GOOD FRIDAY

A reading from the prophet Isaiah (52:13-53:12)

Look, my servant will prosper; 
he will be lifted up, will rise to great heights.
Just as many people were appalled at him –
he was so inhumanly disfigured 
that he no longer looked like a man –
so will he astonish many nations.
Kings will keep silence before him, 
for they shall see what had never been told, 
understand what they had never heard.
Who would believe what we have heard? 
To whom has the Lord’s power been revealed?
He grew up before the Lord like a sapling,
like a root in arid ground. 
He had no beauty, no majesty to attract us, 
no appearance to win our hearts;
he was despised, shunned by the people, 
a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering, 
one from whom people avert their gaze, 
despised, and we held him of no account.
Yet ours were the sufferings he bore, 
ours the sorrows he carried. 
We thought of him as smitten, 
struck down by God and afflicted;
yet he was wounded for our rebellions, 
crushed on account of our evil deeds. 
The punishment that made us whole was on him: 
his wounds brought healing to us.
We had all gone astray like sheep, 
each taking our own way, 
and the Lord laid upon him
the iniquity of us all.
Afflicted and humbled, he never opened his mouth; 
like a lamb led to the slaughterhouse, 
like a sheep dumb before its shearers, 
he never opened his mouth.
Forcibly, without justice, he was taken
and who gives a thought to his fate?
He was cut off from the land of the living, 
the sin of his people visited upon him.
He was given a grave with the wicked 
and his tomb is with the rich, 
although he had done no violence, 
no deceit upon his lips.
It was the Lord’s good pleasure to crush him.
If he gives his life as a sin offering,
he will see his descendants and live long.
Through him the Lord’s good pleasure will succeed.
After his anguish, he will see the light and be content. 
By his knowledge my servant, 
the righteous one, will justify many 
by taking their guilt on himself.
Hence I shall give him a portion with the great 
and he will share the spoil with the mighty 
for having exposed himself to death
and for being counted among the rebellious. 
Yet he was bearing the sin of many 
and interceding for the rebellious.

This majestic poem about death and resurrection is the fourth and last song of the suffering servant. It combines words of God, addressing ‘my servant’ at the beginning and the end of the song, with words of the people and words of the prophet. While the third song had begun to speak of the abuse of the servant, this song adds to the experience of suffering the question of meaning, for the servant, who was ‘wounded for our rebellions’, is said to ‘justify many’ and to ‘take their guilt’ on himself. This should be understood as a particularly profound reflection on the meaning of innocent suffering. The poem ends with the prospect of triumph. The fourth song of the suffering servant is the first text which comes to mind when the words of Paul are recalled, that Christ Jesus died ‘according to the Scriptures’ (1 Corinthians 15:3), words also taken up in the Nicene Creed.

Psalm 31 (30) The psalmist says: ‘Into your hands I commit my spirit’. Despite becoming an ‘object of scorn’ he is confident of salvation.

A reading from the letter to the Hebrews (4:14-16  5:7-9)

Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme high priest who has gone through to the highest heaven, let us hold firm to our profession of faith. For the high priest we have is not incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us, but has been put to the test in exactly the same way as ourselves, apart from sin. Let us, then, approach the throne of grace with confidence to receive mercy and to find grace in time of need.

During the days of his flesh, he offered up prayer and entreaty, with loud cries and with tears, to the one who had the power to save him from death, and, winning a hearing by his reverence, he learnt obedience, Son though he was, through his sufferings; when he had been perfected, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation.

The Letter to the Hebrews describes Christ as the high priest of the new covenant, one who is trustworthy and merciful. He has been put to the test just as we are. He is like us in all things but sin. The final verses of this reading recall his prayer in Gethsemane, where he ‘learnt obedience’. Coming to ‘perfection’ he offers salvation to all who obey him.

The passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John (18:1 – 19:42)

After he had said this, Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Judas the traitor also knew the place, since Jesus had often met his disciples there, so Judas brought the cohort to this place together with officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, all with lanterns and torches and weapons. Knowing everything that was to happen to him, Jesus came forward and said, ‘Who are you looking for?’ They answered him, ‘Jesus the Nazarene.’ He said, ‘I am he.’ Now Judas the traitor was standing among them. When Jesus said to them, ‘I am he,’ they moved back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them, ‘Who are you looking for?’ They said, ‘Jesus the Nazarene.’ Jesus replied, ‘I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, let these others go.’ This was to fulfil the words he had spoken, ‘Not one of those you gave me have I lost.’

Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword back in its scabbard; am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?’

The cohort and its tribune and the officers of the Jews seized Jesus and bound him. They took him first to Annas, because Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it was better for one man to die for the people.

Simon Peter, with another disciple, followed Jesus. This disciple, who was known to the high priest, went with Jesus into the high priest’s palace, but Peter stayed outside at the door. So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the door-keeper and brought Peter in. The girl on duty at the door said to Peter, ‘Are you not also one of that man’s disciples?’ He answered, ‘I am not.’ Now it was cold, and the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire and were standing there warming themselves. Peter stood there too, warming himself with them.

The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus answered, ‘I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in the synagogue and in the Temple where all the Jews meet together; I have said nothing in secret. Why ask me? Ask those who heard what I taught; they know what I said.’ At these words, one of the officers standing by gave Jesus a slap in the face, saying, ‘Is that how you answer the high priest?’ Jesus replied, ‘If I have spoken wrongly, attest the wrong; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?’ Then Annas sent him, bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.

Simon Peter stood there warming himself, and they said to him, ‘Are you not also one of his disciples?’ He denied it saying, ‘I am not.’ One of the high priest’s servants, a relation of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, ‘Did I not see you in the garden with him?’ Again Peter denied it, and at once a cock crowed.

They then led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the Praetorium. It was early morning. They did not go into the Praetorium themselves to avoid becoming defiled and in order to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and said, ‘What charge do you bring against this man?’ They replied, ‘If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.’ Pilate said, ‘Take him yourselves, and try him by your own Law.’ The Jews answered, ‘We are not allowed to put anyone to death.’ This was to fulfil the words Jesus had spoken indicating by what kind of death he was going to die. So Pilate went back into the Praetorium and called Jesus to him and asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Jesus replied, ‘Do you ask this on your own account, or have others spoken to you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own people and the chief priests handed you over to me: what have you done?’ Jesus replied, ‘My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my officers would have fought to prevent me being surrendered to the Jews. As it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ Pilate said, ‘So, then you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this, to bear witness to the truth; and everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth?’ And so saying he went out again to the Jews and said, ‘I find no case against him. But you have a custom that I release to you one prisoner at the Passover; would you like me, then, to release to you the king of the Jews?’ At this they shouted back, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas.’ Barabbas was a bandit.

Pilate then had Jesus taken away and scourged; and the soldiers, twisting thorns into a wreath, put it on his head and clothed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him and saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ and slapping him in the face.

Pilate came outside again and said to them, ‘Look, I am going to bring him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.’ Jesus then came out wearing the wreath of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said, ‘Here is the man.’ When they saw him, the chief priests and the guards shouted, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ Pilate said, ‘Take him yourselves and crucify him: I find no case against him.’ The Jews replied, ‘We have a Law, and according to that Law he ought to die, because he has claimed to be Son of God.’

When Pilate heard them say this he was more afraid. He entered the Praetorium again, and said to Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate then said to him, ‘Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?’ Jesus replied, ‘You would have no authority over me at all if it had not been given you from above; that is why the man who handed me over to you has the greater guilt.’

From that moment Pilate sought to set him free, but the Jews cried out, ‘If you set this man free you are no friend of Caesar’s; everyone who makes himself king is defying Caesar.’ Hearing these words, Pilate had Jesus brought out, and seated himself on the chair of judgement at a place called the Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha. It was the day of preparation for the Passover, at about noon. Pilate said to the Jews, ‘Here is your king.’ But they shouted, ‘Away with him, away with him, crucify him.’ Pilate said, ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ So at that Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

They then took Jesus, and carrying the cross for himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side, Jesus being in the middle. Pilate wrote out a notice and fixed it to the cross; it read, ‘Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews’. Many of the Jews read this notice because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the writing was in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, ‘Do not write “King of the Jews”, but “This man said, I am King of the Jews”.’ Pilate answered, ‘What I have written, I have written.’

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took his clothing and divided it into four shares, one for each soldier, and his tunic. His tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top right through; so they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it, but let us cast lots about it, whose it shall be.’ This was to fulfil the words of scripture:

They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothes.

That is what the soldiers did.

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

After this, Jesus knowing that everything had now been completed and, so that the scripture should be fulfilled, he said: 

‘I am thirsty’

A jar full of sour wine stood there; so, putting a sponge soaked in the wine on a hyssop stick, they held it to his mouth. After Jesus had taken the wine he said, ‘It is completed’; and bowing his head he gave over his spirit.

It was the day of preparation, and to avoid the bodies remaining on the cross during the Sabbath – since that Sabbath was a day of special dignity – the Jews asked Pilate to have their legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who had been crucified with him. When they came to Jesus, they saw he was already dead, so they did not break his legs, but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water. The one who saw it has borne witness, and his witness is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth – so that you also may believe. For this happened that the scripture should be fulfilled, 

None of his bones shall be broken;

and again, in another place scripture says,

They will look on the one they have pierced.

After this, Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a disciple of Jesus – though a secret one through fear of the Jews – asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission, so he came and took it away. Nicodemus came as well – the same one who had come to Jesus at night-time – and he brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about fifty kilograms. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. In the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in this garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. Since it was the day of preparation for the Jews and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

The account of the passion and death of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel offers a depth of reflection on these events. This is a considered meditation on the deepest reality of what happened to the Son of God. At the garden Jesus, ‘knowing everything that was to happen to him’, takes control, and those who come to arrest him prostrate themselves before him, as is appropriate before the light of God. Both Caiaphas, who had spoken earlier of the expediency of killing Jesus (John 11: 50), and his father-in-law Annas, are involved in interrogating Jesus. Pilate raises the issue of the kingship of Jesus, but Jesus has come ‘to bear witness to the truth’. At Golgotha John has the poignant scene of the mother of Jesus, and the disciple Jesus loved. John repeatedly points to the fulfilment of Scripture, as when the garments of Jesus are shared out. The dying words of Jesus are in fact ‘it is completed’. The piercing of the side of Jesus is another part of the narrative which is unique to the Fourth Gospel, and to which the evangelist solemnly testifies. Like the paschal lamb, ‘none of his bones shall be broken’.

To what extent is John’s story a revelation of the ‘glory’ of the Son of God?

May the different accounts of the Passion engage our minds and hearts.

HOLY THURSDAY – MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

A reading from the book of Exodus (12:1-8. 11-14)

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ‘This month must be the first of all the months for you, the first month of your year. Speak to the whole community of Israel saying, “On the tenth day of this month each man must take an animal from the flock for his family: one animal for each household. If the household is too small for the animal, he must join with his neighbour nearest to his house, depending on the number of persons. When you choose the animal, you will take into account what each can eat. It must be an animal without blemish, a male, one year old; you shall take it either from the sheep or from the goats. You must keep it till the fourteenth day of the month when the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on both doorposts and the lintel of the houses where it is eaten. That night, they shall eat meat, roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. This is how you must eat it: with a belt around your waist, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You must eat it hurriedly: it is a Passover for the Lord. That night, I shall go through the land of Egypt and strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, human and animal alike, and I shall execute justice on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord! The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood I shall pass over you, and you will escape the destructive plague when I strike the land of Egypt. This day must be commemorated by you, and you must keep it as a festival for the Lord. You must keep it as a feast-day for all generations; this is a decree for all time.”’

