Readings: Lk 19, 28-40; Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Lk 22:14-23:56
In the reading from the Prophet Isaiah, the Church gives us the third of the four “Suffering Servant Songs” which are prophecies about the suffering of the Messiah that would take place about 700 years after these words were written. Throughout this particular passage, we read about the various shameful and disgraceful ways the Lord would be (was, for us) treated. Yet, after all that was said, the Messiah says: “The Lord GOD is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.”
This is precisely the disposition we see in our Blessed Lord as He prepares for and endures His passion. For instance, we read in today’s Gospel that Jesus told His disciples He eagerly desired to eat the Passover with them before He suffered. It is in this very context that Jesus gave Himself to them, as He continues to do for us, in the Holy Eucharist.
What we see in our Lord’s disposition is that He turns everything upside down from the way we may be accustomed to thinking. He says, for instance, that the greatest among them is to be as the youngest and the leader as the servant. This is exactly what Jesus did for us! He is God, yet He came into this world to serve, not to be served. At the Last Supper, He washed the feet of His disciples, but they did not wash His feet. Of course, there is nothing that can come close to His humility and charity that was and is demonstrated in the crucifixion and in the Holy Eucharist.
One of the most eloquent gestures that expresses the greatness of our Lord is also found in the Gospel reading today. The crowd—comprised of the chief priests, temple guards, and others led by Judas Iscariot, come to the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest our Lord. The disciples want to protect our Lord and one of them draws a sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest’s servant. We are told that Jesus touched the man’s ear and healed him. Jesus had healed many people, but this was a person who appeared to have no good will toward Jesus and came to arrest Him, but our Lord’s humility allowed Him to rise above the situation and exercise charity.
We could certainly go on with more examples, but St. Paul, in the second reading, summarizes everything for us, stating that Jesus was obedient, even to death on a cross. It is for this reason that He was greatly exalted by God and was given the Name that is above every other name. Beyond this, St. Paul says that every knee needs to bend at the Name of Jesus and every tongue, including those who reject Him, needs to confess Him as Lord. Jesus glorified His Father through His Passion and death; the Father glorified Jesus in His resurrection; now we glorify our Lord and our Heavenly Father by proclaiming Jesus as Lord. Since no one can say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit, then we are being glorified by the Holy Trinity at the same time that we glorify Him!
This leads us to why we must understand and apply these principles to ourselves. You and I not only profess Jesus to be Lord, but we are members of Jesus Christ and sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. As sons and daughters of God, Jesus, the Son of God, gives us the blueprint for our lives. St. Peter even tells us that Jesus suffered and left us an example to follow in His footsteps. Therefore, we must apply what has been said to ourselves.
First, recognize what Jesus said to St. Peter at the Last Supper. The Apostles were arguing about which of them was the greatest. Jesus tells Peter that Satan wants to sift him like wheat, but our Lord had prayed for him that his faith would not fail. Then He tells Peter “once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers.” Even our Lord’s prayer would not keep Peter from failing, but it is precisely this failure, this humiliation, that would change Peter and give him the compassion and the ability to serve the others.
As it was for Jesus and Peter, so it is for us. The order of things as God sees them is opposite of how we tend to see them. To be great is to be small, to serve is to reign, to be humble is to be exalted. Sufferings and humiliations are not to be despised and rejected; they are to be embraced and rejoiced in. This is not natural, it is supernatural; it is the way of God and His Saints.
Fr. Altier’s column appears regularly in The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly published in St. Paul, Minn. For information about subscribing to The Wanderer, please visit www.thewandererpress.com.
