Word to the Wise
Monday, March 25, 2024 - Holy Week - Mon
[Isa 42:1-7 and John 12:1-11,331]Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my Spirit. [Isaiah]
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One good way to enter deeply into the experience of Holy Week is to pay close attention to the scriptures assigned for each day. One important feature of the assigned scriptures is the first one on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. On each of those days the first scripture is taken from the prophecy of Isaiah and, in particular,four passages known as the "Songs of the Suffering Servant." The early Christian community saw in these a foreshadowing of Jesus' suffering and death. and, in some ways a description of his entire mission. The passage to be read as the first scripture on Good Friday is truly dramatic and eerily descriptive: Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured......
The passage for today is from the first of the four songs. The very first line recalls the voice that spoke when Jesus was baptized and at the Transfiguration. The gospel scripture today recalls the anointing at the house of Mary and Lazarus. Jesus alludes to the day of his burial, which would be soon. Each character in every scene this week is an invitation to identify ourselves with them and join in the journey from Mary's house to the Jerusalem to Calvary to the empty tomb. The figure of Jesus foreshadowed in Isaiah can help us to begin that journey. AMEN