The suffering and death of Jesus takes place at the time of the Jewish feast of Passover. This first reading of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on the evening of Holy Thursday gives us the instructions for celebrating the feast. Jesus not only celebrated Passover with the disciples on the night before he died, but in celebrating it he transformed the rite. While Passover for Jews, together with the observance of Unleavened Bread, recalls the liberation from Egypt, and a new life of freedom, the Christian Eucharist celebrates freedom from sin and death through the self-giving of the Son of God. Blood figures in both rites. The blood of the lamb sprinkled on doorposts and lintel is a sign of freedom. The blood of Christ, the new Lamb, consumed by Christians, is a memorial of the death of Jesus for all those who believe in him, as they share in his life-giving death.

Psalm 116 (115)  ‘The cup of salvation’ is raised. The ‘death of his faithful’ is precious to God.

A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians (11:23-26)

For the tradition I received from the Lord and also handed on to you is that on the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread, and after he had given thanks, he broke it, and he said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ And in the same way with the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.’ As often as you eat this bread, then, and drink this cup, you are proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes.

The account of the Last Supper by St Paul given here is probably the oldest account we have, and is reflected in those of Matthew, Mark and especially Luke. Jesus speaks of his very presence in the bread and wine which is shared. For each of the actions the disciples are told to ‘do this in remembrance of me’. This ‘memorial’, like the Passover before it, is a full and real making present of the gift of salvation. Paul adds his own words, that the eating and drinking are a ‘proclamation’ of the Lord’s death ‘until he comes’. Taking part in this memorial of the new covenant is our sharing with Christ in his death and resurrection, with all who eat this bread, and with all for whom he died.

A reading from the holy gospel according to John (13:1-15)

Before the festival of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father, having loved those who were his in the world, loved them to the end.

They were at supper, and the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot son of Simon, to betray him. Jesus, knowing that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, got up from the table, removed his outer garments and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist; he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel wrapped round his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ Peter said, ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus replied, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.’ Simon Peter said, ‘Lord, not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who has had a bath needs washing except for the feet. Such a person is entirely clean. You too are clean, though not all of you.’ He knew who was to betray him. That was why he said, ‘though not all of you’.

When he had washed their feet he put on his outer garments and reclined again at the table. He said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly, for so I am. If I, then, the Teacher and Lord, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you an example so that as I have done to you, you also should do.’

The Fourth Gospel offers us this account which in its own way reflects the meaning and poignancy of the night before Jesus died. The presence of Judas is indicated in the opening words, for Judas will only leave the gathering later (John 13:30). There is extraordinary detail and deliberation in the description of the actions of Jesus. Peter makes his principled objection, only to proceed to the opposite extreme once Jesus explains what he is doing. A further allusion to betrayal comes in Jesus’ assertion that not all of them are ‘clean’. The command to do as Jesus has done is followed by the ‘new commandment’ to love one another in imitation of Jesus (John 13:34). The proximity of the Passion and death suggests that love ‘to the end’ is particularly demanding.

How should we follow the example of Jesus?

Pray for all for whom religion is empty words and gestures, with no heart.

HOLY THURSDAY – MASS OF CHRISM

A reading from the prophet Isaiah (61:1-3, 6, 8-9)

The spirit of Lord God is on me 
for the Lord has anointed me. 
He has sent me to bring good news to the afflicted, 
to soothe the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to captives, 
release to those in prison, 
to proclaim a year of the Lord’s favour, 
a day of vindication for our God,
to comfort those who mourn,
to give to those who mourn for Zion
a headdress in place of ashes,
a garland in place of mourning-dress, 
the oil of gladness in place of a drooping spirit.
But you shall be called ‘priests of the Lord’ 
and addressed as ministers of our God. 
I shall reward them faithfully 
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their race will be known among the nations
and their descendants amid the peoples. 
All who see them will agree 
that they are a people blessed by the Lord.

The Mass of Chrism, celebrated on the morning of Holy Thursday, takes its name from the oil of chrism, used at Baptism, Confirmation and Ordination. At this Mass all the holy oils are blessed. The prophetic figure in this reading, anointed by the Spirit to ‘bring good news’, prepares the way for the Christ, the Messiah, whose name means ‘anointed one’. To be anointed to ‘bring the good news’ is common to all Christians. The ‘oil of gladness’ is given above all to those whose hearts are broken, whose spirit is ‘drooping’. The people are called to be ‘priests of the Lord’ and God declares, ‘I shall reward them faithfully and make an everlasting covenant with them.’ They are a people ‘blessed by the Lord’.

Psalm 89 (88) God has ‘found’ David and anointed him with holy oil.

A reading from the book of the Apocalypse (1:5-8)

Grace and peace to you from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born from the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father; to him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. Look, he is coming on the clouds; every eye shall see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. So it shall be. Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.

The opening words of the book of the Apocalypse speak of Jesus Christ as ‘witness’ (martus). He it is who loves us and has freed us from sin. By his death he makes us ‘a kingdom, priests to his God and Father’. At his coming ‘every eye’ shall see him, and all races will mourn over him. The majestic words of God ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’ will be repeated towards the end of the book. God’s use of the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet indicate dominion over everything, and God brings together the three dimensions of time: ‘I am the One who is, who was, and who is to come.’

A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke (4:16-21)

Jesus came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath as was his custom. He stood up to read, and he was given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:

The spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to captives,
sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim a year of the Lord’s favour.

He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘Today this text has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ 

Christ, who has died, is risen, and will come again, is the one who is ‘anointed’ with the Spirit to bring good news. He is anointed by Mary for burial (John 12). His status is challenged by the high priest: ‘Are you the Christ?’ (Mark 14) And by Pontius Pilate: ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ (Mark 15) He is the Christ, but ‘the crucified Christ’, whom St Paul will call ‘the power of God and the wisdom of God’ (1 Corinthians 1). He is the fulfilment of Scripture who anoints his followers in Baptism to bring good news to the poor.

As a follower of the crucified Christ, am I worthy to be called ‘Christian’?

Pray for the grace to embrace the paschal mystery of Christ.

WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK

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.

TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK

A reading from the prophet Isaiah (49:1-6)

Listen to me, coastlands, 
pay attention, far distant peoples! 
The Lord called me from the womb, 
before my birth he pronounced my name.
He made my mouth like a sharp sword, 
he hid me in the shadow of his hand. 
He made me into a sharpened arrow 
and concealed me in his quiver.
He said to me, ‘Israel, you are my servant, 
through whom I manifest my glory.’
But I said, ‘In vain have I toiled; 
for nothing, to no purpose have I spent my strength.’ 
Yet all the while my cause is with the Lord 
and my reward with my God.
And now the Lord has spoken, 
who formed me from the womb to be his servant, 
to bring Jacob back to him and for Israel to be gathered to him.
I shall be honoured in the Lord’s eyes, 
and my God has been my strength.
He said, ‘It is too light a task that you should be my servant, 
to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back the survivors of Israel; 
I shall make you a light to the nations 
so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.’

The Servant says he was called to speak ‘from the womb’ like Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1). He uses the images of ‘sword’ and ‘arrow’, for he is called to address those who are near and the distant ‘coastlands’ too. The Servant is addressed as ‘Israel’ but the mission is also to Israel, so that the true identity of the Servant is unsure. He loses hope and says ‘in vain have I toiled’, and his words recall those in the ‘confessions’ of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 15 and 20). Yet he is still confident that his ‘cause’ (mishpat) is with the Lord. The Lord gives him reassurance, for his task is not only to ‘bring back the survivors of Israel’ from exile, and to reunite the people, but also to bring ‘a light to the nations’ (goyim), and salvation reaching to ‘the ends of the earth’. This universal mission, not without trials, is reflected in that of Christ and of the Church.

Psalm 71 (70)  God is described as ‘rock’, ‘refuge’ and ‘stronghold’.

A reading from the holy gospel according to John (13:21-33, 36-38)

Having said this, Jesus was deeply disturbed and bore witness, ‘Amen, Amen I say to you, one of you will betray me.’ The disciples looked at one another, wondering whom he meant. One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to Jesus, so Simon Peter signed to him to ask whom he meant.’ Leaning back just at Jesus’ chest he said to him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answered, ‘It is the one for whom I dip the piece of bread and give to him.’ Then dipping the piece of bread he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. And after the piece of bread then Satan entered into him. Jesus then said, ‘What you are doing, do quickly.’ None of the others at table understood why he said this to him. Some thought, since Judas held the common fund, that Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the festival,’ or to give something to the poor. Taking the piece of bread, he immediately went out. It was night.

When he had gone out, Jesus said:

‘Now has the Son of man been glorified,
and God has been glorified in him.
If God has been glorified in him,
God will glorify him in himself,
and will glorify him at once.
Little children, 
yet a little while I am with you.
You will look for me,
and, as I told the Jews, 
and I now say to you,
where I am going 
you cannot come.’

Simon Peter said, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus replied, ‘Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you shall follow later.’ Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why cannot I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, Amen I say to you, before the cock crows you will have disowned me three times.’

The context is the supper on the night of Jesus’ arrest. Jesus is distressed as he considers the forthcoming betrayal by Judas. Judas features in the gospel every day as the Easter Triduum approaches, but his presence is particularly threatening in this passage from John. It is ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’ who asks the identity of the traitor. Jesus then offers a piece of bread to Judas. We can recall the words of Psalm 41, ‘even my friend, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, makes coarse gestures against me’. The traitor is identified in the violation of table fellowship. The evangelist continues, ‘Satan entered into him’, and Jesus himself commands him to leave. As Judas goes out from the supper darkest night descends. Jesus now begins a long discourse that, with some interjections from the disciples, will conclude only in John 17. He speaks of his being ‘glorified’, for it is in his death that God is glorified. Peter vows to give his life for Jesus, but Jesus knows that he will fall short. Jesus foresees his weakness and his denials, which are reported without elaboration in chapter 18, and will be read on Good Friday.

How is betrayal possible by those who are closest to Jesus?

Pray for the gift of fidelity despite disappointment.

MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK

A reading from the prophet Isaiah (42:1-7)

Here is my servant whom I uphold, 
my chosen one in whom my soul delights. 
I have put my spirit upon him, 
he will bring fair judgement to the nations.
He will not cry out or raise his voice, 
his voice will not be heard in the street.
A crushed reed he will not break
nor will he snuff out a faltering wick. 
He will establish fair judgement for the nations.
He will not grow faint or be discouraged 
until he has established fair judgement on earth 
and the coastlands are waiting for his guidance.
Thus says God, the Lord, 
who created the heavens and spread them out, 
who hammered into shape the earth and what comes from it, 
who gave breath to the people upon it 
and spirit to those who walk on it:
‘I the Lord have called you in righteousness, 
I have grasped you by the hand and watched over you; 
I have given you as a covenant for the people 
and light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind, 
to free captives from prison, 
and those who sit in darkness from the dungeon.

The songs of the suffering Servant are read on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday of Holy Week. This first song describes the Servant as the ‘chosen one’, chosen by God, who bestows the spirit on him. Three times it is stated that he is to bring ‘fair judgement’ (mishpat). His style is humble and respectful, not cruel and domineering. He does not break a ‘crushed reed’, nor extinguish a ‘faltering wick’. He will persevere because God has given him strength, for even the ‘coastlands’ await his guidance. The creator God then gives a solemn declaration: God has called this servant ‘in righteousness’ (tsedeq) and protected him. He has given him ‘as a covenant’, so that peoples will live in peace, and there will be harmony between nations. The light which the Servant brings must extend to the nations (goyim). He will ‘open the eyes of the blind’ and ‘free captives from prison’. Isaiah 61, read at the Mass of Chrism, will see a similar mission given to the one who says ‘the spirit of the Lord is upon me’. The poem prepares for the humility and universal mission of Christ to bring freedom, justice and peace.

Psalm 27 (26) This psalm proclaims that the Lord brings light and salvation.

