyes, the Lord was
hoping that he would repent on account of the sufferings that he had to go
through. Indeed, when the apostles saw what happened to the Lord later
on, they were filled with shame and regret for fleeing and not supporting Jesus
or even acknowledging Him. St Peter was moved to sorrow and he wept in
contrition. Indeed, this is how the Lord seeks our repentance, not
through strength and force but in weakness, in love and mercy. “Just as
there were many who were astonished at him – so marred was his appearance,
beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals – so he shall
startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for
that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not
heard they shall contemplate.” (Isa 52:14f)
This was the complaint of the prophets. Like the psalmist,
they would have prayed, “It is for you that I suffer taunts, that shame covers
my face, that I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own
mother’s sons. I burn with zeal for your house and taunts against you fall on
me. Taunts have broken my heart; I have reached the end of my
strength. I looked in vain for compassion, for consolers; not one could I
find. For food they gave me poison; in my thirst they gave me vinegar to
drink.”
Where did the
Lord and the Suffering Servant find such strength not to retaliate? We
read that the secret was to be in union with the Father. “The Lord has given me
a disciple’s tongue, so that I may know how to reply to the wearied. He
provides me with speech. Each morning he wakes me to hear, to listen like
a disciple. The Lord has opened my ear.” A true prophet must always take
guidance and instructions from the Lord. He must be engaged in prayer
before he can act in the name of the Lord. It was Jesus’ union with His
Father in constant prayer that gave Him the strength to endure the passion and
to accept the betrayals of even His closest friends. If we too,
like the disciples, wake up early in the morning to pray and read the Word of
God, we will also be given the same knowledge and strength to endure the
sufferings, misunderstandings and false accusations in the ministry.
Most of all,
only in union with God, can we place our trust in Him and commend everything
into the hands of God as Jesus did. Unlike Judas and the Israelites, Jesus
did not take things into His own hands. He trusted in the divine plan of
His Father. The words of the Suffering Servant would also be placed on
the lips of our Lord. “The Lord comes to my help, so that I am untouched
by the insults. So, too, I set my face like flint; I know I shall not be
shamed. My vindicator is here at hand. Does anyone start proceedings against
me? Then let us go to court together. Who thinks he has a case against
me? Let him approach me. The Lord is coming to my help, who will dare to
condemn me? They shall all go to pieces like a garment devoured by
moths.” Indeed, only by believing that the hand of the Lord is not short
to save us, can we surrender our lives to Him. The Father showed His
fidelity by raising Jesus from the dead to vindicate His mission and put His
adversaries to shame and confusion.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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