Word to the Wise
Monday, March 17, 2008 - Monday of Holy Week
[Isaiah 42:1-7 and John 12:1-11]Here is my servant whwom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my Spirit.....
There are many very poignant moments in the events that lead up to the arrest and death of Jesus. The gospel scripture for today gives us one in the story of Mary's anointing of Jesus' feet with Judas' rather hypocritical negative comments. Mary's gesture is considered a prophetic one since Jesus identifies the gesture with his eventual death. Yet, there is a larger prophetic "context" for all these events that the Christian community soon noted in trying to put together the story for preaching. One very important context is the mysterious figure in the prophecy of Isaiah, the Suffering Servant! The first scripture for today, Tuesday and Wednesday will each feature one of these prophetic descriptions, but the one on Good Friday is absolutely riveting! I hope all my congregation will read them with the same fascination and perhaps the same poignance. The graphic description on Good Friday certainly came home to me when I saw the movIe THE PASSION. The "Suffering Servant" becomes the model for anyone who is willing to give everything for a cause or someone else in full recognition that the gesture may meet with violent rejection. Yet, the very suffering has a quality that enables others who witness it to transcend their own suffering, which gives the reality a redemptive force and quality. The early Christian community quickly identified this figure as a "type" for Jesus and saw Jesus as the "fulfillment" of the prophecy. Holy Week offers us the opportunity to reflect as the early community did on these scriptures from Isaiah and see them in Jesus and in many other holy people who have given life by giving their own lives. AMEN
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