A reading from the holy gospel according to John (12:1-11)

Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom he had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there; Martha waited on them and Lazarus was one of those at table. Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was filled with the scent of the ointment. Then Judas Iscariot – one of his disciples, the man who was to betray him – said, ‘Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he was in charge of the common fund and used to steal from the contents. So Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. You have the poor with you always, you will not always have me.’

A great crowd of Jews heard that he was there and came not only on account of Jesus but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. Then the chief priests planned to kill Lazarus as well, since it was on his account that many of the Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus.

Only the fourth gospel reports an anointing of the feet of Jesus by Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, at their house in Bethany, on the day before he enters Jerusalem. Mark 14 and Matthew 26 recount an anointing of the head of Jesus at the house of Simon some days after his entry to the holy city. This event happens six days before the Passover and so is appropriately read on this day. Unlike Matthew’s story of the anointing, at which the disciples complain about the waste, here it is Judas who complains about the cost of the ointment. This adds to the negative portrayal of Judas, who is then described as a ‘thief’. The action of Mary, by contrast, will be remembered as an act of love. A ‘great crowd’ gathers, to see Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead. Ironically and tragically the chief priests plot to kill Lazarus too.

While Jesus offers life, his opponents are intent on bringing death.

Pray for a spirit of life-giving generosity.

PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD – YEAR C

Before the procession the Gospel of the Entry into Jerusalem is read from Luke 19:28-40.

The first reading, responsorial psalm and second reading are from Year A.

The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke (22:14 – 23:56)

When the time came he took his place at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, ‘I have ardently longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; because, I tell you, I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ Then, taking a cup, he gave thanks and said, ‘Take this and share it among you, because from now on, I tell you, I shall never again drink from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’

Then he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ And the cup similarly after supper saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you.

‘But look, here with me on the table is the hand of the man who is betraying me. The Son of man is indeed going as it is decreed, only alas for that man by whom he is betrayed!’ And they began to question one another which of them it could be who intended to do this.

An argument also began between them about who of them should be reckoned the greatest; but he said to them, ‘The kings of the gentiles lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are given the title Benefactor. Not so with you, but the greatest among you must be as the youngest, the leader as the one who serves. For who is the greater: the one at table or the one who serves? The one at table, surely? Yet I am among you as one who serves!

‘You are those who have endured with me in my trials; and now I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father conferred one on me. You may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

‘Simon, Simon! Look, Satan has been granted to sift you all like wheat; but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail; and sometime you must turn back and strengthen your brothers.’ He answered, ‘Lord, with you I am ready to go to prison and to death.’ Jesus replied, ‘I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow today before you have denied three times that you know me.’

He said to them, ‘When I sent you out without purse or bag or sandals, were you short of anything?’ They answered, ‘Nothing.’ He said to them, ‘But now anyone who has a purse, should take it, and the same with a bag; anyone who has no sword, should sell his tunic and buy one, for I say to you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me, He was reckoned as one of the lawless. And indeed what is written about me is being fulfilled.’ They said, ‘Lord, here are two swords.’ He said to them, ‘That is enough!’ 

He then left to make his way as usual to the Mount of Olives, with the disciples following. When he reached the place he said to them, ‘Pray that you do not enter into temptation.’

Then he withdrew from them, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.’ Then an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground. 

Standing up from prayer and going to the disciples he found them sleeping from grief. 

And he said to them, ‘Why are you asleep? Get up and pray that you do not enter into temptation.’

While he was still speaking, a crowd suddenly appeared, and the one called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. And he approached Jesus to kiss him. Jesus said, ‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of man with a kiss?’ Those around him, seeing what was going to happen, said, ‘Lord, shall we strike with the sword?’ And one of them struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. But at this Jesus said, ‘Leave it at that!’ And touching his ear he healed him.

Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the guard and elders who had come for him, ‘Have you come with swords and clubs as though I were a bandit? When I was with you in the Temple day by day you did not lift a hand against me. But this is your hour and the reign of darkness.’

They seized him then and led him away, and they took him into the high priest’s house. Peter followed at a distance. When they had lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down among them, and a servant-girl, seeing him sitting in the light, peered at him, and said, ‘This man was with him too.’ But he denied it saying. ‘I do not know him, woman.’ Shortly afterwards someone else saw him and said, ‘You are one of them too.’ But Peter replied, ‘Man, I am not.’ A little later another person saw him and insisted, ‘For certain this man was with him also, for he is a Galilean too.’ Peter said, ‘Man, I do not know what you are talking about.’ And immediately, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed, and the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered the Lord’s words when he had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly. Meanwhile the men who were holding Jesus were mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and questioned him, saying, ‘Prophesy! Who hit you?’ And they kept heaping many other insults on him.

When day broke a meeting of the elders of the people, the chief priests and scribes was convened, and they brought him before their council, saying, ‘If you are the Messiah, tell us.’ But he said to them, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I question you, you will not answer. But from now on, the Son of man will be seated at the right hand of the Power of God. They all said, ‘So you are the Son of God?’ He answered, ‘You say that I am.’ Then they said, ‘Why do we still need any evidence? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.’ 

The whole gathering then rose and brought him before Pilate.

They began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man inciting our people to revolt, forbidding payment of taxes to Caesar, and claiming to be the Messiah, a king.’ Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ He replied, ‘You say so.’ Pilate then said to the chief priests and the crowds, ‘I find no case against this man.’ But they insisted, ‘He is stirring up the people, teaching all over Judaea and starting from Galilee all the way to this place.’ Hearing this, Pilate asked if the man were a Galilean; and having discovered that he came under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

Herod was delighted to see Jesus; he had been wanting for a long time to set eyes on him; moreover, he was hoping to see some sign done by him. So he questioned him at some length, but without getting any reply. Meanwhile the chief priests and the scribes were there, vehemently pressing their accusations. Then Herod, together with his guards, treated him with contempt and made fun of him; he put a rich cloak on him and sent him back to Pilate. And Herod and Pilate became friends that day, though formerly they had been at enmity with each other.

Pilate then summoned the chief priests and the leading men and the people, and said to them, ‘You brought this man before me as inciting the people to revolt. See, I have examined him in your presence and found no case against this man in any of the charges you bring against him. Neither has Herod, since he has sent him back to us. See, he has done nothing that deserves death, so I shall have him beaten and release him.’ But as one man they all howled, ‘Take this man away! Release Barabbas for us!’(This man had been thrown into prison because of a riot in the city and murder.)

Again Pilate addressed them, wanting to release Jesus again, but they swelled their shouting, ‘Crucify! Crucify him!’ And for a third time he spoke to them, ‘But what evil has this man done? I have found no case against him that deserves death, so I shall have him beaten and release him.’ But they insisted, demanding at the top of their voices, that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed.

Pilate then gave his verdict, that their demand was to be granted. He released the man they asked for, who had been imprisoned for riot and murder, and handed Jesus over to them as they wished.

As they were leading him away they seized on a man, Simon from Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and laid on him the cross to carry behind Jesus. A large number of the people followed him, and women, who beat their breasts and mourned for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; but weep for yourselves and for your children. For look, the days are coming when people will say, “Blessed are the barren, the wombs that have not borne children, the breasts that have not given suck!” Then they will begin to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us! For if they do this when the wood is green, what will they do when it is dry?’ Two others also, criminals, were led out to be put to death with him.

When they reached the place called The Skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’ Then they cast lots to share out his clothing. The people stood watching. As for the leaders, they scoffed at him saying, ‘He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, the Chosen One.’ The soldiers mocked him too, coming up to him, offering him vinegar, and saying, ‘If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.’ There was also an inscription over him: ‘This is the King of the Jews’.

One of the criminals hanging there jeered at him: ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.’ But in reply the other rebuked him saying. ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence? And we justly, for we are getting what we deserve for what we did. But this man did nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He answered him, ‘Amen I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’

It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until mid-afternoon, as the sun’s light failed. The curtain of the Temple was torn right down the middle. Jesus cried out in a loud voice saying, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he gave glory to God and said, ‘Truly, this was a just man.’ And when all the crowds who had gathered for the spectacle saw what had happened, they went home beating their breasts. All his friends stood at a distance, and also the women who had followed with him from Galilee, watching these things.

Now a man named Joseph, a member of the council, a good and righteous man, had not agreed with their plan and their action. He came from Arimathaea, a Jewish town, and was awaiting the kingdom of God. This man approached Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb in which no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of preparation and the Sabbath was beginning to grow light. The women who had come from Galilee with Jesus followed behind and saw the tomb and how the body had been laid. They went back and prepared spices and ointments. And on the Sabbath day they rested, in accordance with the commandment. 

The story of the Passion in Luke begins with an extended account of the last supper, which preserves several unique sayings of Jesus, among them the words of Jesus to Simon Peter that he should strengthen his brothers. On the Mount of Olives Jesus is comforted while at prayer by an ‘angel from heaven’. Luke describes the disciples as sleeping ‘from grief’. He avoids the painful kiss of Judas and reports the healing of the ear of the high priest’s servant. Luke also reduces the vehemence of the denials of Peter and finishes that scene with the Lord turning and ‘looking straight at Peter’, as Peter breaks down and weeps. The interrogation begins at dawn and the scene then transfers to Pilate’s palace. Pilate asserts three times that he finds no guilt in Jesus, which seems to be Luke’s way of showing that the Roman power should not oppose the Christian preaching. Herod Antipas is ‘delighted’ to see Jesus and cynically clothes him with ‘a rich cloak’, but Luke reports no scourging or crowning with thorns. On the way to Calvary the women weep for Jesus, while Jesus speaks words of forgiveness to his executioners, pardons the thief who turns to him, and ends his life with words from Psalm 31: ‘Into your hands I commit my spirit.’ The aftermath of the crucifixion shows the crowds returning home ‘beating their breasts’.

Why does Luke play down the violence of the Passion story?

We pray for the gift of forgiveness for ourselves, and as a gift to be offered to others.

PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD – YEAR B

Before the procession the Gospel of the Entry into Jerusalem is read from Mark 11:1-10.

The first reading, responsorial psalm and second reading are from Year A.

The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark (14:1 – 15:47)

It was two days before the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by some trick and kill him. For they said, ‘Not during the feast, or there may be a disturbance among the people.’

When he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, while he was at table a woman came in with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the ointment on his head. There were some who said to one another indignantly, ‘Why has this waste of ointment happened? This ointment could have been sold for over three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor’; and they were angry with her. But Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. Why are you upsetting her? She has done me a good service. You have the poor with you always, and you can benefit them whenever you wish, but me you will not always have. She has done what she could: she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Amen I say to you, wherever throughout all the world the gospel is proclaimed, what she has done will also be told, in remembrance of her.’

Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went off to the chief priests so that he might hand Jesus over to them. Hearing it, they were delighted, and promised to give him money; and he began to look for a way of betraying him at an opportune time.

On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they used to sacrifice the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, ‘Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the city and someone will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him, and wherever he enters say to the owner of the house, “The teacher says: Where is the room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” He will show you a large upper room ready set out. Make the preparations for us there.’ The disciples set out and went to the city and found everything as he had told them, and prepared the Passover.

When evening came he arrived with the Twelve. And while they were at table eating, Jesus said, ‘Amen I say to you, one of you is about to betray me, one of you eating with me.’ They were distressed and said to him, one after another, ‘Not me, surely?’ He said to them, ‘It is one of the Twelve, one who is dipping into the same dish with me. For 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! Better for that man if he had never been born.’

And as they were eating he took bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it, gave it to them and said, ‘Take it, this is my body.’ Then taking a cup, after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all drank from it, and he said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many. Amen I say to you, I shall never again drink wine until that day when I drink new wine in the kingdom of God.’

