A reading from the prophet Isaiah (50:4-9)
The Lord God has given me a disciple’s tongue,
to know how to comfort the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he sharpens my ear
to listen like a disciple.
The Lord God has opened my ear
and I did not rebel or turn away.
I offered my back to those who struck me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
I did not turn away my face from insult and spitting.
The Lord God comes to my help:
therefore no insult has touched me,
therefore I have set my face like flint.
I know that I shall not be shamed.
He who grants me saving justice is near!
Who will bring a case against me?
Let us appear in court together!
Who has a case against me?
Let him approach me!
Look, the Lord God is coming to my help!
Who will condemn me?
The speaker in this third song is called to ‘comfort the weary’, day by day learning new things in discipleship. His prophetic vocation has much in common with the situation of the prophet Jeremiah. Despite his commitment to the good of the people, he suffers punishment and abuse, even ‘insult and spitting’. The Lord is with him nevertheless. He sets his face ‘like flint’, just as Jeremiah was told that ‘I have made you a pillar of iron, a wall of bronze’ (Jeremiah 1:18). When threatened with a case against him he is confident of the Lord’s vindication. It is easy to see how the details of this particular poem led it to be considered a preparation for the sufferings of Christ.
Psalm 69 (68) The psalm matches the situation of the reading, and expresses similar trust.
A reading from the holy gospel according to Matthew (26:14-25)
Then 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 settled with him for thirty silver pieces, and from then onwards he began to look 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?’ He said, ‘Go to a certain man in the city and say to him, “The teacher 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. And while they were eating he said, ‘Amen I say to you, one of you is about to betray me.’ They were greatly distressed and started asking him in turn, ‘Not me, 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 it is written about him, but alas for that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had never been born!’ Judas, who was to betray him, asked in his turn, ‘Not me, Rabbi, surely?’ Jesus answered, ‘It is you who said it.’
These are the opening verses of the story of the Passion in the gospel of Matthew. Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, takes the initiative and volunteers his assistance to the chief priests in return for the meagre sum of thirty silver pieces. Jesus instructs the disciples to prepare for the Passover feast, referring to himself as ‘the teacher’ (didaskalos) (Matthew 23:8) and declaring that the ‘time’ (kairos) has come. The first words of Jesus at the feast focus on the betrayal and its instigator. While the other disciples address Jesus as ‘Lord’, Judas says ‘Not me, Rabbi, surely?’ His tone is markedly different from theirs. The gospel passage ends with Judas, as it had begun, but Jesus goes to the cross not because Judas has betrayed him but out of love and commitment to the truth.
How should we prepare for difficult times in our lives?
Pray for those who are fearful of the future.