Wednesday of Holy Week
Life is difficult. We all know this truth. Some of the most difficult points in my own life came from suffering inflicted upon me by people who were supposed to be on my team. Betrayals came from people who I thought were my friends. In the same breath I must ask for forgiveness from those for whom I caused suffering or those who I betrayed. Suffering and betrayal are not just parts of the scriptures from a long time ago. They are the scriptures of our own lives.
Certainly we must see the ways we sell our own friends short, or betray their trust and we seek reconciliation or even prevent our shortcomings if possible. So too when we are betrayed or others intentionally cause us suffering we must not allow their intentions to derail our own serenity.
In today’s reading from Isaiah we read the third of four suffering servant songs. In this song, the suffering of the disciple with a well-trained tongue clearly foreshadows the suffering servant we know as Jesus. For Isaiah, this servant will be ignored, mistreated and covered with spittle. Despite these sufferings, God’s servant will not be put to shame.
The psalm leaves us with a strong sense of a servant whose shame covers his entire being. Yet suffering is not the end of the psalmist’s story. Despite the servants sense of brokenness, “I have become an outcast to my brothers”; there is still a hope and trust in the Lord. “For the Lord hears the poor, and his own who are in bonds, he spurns not.”
The silver lining in the Gospel seems hidden as well. Today’s gospel glances towards Holy Thursday with the focus on the betrayal of Jesus. In the end, a close friend, one whom Jesus loved, will turn Jesus over for price of a slave. Matthew suggests that the shame really is upon the one who betrays, not upon the servant who suffers.
Today’s readings echo one of the major paradoxes of Christian theology, and the main point of Holy Week. The Lord’s Passion ends in death, yet this death is not the end of the story. Victory is won through the servant's suffering, because the bonds of death are broken in Jesus’ resurrection. Therefore, there is no shame in the servant's suffering as its purpose will ultimately glorify God.
"Lord, as we reflect upon our own suffering and betrayals, help us to see in them, not incidents of shame, but the unfolding of Your paschal mystery, and through this mystery our salvation. Amen."
-Michael Montgomery