Having sung the psalms they left for the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away, for it is written: I shall strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered; however, after I have been raised up I shall go before you into Galilee.’ Peter said, ‘Even if all fall away, I will not.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Amen I say to you, today, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.’ But he repeated still more strongly, ‘Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.’ And they all said the same.

They came to a plot of land called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ Then he took Peter and James and John with him. And he began to feel dismay and anguish. And he said to them, ‘My soul is deeply sorrowful to the point of death. Wait here, and stay awake.’ And going on a little further he began falling to the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, this hour might pass away from him. And he said, ‘Abba, Father! For you everything is possible. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I want but what you want.’ He came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Had you not the strength to stay awake one hour? Stay awake and pray not to enter into temptation. The spirit is eager, but flesh is weak.’ Again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were weighed down; and they did not know how they should answer him. He came a third time and said to them, ‘Sleep on and have your rest. Enough! The hour has come. See, the Son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up! Let us go! See, my betrayer is not far away.’

And at once, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, came up, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now the traitor had arranged a sign with them saying, ‘The one I will kiss, he is the man. Take charge of him, and lead him away securely.’ So when he came, he went up to Jesus at once and said, ‘Rabbi!’ and kissed him. The others laid hands on him and took charge of him. Then one of the bystanders drew his sword and struck out at the high priest’s servant and cut off his ear.

Then Jesus replied saying, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs to capture me as though I were a bandit? Day by day I was among you teaching in the Temple and you did not lay hands on me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled.’ And they all deserted him and fled. A young man was following him with nothing on but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the cloth behind and fled naked.

They led Jesus off to the high priest; and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes assembled. Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest, and was sitting with the attendants warming himself at the fire.

The chief priests and the whole council were looking for evidence against Jesus in order to put him to death. But they could not find any, for many gave false evidence against him, but their evidence did not agree. Some stood up and gave this false evidence against him, ‘We heard him say, “I will destroy this Temple made by human hands, and in three days build another, not made by human hands.” ’ But even so their evidence did not agree. The high priest then stood up before the whole council and questioned Jesus saying, ‘Have you no answer at all to the evidence they are bringing against you?’ But he was silent and made no answer at all. Again the high priest questioned him saying, ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’ Jesus said, ‘I am; and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, ‘Why do we still need witnesses? You heard the blasphemy. What is your opinion?’ They all condemned him as deserving death.

Some of them started to spit at him, cover his face, buffet him and say ‘Prophesy!’ And the attendants took him over, slapping him in the face.

While Peter was down below in the courtyard, one of the high priest’s servant-girls came up. She saw Peter warming himself there, she stared at him and said, ‘You were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth, too.’ But he denied it saying, ‘I do not know, and do not understand what you are talking about.’ And he went out into the forecourt, and a cock crowed. And seeing him the servant-girl again started saying to the bystanders, ‘This man is one of them.’ But again he denied it. A little later the bystanders themselves said to Peter, ‘You certainly are one of them! You are a Galilean too.’ But he started cursing and swearing, ‘I do not know this man you are talking about.’ And at once the cock crowed for the second time, and Peter recalled how Jesus had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.’ And he burst into tears.

And at once in the morning, the chief priests, together with the elders and scribes and the rest of the assembly, having prepared a plan and bound Jesus, took him off and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ He replied, ‘You say so.’ And the chief priests brought many accusations against him. Pilate questioned him again, ‘Do you make no reply at all? See how many accusations they are bringing against you!’ But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed.

At festival time Pilate used to release a prisoner for them, any one they asked for. Now someone called Barabbas was then in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the uprising. When the crowd went up and began to ask Pilate to do the customary favour for them, Pilate answered them, ‘Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?’ For he realised it was out of spite that the chief priests had handed Jesus over. The chief priests, however, stirred up the crowd so that he should release Barabbas for them instead. Then Pilate spoke to them again, ‘What, then, am I to do with the man you call king of the Jews?’ They shouted back, ‘Crucify him!’ Pilate asked them, ‘What evil has he done?’ But they shouted all the more, ‘Crucify him!’ So Pilate, anxious to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them and, after having Jesus scourged, handed him over to be crucified.

The soldiers led him away to the inner part of the palace, that is, the Praetorium, and called the whole cohort together. They clothed him in purple, twisted some thorns into a crown and put it on him. And they began saluting him, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ They struck his head with a reed and spat on him; and kneeling down they worshipped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple, dressed him in his own clothes and led him out to crucify him.

They enlisted a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus, who was coming from the country, to carry his cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull.

They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. Then they crucified him, and shared out his clothes by casting lots to decide what each should take. It was mid-morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, ‘The King of the Jews’. And they crucified two bandits with him, one on his right and one on his left. The passers-by jeered at him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘Aha! You who destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross!’ The chief priests and the scribes mocked him among themselves in the same way saying, ‘He saved others, he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see it and believe.’ Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.

When noon came there was darkness over the whole land until mid-afternoon. And at that time Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ When some of the bystanders heard, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling Elijah.’ And someone ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar and, putting it on a stick, gave it to him to drink saying, ‘Wait! Let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.’ But Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The centurion, who was standing opposite him, seeing that he had breathed his last, said, ‘In truth this man was Son of God.’

There were some women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary of Magdala, Mary who was the mother of James the younger and Joset, and Salome. These used to follow him and look after him when he was in Galilee. And many other women were there who had come up to Jerusalem with him.

Now as soon as evening came, since it was Preparation Day – that is, the day before the Sabbath – Joseph of Arimathaea, a respected member of the council, who was himself awaiting the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate, surprised if he was already dead, summoned the centurion and asked if he had been long dead. Having been assured of this by the centurion, he granted the corpse to Joseph. Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking him down from the cross, wrapped him in the shroud, laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock and rolled a stone against the doorway of the tomb. Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of Joset were watching where he was laid.

The story of the death of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark is the earliest account. These final chapters of the gospel contain in narrative form what is the essence of Christian preaching: the death and resurrection of Christ. The whole gospel of Mark leads to this climax. Jesus journeys just once to Jerusalem, the place of his martyrdom, and on the way speaks starkly about what he foresees to the shocked disciples. In Gethsemane Mark describes Jesus as feeling ‘dismay and anguish’, while the disciples sleep. When the crowd arrives to arrest Jesus, the disciples flee, joined by a young man wrapped in a ‘linen cloth’. As false accusations are brought against Jesus, Peter equally falsely denies Jesus three times with increasing vehemence. Pilate is amazed at the silence of Jesus. Eventually, in order to ‘satisfy the crowd’, and for his own political ends, he hands Jesus over to be crucified. The scene described on Golgotha is stark, as Jesus is derided by the passers-by, by the chief priests and scribes, and by both of the two bandits crucified with him. His words from the cross are the poignant beginning of Psalm 22: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ As in the other synoptic gospels it is the centurion who after his death makes a declaration of faith in Jesus. Mark stresses that at his burial the women ‘were watching where he was laid’. 

The story of the Passion is the climax of the gospel.

Pray for those who use religion for violence and domination.

PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD – YEAR A

Before the procession the Gospel of the Entry into Jerusalem is read from Matthew 21:1-11.

A reading from the prophet Isaiah (50:4-7)

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.

The section of the Book of Isaiah known as ‘Second Isaiah’ (Isaiah 40-55) contains four poems probably from the exilic period which are known as the Songs of the Servant. All four are proclaimed during Holy Week, the last and longest on Good Friday, for they are understood by Christians as foreshadowing the sufferings of Christ. Today we hear the third of these songs, in which the Servant is subjected to abuse for speaking words of comfort. The subjection to ‘insult and spitting’ is reminiscent of the treatment of Jesus during the night before he died. But the Servant knows he shall not ‘be shamed’.

Psalm 22 (21)  The psalm has many connections with the story of the Passion. The suffering man cries out to God, and the passers-by deride him.

A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Philippians (2:6-11)

Christ Jesus, being in the form of God,
did not count equality with God
something to be grasped.
But he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
born in human likeness, 
and found in human shape;
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient unto death, death on a cross.

And therefore God highly exalted him,
and granted him the name above every name
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend 
of beings heavenly, earthly and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge 
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

This Christian hymn was probably inserted by St Paul in his letter to the people of Philippi, a community for whom he had a high regard and great affection. The hymn explains the paschal mystery of the humiliation and death of Christ and his being raised up by God. The hymn claims divine status for Jesus for ‘every knee shall bend’ and Jesus shall be declared ‘Lord’. All this is ‘to the glory of God the Father’.

The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew (26:14 – 27:66)

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.’ 

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and giving it to the disciples he said, ‘Take it and eat, this is my body.’ Then taking a cup, after giving thanks he handed it to them saying, ‘Drink from this, all of you, for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. From now on, I tell you, I shall never again drink wine until the day I drink the new wine with you in the kingdom of my Father.’ 

Having sung the psalms they left for the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away from me tonight, for it is written, I shall strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered, but after I have been raised up I shall go before you into Galilee.’ At this, Peter said to him, ‘Even if all fall away from you, I will never fall away.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Amen I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.’ Peter said to him, ‘Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.’ And all the disciples spoke similarly. 

Then Jesus came with them to a plot of land called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there to pray.’ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him. And he began to feel sadness and anguish. Then he said to them, ‘My soul is sorrowful to the point of death. Wait here and stay awake with me.’ And going on a little further he fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Only not as I want, but as you.’ 

He came back to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, ‘So you had not the strength to stay awake with me for one hour? Stay awake, and pray not to enter into temptation. The spirit is eager, but the flesh is weak.’ Again, a second time, he went away and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if this cup cannot pass by unless I drink it, your will be done!’ And he came back again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were weighed down. Leaving them there, he went away again and prayed for the third time, repeating the same words. Then he came back to the disciples and said to them, ‘Sleep on now and have your rest. Look, the hour is near when the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up! Let us go! Look, my betrayer is near.’ 

And suddenly, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, came, and with him a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and elders of the people. Now the traitor had given them a sign, saying, ‘The one I kiss, he is the man. Take charge of him.’ So he went up to Jesus at once and said, ‘Greetings, Rabbi,’ and kissed him. Jesus said to him, ‘My friend, do what you are here for.’ Then they came forward, laid hands on Jesus and took charge of him. And suddenly, one of the followers of Jesus grasped his sword and drew it; he struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said, ‘Put your sword back into its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, who would promptly send more than twelve legions of angels to my defence? But then, how would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?’ At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs to capture me as though I were a bandit? Day by day I sat teaching in the Temple and you did not lay hands on me.’ Now all this happened so that the scriptures of the prophets should be fulfilled. Then all the disciples deserted him and ran away. 

The men who had arrested Jesus led him off to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. Peter followed him at a distance right to the courtyard of the high priest, and he went inside and sat down with the attendants to see what the end would be. The chief priests and the whole council were looking for false evidence against Jesus, on which they might have him executed. But they could not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Eventually two came forward and said, ‘This man said, “I have power to destroy the Temple of God and in three days build it up.” ’ Then the high priest rose and said to him, ‘Have you no answer to the evidence these men are bringing against you?’ But Jesus was silent. And the high priest said to him, ‘I put you on oath by the living God to tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is you who say it. Only, I tell you that from this time onward you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, ‘He has blasphemed. Why do we still need witnesses? See now! You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’ They said in answer, ‘He deserves to die.’ Then they spat in his face and hit him with their fists, saying, ‘Prophesy to us, Messiah! Who hit you?’ 

Meanwhile Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant-girl came up to him saying, ‘You, too, were with Jesus the Galilean.’ But he denied it in front of them all, saying, ‘I do not know or understand what you mean.’ When he went out into the gateway another servant-girl saw him and said to the people there, ‘This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.’ And again, with an oath, he denied it, ‘I do not know the man.’ A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, ‘You are certainly one of them too! Why, your accent gives you away.’ Then he started cursing and swearing, ‘I do not know the man.’ And at once the cock crowed, and Peter remembered what Jesus had said, ‘Before the cock crows you will deny me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly.

When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people met in council to bring about the death of Jesus. They bound him, took him off and handed him over to Pilate, the governor. 

When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus had been condemned, he was filled with remorse and took the thirty silver pieces back to the chief priests and elders, saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’ They replied, ‘What is that to us? See to it yourself.’ And flinging down the silver pieces in the sanctuary he made off, and went and hanged himself. The chief priests picked up the silver pieces and said, ‘It is not permissible to put this into the treasury; since it is blood-money.’ So they discussed the matter and with it bought the potter’s field as a graveyard for foreigners, and this is why the field has been called the Field of Blood till this day. The word spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was then fulfilled: And they took the thirty silver pieces, the sum at which the precious One was priced by the children of Israel, and they gave them for the potter’s field, just as the Lord directed me. 

Jesus, then, was brought before the governor, and the governor put to him this question, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Jesus replied, ‘You say so.’ But when he was accused by the chief priests and the elders he did not answer. Pilate then said to him, ‘Do you not hear how many accusations they are bringing against you?’ But he did not answer a single word to him, so that the governor was amazed. 

At festival time it was the governor’s practice to release a prisoner for the people, anyone they chose. Now they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, ‘Which do you want me to release for you, Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?’ For Pilate knew it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over. 

Now as he was seated in the chair of judgement, his wife sent him a message, ‘Have nothing to do with that righteous man; I have been extremely upset today by a dream that I had about him.’ The chief priests and the elders, however, had persuaded the crowds to ask for the release of Barabbas and the execution of Jesus. So when the governor spoke and asked them, ‘Which of the two do you want me to release for you?’ they said, ‘Barabbas.’ Pilate said to them, ‘What, then, am I to do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?’ They all said, ‘Let him be crucified!’ He asked, ‘What evil has he done?’ But they shouted all the more, ‘Let him be crucified!’ Then Pilate, seeing that he was making no impression, but rather that a riot was imminent, took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd and said, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood. You see to it.’ And the whole people shouted back, ‘Let his blood be on us and on our children!’ Then he released Barabbas for them. After having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. 

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus with them into the Praetorium and collected the whole cohort round him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet cloak round him, and having twisted some thorns into a crown they put this on his head and placed a reed in his right hand. To make fun of him they knelt to him saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ And they spat at him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they took off the cloak and dressed him in his own clothes and led him away to crucifixion. 

On their way out, they came across a man from Cyrene, called Simon, and enlisted him to carry his cross. When they had reached a place called Golgotha, which is called the place of the skull, they gave him wine to drink mixed with gall, which he tasted but refused to drink. When they had crucified him they shared out his clothing by casting lots, and then, sitting down, they guarded him there. And they placed above his head the charge against him; it read: ‘This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.’ Then they crucified two bandits with him, one on his right and one on his left. The passers-by jeered at him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘You who destroy the Temple and in three days rebuild it, save yourself, if you are God’s son, and come down from the cross!’ The chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him in the same way, with the words, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He has put his trust in God; now let God rescue him if he wants him. For he said, “I am God’s son.” ’ In the same way even the bandits who were crucified with him taunted him. 

From noon onwards there was darkness over all the land until mid-afternoon. And at that time, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ When some of the bystanders there heard this, they said, ‘He is calling on Elijah,’ and one of them at once ran to get a sponge which he filled with vinegar and, putting it on a reed, gave it him to drink. But the rest of them said, ‘Wait! Let us see if Elijah comes to save him.’ But Jesus, again crying out in a loud voice, yielded up his spirit. 

And suddenly, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth quaked, the rocks were split, the tombs opened and the bodies of many holy people rose from the dead, and these, after his resurrection, came out of the tombs, entered the holy city and appeared to a number of people. The centurion, together with the others guarding Jesus, had seen the earthquake and all that was taking place, and they were terrified and said, ‘In truth this man was son of God.’ 

And many women were there, watching from a distance, the same women who had followed Jesus from Galilee and looked after him. Among them were Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. 

When it was evening, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, called Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be handed over. So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and put it in his own new tomb which he had hewn in the rock. Then he rolled a large stone to the doorway of the tomb and went away. Now Mary of Magdala and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the sepulchre. Next day, that is, when Preparation Day was over, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said to him, ‘Sir, we recall that this deceiver said, while he was still alive, “After three days I shall rise again.” Therefore give the order to have the sepulchre kept secure until the third day, for fear his disciples come and steal him away and tell the people, “He has been raised from the dead.” This last fraud would be worse than the first.’ Pilate said to them, ‘You have a guard; go and make all as secure as you know how.’ So they went and made the sepulchre secure, putting seals on the stone with the guard.

Each gospel narrative of the passion and death of Jesus has its own particularities, for each evangelist seeks to emphasise different aspects of the story. Our narrative from Matthew begins with Judas’ betrayal, and this evangelist alone gives the detail of ‘thirty silver pieces’, thus indicating with a reference from the prophet Zechariah (11:12) the paltry sum at which the Messiah was valued. Matthew emphasises the tragic role of Judas, and alone reports his words at the supper ‘Not me, Rabbi, surely?’ Jesus poignantly addresses Judas as ‘friend’ when he comes with the arresting party to Gethsemane, and Matthew will end the story of Judas with the detail of his despair and suicide. Matthew seems to have a particular interest in Pontius Pilate too. Pilate’s wife, a Gentile, warns Pilate to have nothing to do with ‘that righteous man’, but Pilate simply ‘washed his hands’ of Jesus, allowing the crowds to have their way. Only in this gospel do we hear the fearful cry ‘Let his blood be on us and on our children!’ The events after the death of Jesus are particularly significant in this gospel. The earth quakes and the rocks split and the saints rise from their tombs to be seen by many in the holy city. The Roman centurion, a pagan, and ‘the others guarding Jesus’ assert with one voice their faith in his identity: ‘In truth this man was son of God.’ While on the one hand Matthew stresses the people’s guilt for the death of Jesus, he also suggests that pagans are drawn to him in faith.

Matthew shows that, while the religious leaders plot against Jesus, the Gentiles are open to his mystery.

Pray for harmonious relations between Jewish and Christian believers.

SATURDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT

A reading from the prophet Ezekiel (37:21-28)

Thus says the Lord God: ‘Look, I am taking the Israelites from the nations where they have gone. I shall gather them together from everywhere and bring them home to their own soil. I shall make them into one nation in the country, on the mountains of Israel, and one king is to be king of them all; they will no longer form two nations, nor be two separate kingdoms. They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, their horrors and any of their crimes. I shall save them from the acts of infidelity which they have committed and I shall cleanse them; they will be my people and I shall be their God. My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all; they will follow my judgements, respect my laws and practise them. They will live in the land which I gave to my servant Jacob, the land in which your ancestors lived. They will live in it, they, their children, their children’s children, for ever. David my servant is to be their prince for ever. I shall make a covenant of peace with them, an eternal covenant with them. I shall resettle them and make them grow; I shall set my sanctuary among them for ever. I shall make my home above them; I shall be their God and they will be my people. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is with them for evermore.’

In his words of promise about the future, after the return from exile, the prophet Ezekiel speaks of a reunited people. Many centuries earlier, after the death of king Solomon, the kingdom of David had split into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah (1 Kings 12). God now instructs Ezekiel to perform the symbolic act of bringing together two sticks to symbolise reunion (37:15-20). The two nations shall become one, under one ruler, and the covenant shall be restored, an ‘eternal covenant of peace’. It is twice stated that ‘David’ will rule over them, for David was the ideal king in a time of unity. The sanctuary of God shall be among them for ever. God proclaims: ‘I shall be their God, and they will be my people.’ The nations will know by this the greatness of the God of Israel   

Jer 31:10-31 In this prophetic poem Jeremiah looks forward to a time of consolation.

A reading from the holy gospel according to John (11:45-56)

Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees to tell them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting and said, ‘What are we doing? This man is working many signs. If we let him go on in this way everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take from us the Holy Place and our nation.’ One of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, ‘You know nothing at all; you have not worked out that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, rather than that the whole nation should perish.’ He did not speak in his own person, but as high priest of that year he was prophesying that Jesus was to die for the nation – and not for the nation only, but also to gather together into one the dispersed children of God. From that day onwards they planned to kill him. So Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews, but left there for the district near the desert, to a town called Ephraim, and stayed there with the disciples.

The Passover of the Jews was near, and many people came up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking out for Jesus, saying to one another as they stood in the Temple, ‘What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?’ 

After the final ‘sign’ of Jesus, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, many more come to believe in him. But others report the event, and the chief priests and Pharisees consider the way forward. The high priest, who was both the religious and political leader, reasons that the death of an innocent man, Jesus, is justified in order to protect the people against Roman repression. To allow this ‘messiah’ to continue would be to invite further Roman violence against the people.  The evangelist considers the statement of Caiaphas to be prophetic, for Jesus will indeed die not only ‘for the people’, but ‘to gather together the dispersed children of God’. The authorities will eventually plot to kill not only Jesus, but Lazarus too (12:10).  The evangelist once again reports that Jesus withdraws, this time to the desert and to ‘a town called Ephraim’. The last gospel reading before Holy Week begins leaves us in suspense. Will Jesus come to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover? Or will he avoid such a dangerous situation? For their part, the leaders are resolved to have him killed.

Why does leadership so often disregard justice and truth?

We pray that politicians will enlist the power of truth and of justice.

FRIDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT

A reading from the prophet Jeremiah (20:10-13)

Jeremiah said:

‘I heard so many whispering about me, 
“Terror on every side! 
Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” 
All those who seemed at peace with me
were watching for me to slip, 
“Perhaps he will be tricked into error. 
Then we shall get the better of him 
and then we can take our revenge!”
But the Lord is at my side like a mighty hero. 
So my opponents will stumble 
and will not prevail.
Utterly shamed by their failure,
their eternal disgrace will not be forgotten.
Lord Sabaoth, you who test the righteous, 
you see the heart and the mind; 
I shall see your vengeance on them, 
for I have revealed my cause to you.
Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, 
for he delivers the life of the needy
from the hands of evildoers.’

Things grow ever more desperate in the prophetic ministry of Jeremiah, who has to warn his people in the face of the approaching catastrophe of Babylonian aggression. Plots against him for his supposed disloyalty lead to this most anguished of his confessions. He reports the words of his enemies: ‘Terror on every side! Denounce him!’ They plot their revenge against the prophet. Jeremiah pleads for God to intervene, and in his extreme situation asks for vengeance. He maintains his confidence in the Lord, who ‘is like a mighty hero’ and ‘delivers the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers’.

Psalm 18 (17) The psalm expresses similar anguish as ‘waves of death’ threaten to overwhelm, but God ‘hears the voice’ of the one who prays.

A reading from the holy gospel according to John (10:31-42)

The Jews again took up stones to stone him, so Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you stoning me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘We are stoning you, not for doing a good work, but for blasphemy; though you are only a man, you are making yourself God.’ Jesus answered:

‘Is it not written in your Law:
I said, you are gods?
If it uses the word “gods”
of those people to whom the word of God was addressed
and scripture cannot be annulled  – 
can you say of someone whom the Father has consecrated
and sent into the world, “You are blaspheming”,
because I said, “I am Son of God”?
If I am not doing my Father’s work,
do not believe me.
But if I am doing it,
then even if you do not believe me,
at least believe the works I do;
so that you know and recognise
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’

They again sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

He went back again to the far side of the Jordan, to the district where John had first been baptising, and he stayed there. Many people who came to him said, ‘John gave no signs, but all he said about this man was true’; and many there believed in him.

This excerpt from John chapter 10 sees Jesus in Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication. It seems that his statement in 10:30 ‘The Father and I are one’ provoked this further attempt to stone Jesus, which reflects the growing antagonism and violence of his opponents. Jesus uses Scripture to demonstrate that his claims are not offensive to the Father. As earlier, in the discussion after the healing of the paralysed man in John 5, Jesus speaks of the ‘works’ which he performs as proving that he is from the Father. Things grow more dangerous for Jesus, but for now he escapes arrest. His refuge on the far side of the Jordan, where John had baptised, is a return to the place where his ministry began. Is Jesus renewing his strength for what lies ahead? This is also a place where there is faith, for ‘many there believed in him.’ 

Be encouraged by the faith of those around you, even if it is hidden.

Pray for those who believe despite rejection and persecution.

THURSDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT

A reading from the book of Genesis (17:3-9)

Abram bowed to the ground. God spoke to him as follows, ‘For my part, this is my covenant with you: you will become the father of many nations. And you are no longer to be called Abram; your name is Abraham, for I have made you father of many nations. I shall make you very fertile. I shall make you into nations, and kings will issue from you. And I shall maintain my covenant between myself and you, and your descendants after you, generation after generation, as an everlasting covenant, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. And to you and to your descendants after you, I give the country where you are now immigrants, the entire land of Canaan, to own in perpetuity. And I will be their God.’ 

And God said to Abraham, ‘You for your part must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation.’ 

The covenant (berit) with Abram was first reported in Genesis 15. In this reading, from a later text, the covenant is reiterated, and Abram’s change of name to ‘Abraham’ is announced. The new name, ‘Abraham’, is traditionally interpreted to mean ‘father of a multitude’. The covenant sets up a relationship in which God is the giver and Abraham the receiver. The repeated promise of God is of numerous descendants and of land. In the following verses it will be laid down that all males should undergo circumcision as the ‘sign of the covenant’ (17:11).

Psalm 105 (104)  The psalm refers to the three patriarchs of the covenant, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

A reading from the holy gospel according to John (8:51-59)

Jesus said to the Jews:

‘Amen, Amen I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death.’

The Jews said, ‘Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets too, and yet you say, “Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.” Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too. Who do you claim to be?’ 

Jesus answered:

‘If I were to seek my own glory
my glory would be worth nothing;
in fact, my glory is conferred by the Father,
by the one of whom you say, “He is our God,” 
although you do not know him.
But I know him, and if I were to say, 
“I do not know him,”
I should be a liar, like you.
But I do know him, and I keep his word.
Your father Abraham rejoiced 
that he should see my day;
he saw it and was glad.’

Then the Jews said, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham!’ Jesus replied:

‘Amen, Amen I say to you,
before Abraham ever was, 
I am.’

And they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself and left the Temple.

The question raised in this continuing dispute at the Feast of Tabernacles is the relationship of Jesus to Abraham. The Jews ask Jesus directly whether he is ‘greater than Abraham’. His response leads to the claim that Abraham ‘rejoiced to see my day’, and the climax comes with Jesus’ words: ‘before Abraham ever was, I am’. Jesus attributes to Abraham a unique vision of the whole history of salvation. As earlier in the chapter Jesus uses the words ‘I am’, but here in an absolute sense, echoing the words of God to Moses in Exodus 3. The Jews are outraged and begin to stone him for what they consider to be blasphemy (10:33). When there is no faith insults are an easy way out.

How could Abraham rejoice to see the day of Christ?

Let us pray for those who cannot open their eyes to new vision.

WEDNESDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT

A reading from the prophet Daniel (3:14-20, 24-25, 28)

Nebuchadnezzar addressed them, ‘Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, is it true that you do not serve my gods and that you refuse to worship the golden statue I have set up? When you hear the sound of horn, pipe, lyre, zither, harp, bagpipe and every other kind of instrument, are you prepared to prostrate yourselves and worship the statue I have made? If you refuse to worship it, you shall immediately be thrown into the burning fiery furnace; and which of the gods will then save you from my power?’ Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego replied to King Nebuchadnezzar, ‘Your question needs no answer from us: if our God, whom we serve, is able to save us from the burning fiery furnace and from your power, Your Majesty, he will save us; and even if he does not, then you must know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your god or worship the statue you have set up.’ 

This infuriated King Nebuchadnezzar and his face was distorted as he looked at Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. He gave orders for the furnace to be made seven times hotter than usual and commanded the very strongest men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego and throw them into the burning fiery furnace. 

Then King Nebuchadnezzar sprang to his feet in amazement. He said to his advisers, ‘Did we not have these three men thrown bound into the fire?’ They answered the king, ‘Yes, indeed, Your Majesty.’ He replied, ‘But I can see four men walking free in the heart of the fire and quite unharmed! And the fourth looks like a child of the gods!’ 

Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego: he has sent his angel to rescue his servants who, putting their trust in him, defied the order of the king and preferred to forfeit their bodies rather than serve or worship any god but their God.’ 

The three young Hebrews, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, now known by their Babylonian names, have refused to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s gods, or the golden statue he has set up. The first chapter of the book of Daniel listed Daniel himself with these three young men when they first arrived in Babylon and began training for service at the court. The miraculous escape of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego from the furnace provokes the king’s change of heart as he exclaims: ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego.’ The story of their escape from the fiery furnace demonstrates the protection afforded by God to his people living under pagan oppression. The God of Israel, being infinitely superior to the gods of the pagans, is able to convince even the worst of tyrants. God provides the strength and salvation needed by those who are persecuted for their faith.

Psalm: The canticle of the three young men is from the Greek Bible and has been inserted into Daniel chapter 3 at this point.

A reading from the holy gospel according to John (8:31-42)

To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said:

‘If you remain in my word, 
you are truly my disciples;
you will come to know the truth, 
and the truth will set you free.’

They answered, ‘We are descended from Abraham and we have never been the slaves of anyone; what do you mean, “You will become free?” ’ Jesus replied: 

‘Amen, Amen I say to you,
everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
Now a slave does not remain in the household for ever,
but a son remains for ever.
So if the Son sets you free,
you will indeed be free.
I know that you are descended from Abraham;
but you seek to kill me 
because my word finds no place in you.
I speak of what I have seen at my Father’s side,
and you too do what you have learnt from your father.’

They replied to him, ‘Our father is Abraham.’ Jesus said to them:

‘If you were Abraham’s children,
you would do as Abraham did.
As it is, you want to kill me,
a man who has told you the truth 
which I have learnt from God.
That is not what Abraham did.
You are doing your father’s work.’

They replied, ‘We were not born illegitimate, the only father we have is God.’ Jesus answered:

‘If God were your father, you would love me,
since I have my origin in God and have come from him;
I did not come of my own accord, 
but he sent me.’

The evangelist continues to present the conversation of Jesus in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles. Many have come to believe in Jesus, but the mood changes when he suggests that they will be ‘set free’ by the truth he brings them. They resent the insinuation that they are not already free. Their adherence to Abraham is sufficient, they imply, but their lack of freedom means they refuse to recognise God’s word in Jesus. Can they really claim to be children of Abraham, who himself was led by God? Can they really claim to be children of God, if they do not recognise that Jesus has come from the Father?

The road of faith offers new twists and turns, and new surprises.

Pray for freedom from rigidity.

TUESDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT

A reading from the book of Numbers (21:4-9)

They left Mount Hor by the road to the Sea of Suph, to skirt round Edom. On the way the people lost patience. They spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? For there is neither food nor water here; we are sick of this wretched food.’ At this, God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel. The people came and said to Moses, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede for us with the Lord to save us from these serpents.’ So Moses interceded for the people, and the Lord replied, ‘Make a fiery serpent and raise it as a standard. Anyone who is bitten and looks at it will survive.’ So Moses made a serpent out of bronze and raised it as a standard, and anyone who was bitten by a serpent and looked at the bronze serpent survived.

The Israelites continue their journey through the desert led by Moses. The preservation in Scripture of the curious tale of the bronze serpent might surprise us. King Hezekiah abolished such totems and had them destroyed, including the bronze serpent mentioned explicitly in the second book of Kings (2 Kings 18). The persistence of the tradition and its preservation in the book of Numbers perhaps show moderation in understanding the manifold ways in which people can reach out for God’s help, and express faith in something greater than themselves. The people acknowledge their guilt and ask Moses to intercede for them with God. It is God who tells them to ‘look at the serpent’, and it is God who heals.

Psalm 102 (101) The psalm speaks of those condemned to die being freed.

A reading from the holy gospel according to John (8:21-30)

Again Jesus said to them:

‘I am going away; you will look for me
but you will die in your sin.
Where I am going, you cannot come.’

So the Jews said to one another, ‘Is he going to kill himself, that he says, “Where I am going, you cannot come?” ’ And he said to them: 

‘You are from below; 
I am from above.
You are of this world; 
I am not of this world.
I have told you already: 
you will die in your sins.
For if you do not believe that I am He, 
you will die in your sins.’

So they said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus answered: 

‘What I have told you from the outset.
About you I have much to say 
and to judge;
but the one who sent me is true,
and what I have learnt from him 
I declare to the world.’

They did not recognise that he was talking to them about the Father. So Jesus said: 

‘When you have lifted up the Son of man, 
then you will know that I am He
and that I do nothing of my own accord.
But as the Father has taught me, so I speak;
he who sent me is with me,
and has not left me to myself, for I always do what pleases him.’

As he was saying these things, many came to believe in him.

Jesus’ encounter at the Feast of Tabernacles continues. The repeated use of the phrase ‘I am He’ by Jesus is understood to allude to the name of God revealed to Moses (Exodus 3). As God is, so Jesus is. No wonder there is consternation among Jesus’ interlocutors. Jesus furthermore alludes to the healing with the bronze serpent by speaking of himself being ‘lifted up’. There is a developing understanding of Jesus, of his relationship with the Father, and of his mission, to be discovered in these chapters of John’s gospel. The passage concludes with the statement that ‘many came to believe in him’, and Jesus will address them.

Jesus is lifted up in death, and in resurrection.

Pray for those who are seeking to know and love Jesus.

MONDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK IN LENT

A reading from the prophet Daniel (13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62)

In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim. He married a woman called Susanna, daughter of Hilkiah, a woman of great beauty and one who revered God. Her parents were righteous and had instructed their daughter in the Law of Moses. Joakim was a very rich man and had a garden adjoining his house; a considerable number of the Jews used to visit him, since he was held in greater respect than anyone else.

Two elders had been elected from the people that year to act as judges. About them the Lord had said, ‘Wickedness came out from Babylon from elders who were judges, who were supposed to govern the people.’ These men were often at Joakim’s house and all who had a case to be judged used to come to them. At midday, when the people had gone away, Susanna would take a walk in her husband’s garden. The two elders used to watch her every day as she went in to take her walk and began to lust after her. They threw reason aside, making no effort to turn their eyes to heaven and forgetting the demands of virtue. So it happened that they were waiting for a favourable moment; and one day Susanna came as usual, accompanied only by two young maidservants. The day was hot and she wanted to bathe in the garden. There was no one about except the two elders, spying on her from their hiding place. She said to the servants, ‘Bring me some oil and balsam and shut the garden door while I bathe.’ 

Hardly were the maids gone when the two elders sprang up and rushed on her, saying, ‘Look, the garden doors are shut, no one can see us. We want to have you, so agree and lie with us! Otherwise we will give evidence against you that a young man was with you and that was why you sent your maids away.’ Susanna groaned and said, ‘I am trapped. If I agree, it means death for me; if I refuse, I cannot escape your hands. I would rather refuse and fall into your hands than sin in the eyes of the Lord.’ Then she cried out at the top of her voice. The two elders began shouting too, against her. One of them ran to open the garden doors. When the people in the house heard the shouting in the garden, they rushed out by the side entrance to see what had happened to her. Once the elders had told their story, the servants were thoroughly ashamed, because nothing of this sort had ever been said of Susanna.

Next day, as the people gathered at the house of her husband Joakim, the two elders arrived, full of their wicked plan against Susanna, to have her put to death. Before all the people they said, ‘Send for Susanna daughter of Hilkiah and wife of Joakim.’ She was sent for and came accompanied by her parents, her children and all her relations. 

Her own people were weeping and so were all the others who saw her. The two elders stood up with all the people round them, and laid their hands on her head. Tearfully she turned her eyes to heaven, her heart confident in God. Then the elders spoke, ‘While we were walking by ourselves in the garden, this woman arrived with two young maidservants. She shut the garden door and then dismissed the servants. A young man who had been hiding went over to her and lay down with her. From the corner of the garden where we were, we saw this wickedness taking place and ran towards them. Though we saw them embracing, we could not overpower the man, as he was too strong for us; he opened the door and got away. We did, however, get hold of this woman and ask her who the young man was. She refused to tell us. That is our evidence.’ 

Since they were elders of the people and judges, the assembly accepted their word: Susanna was condemned to death. She cried out at the top of her voice, ‘Eternal God, you know all secrets and everything before it happens; you know that these men have given false evidence against me. And now I am to die, innocent as I am of everything their malice has invented against me!’ The Lord heard her cry and, as she was being led away to die, he roused the holy spirit residing in a young boy called Daniel who shouted at the top of his voice, ‘I am innocent of this woman’s blood!’ All the people turned to him and asked, ‘What do you mean by that?’ Standing in the middle of the crowd, he replied, ‘Are you such fools, children of Israel, as to condemn a daughter of Israel without examination and without clear evidence? Go back to the scene of the trial: the evidence these men have given against her is false.’

The whole people hurried back, and the elders said to Daniel, ‘Come and sit with us and explain to us, since God has given you the standing of an elder.’ Daniel said, ‘Keep the men well apart from each other, and I will examine them.’ 

When the men had been separated from each other, Daniel summoned one of them and said, ‘You have grown old in wickedness and now the sins of your earlier days have caught up with you, your unjust judgements, your condemnation of the innocent, your acquittal of the guilty, although the Lord has said, “You shall not put to death the innocent and righteous.” Now then, since you saw her so clearly, tell me under what sort of tree you saw them lying.’ He replied, ‘Under a gum tree.’ Daniel said, ‘Your lie deservedly recoils on your own head: the angel of God has already received your sentence from him and will cut you in half.’ Putting the man to one side, he ordered the other to be brought and said to him, ‘Son of Canaan, not of Judah, beauty has seduced you, lust has led your heart astray! This is how you have been behaving with the daughters of Israel and they have been so frightened that they went along with you. But now a daughter of Judah would not tolerate your wickedness! Now then, tell me under what sort of tree you caught them.’ He replied, ‘Under an evergreen oak tree.’ Daniel said, ‘Your lie deservedly recoils on your own head too: the angel of God is waiting with a sword to cut you in half and destroy the pair of you.’ 

Then the whole assembly raised a great shout, blessing God, the Saviour of those who trust in   him. And they turned on the two elders whom Daniel had convicted of false evidence out of their own mouths. As the Law of Moses prescribes, they were given the same punishment as they had schemed to inflict on their neighbour. They were put to death. And thus, that day, innocent blood was saved. 

This story is one of the later additions in the Greek language to the Book of Daniel. While Daniel in the traditions of the Hebrew Bible is a visionary and interpreter of dreams, in this extra chapter of the book he is a figure of wisdom. Despite his youth he can see more clearly than others. Susanna, daughter of a righteous and God-fearing Jewish family living in Babylon, is nevertheless accused by the elders, who abuse their position of prestige in the community to satisfy their own worst desires. But wisdom triumphs through the simple ploy of the young Daniel, whose name means ‘judgement of God’.

Psalm 23 (22)  Even though she walked in the ‘valley of death’ Susanna’s trust in the Lord is rewarded.

In Years A and B the gospel is that for the Fifth Sunday of Lent Year C (given above).

In Year C the following gospel is read.

A reading from the holy gospel according to John (8:12-20)

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying:

‘I am the light of the world;
anyone who follows me
will not be walking in the dark,
but will have the light of life.’

So the Pharisees said to him, ‘You are witnessing on your own behalf; your witness is not true.’ Jesus replied: 

‘Even though I witness on my own behalf,
my witness is true, because I know
where I have come from and where I am going;
but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
You judge by human standards; I judge no one,
but if I judge, my judgement is true,
because I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent me.
In your Law it is written
that the witness of two people is true.
I witness on my own behalf,
but the Father who sent me witnesses on my behalf, too.’

They asked him, ‘Where is your Father?’

Jesus answered: 

‘You do not know me, nor do you know my Father;
if you did know me, you would know my Father as well.’

He spoke these words in the Treasury, while teaching in the Temple.

No one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

Jesus is in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, which involves the lighting of candles. Jesus declares that he is ‘the light of the world’. He is the light which ‘darkness cannot overpower’ (John 1:5). As long as he is in the world he is ‘the light of the world’ (John 9:5). Once again the opponents of Jesus complain that he witnesses on his own behalf. As he did after the healing of the paralysed man (John 5:31), Jesus declares that the witness on whom he relies is the Father. But the Father is not known by those to whom he is talking here: ‘You do not know me, nor do you know my Father.’

We can only come to know the Father through Jesus.

Pray for those who dismiss the wisdom which comes from God through Jesus.

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT – YEAR C

A reading from the prophet Isaiah (43:16-21)

Thus says the Lord, 
who made a way through the sea, 
a path in the mighty waters,
who led out chariot and horse,
a mighty army together.
‘They lay down no more to rise, 
they were snuffed out, put out like a wick.
No need to remember past events,
to harp on what was done before.
Look, I am about to do something new, 
now it is springing up; can you not see it? 
I am making a road in the desert and rivers in wastelands.
The wild animals will honour me, 
the jackals and the ostriches, 
for I am giving water in the desert 
and rivers through the wastelands 
for my people, my chosen ones, to drink.
The people I have formed for myself will declare my praise.’

In response to the laments of the people the prophets of the exile announce that God is going to do a ‘new deed’. For the Second Isaiah there is no need to recall the exodus from Egypt, when God ‘made a way through the sea’ and demonstrated faithful love towards the people. Now, in the depths of exile in Babylon, the Lord says ‘something new’ is about to be seen. Even the natural world will be changed, for God is ‘making a road in the desert and rivers in wastelands’ to enable the people to return home. The most unlikely creatures, jackals and ostriches, will give glory to God, for God provides water for animals and human beings, a sign of enduring care for the whole creation. If the past deeds of God were glorious, how much more glorious will be God’s new deeds. Praise of God is the logical outcome, as the works of God are told to future generations.

Psalm 126 (125) Liberation from slavery with joyful singing, which had been impossible during the exile (Ps 137:4), is celebrated here. Jubilation will replace tears.

A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Philippians (3:8-14)

Yes, I will go further: because of the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, I count everything else as loss. For him I have accepted the loss of all other things, and look on them all as filth if only I can gain Christ and be found in him, having not my own righteousness from the Law, but righteousness from God through faith in Christ, based on faith, that I may come to know him and the power of his resurrection, and partake of his sufferings by being moulded to the pattern of his death, if somehow I may reach the goal of resurrection from the dead. 

Not that I have secured it already, nor yet reached my goal; but I am still pursuing it, in the attempt to take hold of the prize for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not reckon myself as having taken hold of it; but one thing is that forgetting all that lies behind me, and straining forward to what lies ahead, I am racing towards the finishing-point to win the prize of God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. 

Paul writes to his dear Philippian Christians from prison, sharing the depth of his faith and love for Christ Jesus, crucified and risen. This passage might be regarded as Paul’s ‘confession of faith’. His knowing Jesus is a ‘supreme advantage’ which makes everything else insignificant. His ‘righteousness’ comes not from the Law, as he once thought, but from faith in Christ, which rules out the need to justify oneself by works. Paul is clear that this journey is not over for him and lasts throughout life. Sharing in the suffering and death of Christ he longs for the resurrection. He yearns for the ‘prize’ of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. He ‘races’ like an athlete towards the ‘finishing-point’.

A reading from the holy gospel according to John (8:1-11)

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and the whole people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand there in the middle they said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the very act of committing adultery. In the Law Moses ordered us to stone women of this kind. What do you say?’ This they said testing him, so that they might have an accusation to bring against him. But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said, ‘Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Then bending down again he continued writing on the ground. When they heard this they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until the last one had gone and Jesus was left alone with the woman, standing in the middle. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She replied, ‘No one, sir.’ Then Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go! And from now on do not sin again.’

The woman in this gospel passage is a victim, twice over. She is a victim of whoever committed adultery with her, who has disappeared from the scene. She is then the victim of the group of religious leaders who bring her before Jesus as if for a trial. Jesus too is under threat: is he to abide by the strict letter of the Law and condemn her? Is this question, like that about taxes to Caesar, designed as a trap? The silence of Jesus is eloquent, and forces a pause. His twice ‘writing on the ground’ allows for hesitation, both for those driving the ‘trial’, and for today’s reader. No one condemns the woman, and Jesus himself says: ‘Neither do I condemn you.’ Jesus effectively opens new life for the woman, and perhaps even for her accusers too.

What does the silence of Jesus say?

For all women who suffer, we pray.

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT – YEAR B

A reading from the prophet Jeremiah (31:31-34)

‘Look, the days are coming – declares the Lord – when I shall make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah, but not like the covenant I made with their ancestors the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant which they broke, even though I was their Master – declares the Lord. For this is the covenant I shall make with the House of Israel when those days have come – declares the Lord. Within them I shall plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I shall be their God and they will be my people. They will no longer teach one another, saying, “Learn to know the Lord!” for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest – declares the Lord – since I shall forgive their guilt and never more call their sin to mind.’

In the ‘book of consolation’ of the prophet Jeremiah (chapters 30-33), after the disaster of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the exile, the prophet looks to the future with hope. For the first time in Scripture we hear the expression ‘new covenant’. It will be made with the whole people of God, even though they broke the covenant made ‘with their Master’ when they left Egypt. Things will change, for this covenant, unlike the former one, will involve the Law being written on the hearts of the people. It will involve truly ‘knowing’ the Lord, showing justice to the poor and the needy as king Josiah did, and avoiding violence and oppression (Jeremiah 22:16-17). In the new covenant all people young and old will experience God’s forgiveness.

Psalm 51 (50) This penitential psalm, used so frequently throughout Lent, anticipates the washing away of guilt and the gift of a new heart and a new spirit.

A reading from the letter to the Hebrews (5:7-9)

During the days of his flesh, he offered up prayer and entreaty, with loud cries and with tears, to the one who had the power to save him from death, and, winning a hearing by his reverence, he learnt obedience, Son though he was, through his sufferings; when he had been perfected, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation.

This reading will be heard again on Good Friday. Jesus, the Son of God, the trustworthy and merciful high priest of the new covenant, by obedience gives his life to bring the human race salvation. Jesus is described, as in Gethsemani, as offering ‘prayer and entreaty’, remaining in contact with his God despite his dread of what lies ahead. He is the new priest of the ‘order of Melchizedek’, who offers his life ‘once and for all’ for all people. His perfect sacrifice is never to be repeated and valid for all times.

A reading from the holy gospel according to John (12:20-33)

Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. These approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and put this request to him, ‘Sir, we would like to see Jesus.’ Philip went to tell Andrew, and Andrew and Philip together went to tell Jesus.

Jesus replied to them:

‘Now the hour has come 
for the Son of man to be glorified.
Amen, Amen I say to you,
unless a wheat grain falls into the earth and dies,
it remains only a single grain;
but if it dies it bears much fruit
Anyone who loves life loses it;
anyone who hates life in this world
will keep it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me, must follow me,
and my servant will be with me wherever I am.
Whoever serves me, my Father will honour.
Now my soul is troubled.
What shall I say:
Father, save me from this hour?
But it is for this very reason
that I have come to this hour.
Father, glorify your name!’

A voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will again glorify it.’

The crowd standing by, who heard this, said it was thunder; others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’ Jesus answered, ‘This voice came not for my sake, but for yours.

‘Now is the judgement of this world, 
now the ruler of this world will be driven out.
And when I am lifted up from the earth,
I shall draw all people to myself.’

Saying this he indicated the kind of death he would die. 

Some Greeks, non-Jewish pagans, wish to ‘see’ Jesus. The disciples facilitate their meeting and Jesus, as happens so often in this gospel, gives a reply which goes well beyond their request. At Cana he had declined to anticipate the ‘hour’ (John 2). Now he declares that his ‘hour’ has indeed come, the time for him to be ‘glorified’. The glory is the demonstration that the Father is with him. He speaks of the seed that must die to produce fruit, a way marked out for him and for his ‘servants’. His anxiety whether he should ask to be delivered from this ‘hour’ recalls the anguish of the garden of Gethsemane in the other gospels. The hesitation is quickly transcended with the statement that he is ready for the    ‘hour’. The mysterious ‘voice’ from heaven may be compared to the voice heard at the Transfiguration, which commends his commitment to the cross. It is by the cross that Jesus will ‘draw all people to himself’.

Do I really want to see Jesus?

Pray for those who are searching for the truth.

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT – YEAR A

A reading from the prophet Ezekiel (37:12-14)

Thus says the Lord God: I am now going to open your graves; I shall raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people, and put my spirit in you, and you shall live and I will resettle you on your own soil. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done this – declares the Lord God.

Ezekiel’s famous vision of dry bones in a valley brought back to life (37:1-11) symbolised the resurgence of the nation after the long years of the Babylonian exile. The prophet, who is preaching in Babylon, now gives further encouraging words of the Lord. He uses a similar image, that of raising bodies from the grave. The whole people will receive the spirit which will renew God’s life within them. And they will return to the land of Israel. The prophet stresses that Israel will ‘know’ that it is the Lord who brings about this life-giving intervention.

Psalm 130 (129) The psalm speaks of deliverance from the ‘depths’, here suggesting the loss and despair which the exiled people knew in Babylon.

A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Romans (8:8-11)

Those who live by the flesh cannot be pleasing to God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies too through his Spirit dwelling in you.

The Christ who has given his life for the salvation of all offers new life through baptism. The life-giving Spirit is available to the followers of Christ, who choose to live not ‘in the flesh’ but ‘in the Spirit’. As suggested in the prophecy of Ezekiel, the Spirit is life-giving. The Spirit who raised Jesus up from death will give life to those who are baptised into Christ, even giving new life to our mortal bodies. The mystery of death and resurrection is lived out day by day.

A reading from the holy gospel according to John (11:1-45)

There was a sick man named Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. It was Mary, the sister of the sick man Lazarus, who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair. The sisters sent this message to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick.’ On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not lead to death, but is for God’s glory so that through it the Son of God may be glorified.’

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, yet when he heard that he was sick he stayed where he was for two more days. Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let us go back to Judaea.’ The disciples said, ‘Rabbi, just now the Jews were trying to stone you; are you going back there again?’ Jesus replied:

‘Are there not twelve hours in the day?
No one who walks in the daytime stumbles,
having the light of this world to see by;
anyone who walks around at night stumbles,
having no light as a guide.’

He said that and then added, ‘Our friend Lazarus is at rest; I am going to wake him up.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Lord, if he is at rest he will be saved.’ Jesus had been speaking of the death of Lazarus, but they thought that by ‘rest’ he meant sleep. So Jesus put it plainly, ‘Lazarus has died; and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’ Then Thomas – known as the Twin – said to the other disciples, ‘Let us also go to die with him.’

On arriving, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already. Bethany is only about three kilometres from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died, but even now I know that God will grant whatever you ask of him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her:

‘I am the resurrection and life.
Anyone who believes in me,
even though that person dies, will live,
and no one who lives and believes in me will ever die.
Do you believe this?’

She said, ‘Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into this world.’

When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying quietly, ‘The Master is here and is calling you.’ Hearing this, Mary got up quickly and went to him. Jesus had not yet come into the village; he was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were in the house comforting Mary, seeing her get up quickly and go out, followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came to where Jesus was, seeing him she fell at his feet, saying, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also, he was distressed in spirit, and profoundly moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept; and the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ Some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have prevented this man from dying?’ Again inwardly distressed, Jesus reached the tomb: it was a cave, closed by a stone. Jesus said, ‘Take the stone away.’ Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, ‘Lord, there is already a stench; he has been dead for four days.’ Jesus replied, ‘Have I not told you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?’ So they took the stone away. Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and said:

‘Father, I thank you for hearing my prayer.
I myself knew that you hear me always,
but I speak 
for the sake of all the crowd standing around me,
so that they may believe that you sent me.’

When he had said this, he cried in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with strips of material, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’

Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what he did, believed in him.

The seventh and final ‘sign’ in the Gospel of John is read as Easter approaches. It is the most obvious sign that Jesus is Lord of life. Jesus delays visiting his sick friend. His sickness, he tells the disciples, will be ‘for God’s glory’. When Jesus arrives in Bethany Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days. The sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, express faith in different ways. Martha explicitly professes her belief in the resurrection ‘on the last day’, to which Jesus replies that he is ‘the resurrection and life’. Martha’s response is to affirm that Jesus is ‘the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into this world’. Mary has fewer words, and her tears show her love both for her brother and for Jesus. As he approaches the tomb Jesus too weeps. His prayer to the Father is for those around him to hear, to challenge their faith. The narrative in fact concludes with the statement that after this final sign ‘many’ came to believe in him. Plots are then made to kill not only Jesus, but Lazarus too (12:10-11). 

How is it that this sign provokes plots against Lazarus and against Jesus?

Pray for those who cannot weep.

SATURDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK IN LENT

A reading from the prophet Jeremiah (11:18-20)

The Lord informed me and so I knew it; you then revealed their scheming to me. I for my part was like a trustful lamb being led to the slaughterhouse, not knowing the schemes they were plotting against me, ‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name is remembered no more!’ 

O Lord Sabaoth whose judgement is righteous, 
you test the mind and the heart: 
let me see your vengeance upon them, 
for I have revealed my cause to you. 

Jeremiah has been called to bring an unwelcome message to his contemporaries, the urgent call to surrender to the power of Babylon. In one of his ‘confessions’, his outpourings in the face of the enemies who surround him, he resembles Jesus in those final days. It is the Lord who has made him aware of the danger: ‘you revealed their scheming to me’. He compares himself to a lamb led unwittingly to the slaughter. They are determined to cut down this tree and to destroy its fruit. Jeremiah’s prayer for God’s vengeance may surprise us, and yet, he actually entrusts his ‘cause’ (rib) to God. 

Psalm 7 The plight of the just man faced with violence, and his trust in God’s protection, are the theme of this psalm.

A reading from the holy gospel according to John (7:40-52)

Members of the crowd who had heard these words said, ‘He is truly the prophet,’ others said, ‘He is the Messiah,’ but others said, ‘Is the Messiah to come from Galilee? Does not scripture say that the Messiah is to be from the seed of David and to come from Bethlehem, the village where David was?’ So there was a division in the crowd about him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

The officers went back to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, ‘Why did you not bring him?’ The officers replied, ‘No one has ever spoken like this man.’ So the Pharisees answered them, ‘Have you, too, been led astray? Have any of the authorities of the Pharisees believed in him? This crowd, which knows nothing about the Law – they are accursed.’ One of them, Nicodemus – who had come to Jesus earlier – said to them, ‘Surely our Law does not judge anyone without first giving that person a hearing and discovering what he is doing?’ They answered and said, ‘Are you a Galilean too? Search and you will see: a prophet does not arise in Galilee.’

The presence of Jesus in Jerusalem for the feast of Tabernacles provokes further discussion about his origins. This text shows the division among the people, some of whom declare Jesus to be the expected ‘prophet’, even the ‘Messiah’, while others oppose him. The chief priests and Pharisees are annoyed when the officers sent earlier to apprehend Jesus do not arrest him. They defend themselves: ‘No one has ever spoken like this man.’ The Pharisees believe they are the only ones not deceived by Jesus, but Nicodemus speaks up for a proper hearing of Jesus’ case. The one who had earlier come to Jesus by night (John 3) defends him now, and will assist Joseph of Arimathaea in honouring the body of Jesus as the gospel draws towards its end (John 19).

How easy it is to dismiss those who ‘know nothing’, without hearing their truth!

We thank God for those who have the courage to speak the truth at considerable risk to themselves.

FRIDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK IN LENT

 A reading from the book of Wisdom (2:1, 12-22)

The godless say:
‘Let us lay traps for the righteous
who annoys us and opposes our way of life, 
reproaches us for our sins against the Law 
and broadcasts our sins against our upbringing.
Such a person claims to have knowledge of God,
claims to be a child of the Lord,
a reproof to our way of thinking – 
the very sight weighs us down!
Such a life is abnormal!
Such ways are exclusive! 
He thinks we are damaged goods 
and avoids us like filth.
Blessing he finds in the death of the righteous 
and he boasts that God is his father.
Let us see if what he says is true 
and test him to see what end he will have.
For if the righteous is the son of God,
God will hold him fast and rescue him from the grasp of his enemies.
We’ll test him with insult and torture, 
find out just how gentle he is and test out that patience of his.
We’ll condemn him to a shameful death; 
he’ll be looked after – he thinks!’
This is how they reasoned but they were misled, 
for their wickedness made them blind.
They knew not the secrets of God,
had no hope of the reward of holiness, 
nor belief in the prize for innocence.

This poem from the book of Wisdom, a book which wonderfully blends Jewish thinking and Greek culture, contrasts the righteous with the godless. These latter plan to put the righteous one to the test (peirasmos). They are well aware what he thinks of them, and they know he is right. They resent his goodness and plan to insult and  torture him. These words originate in a pagan environment, in which fidelity to the ancient faith and its values are a source of irritation. Once the speech of the godless ends the writer affirms that ‘their wickedness has made them blind’. Attacks on the innocent and the just punctuate the Scriptures, and include the Just One himself and his followers in the New Testament.

Psalm 34 (33) The just one trusts in God’s protection.

A reading from the holy gospel according to John (7:1-2, 10, 25-30) 

After this Jesus went around in Galilee, for he did not wish to go around in Judaea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. The Jewish festival of Tabernacles was near. After his brothers had left for the festival, then he went up as well, not openly but in secret. 

Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Is not this the man they are seeking to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities have recognised that he is the Messiah? Yet we know where this man is from, but when the Messiah comes no one will know where he is from.’

Then, as Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he cried out:

‘You know me and you know where I am from.
Yet I have not come of my own accord:
but he who sent me is true, 
whom you do not know.
I know him because I am from him 
and he sent me.’

So they sought to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come.

During this visit of Jesus to Jerusalem for the feast of Tabernacles we hear more explicitly about the plots to kill him and the disputes among the people about him. The discussion focuses on his place of origin. They know he is from Galilee, but the Messiah is not supposed to be from there, and his origins might be unknown. This leads in to a solemn speech of Jesus about his real origin from the Father, and his being ‘sent’ by the Father. The one who sends him is ‘true’. Though there is strong desire to arrest Jesus, his hour has not yet come. But it is approaching and the atmosphere becomes more and more menacing.

Note how effectively this evangelist evokes the looming danger for Jesus.

Pray for all those who live under threat and in danger of violence.