Monday April 11, 2022

Monday of Holy Week

 

Servant of the Poor 

Holy Week is for us the time when we meditate on the saving death of our Lord. The days of his suffering are approaching. The first reading gives us the first of the famous songs about the Servant of Yahweh. The liturgy of the Holy Week characterizes Jesus as the Servant of Yahweh. This first song speaks perhaps directly about the attitude and role of God’s people, but we find these exemplified fully in Jesus, the perfect servant of God and of people. He is shown here to us as God’s servant who came to serve the poor and the suffering by bringing them justice and freedom, and light in darkness to all; he will be the covenant of us, the people, by uniting us with God and one another. All this he did for us by his saving death.

 

First Reading: Isaiah 42:1-9 

“Take a good look at my servant.
    I’m backing him to the hilt.
He’s the one I chose,
    and I couldn’t be more pleased with him.
I’ve bathed him with my Spirit, my life.
    He’ll set everything right among the nations.
He won’t call attention to what he does
    with loud speeches or gaudy parades.
He won’t brush aside the bruised and the hurt
    and he won’t disregard the small and insignificant,
    but he’ll steadily and firmly set things right.
He won’t tire out and quit. He won’t be stopped
    until he’s finished his work—to set things right on earth.
Far-flung ocean islands
    wait expectantly for his teaching.”

 

 God’s Message,
    the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies,
    laid out the earth and all that grows from it,
Who breathes life into earth’s people,
    makes them alive with his own life:
“I am God. I have called you to live right and well.
    I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe.
I have set you among my people to bind them to me,
    and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,
To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light:
    opening blind eyes,
    releasing prisoners from dungeons,
    emptying the dark prisons.
I am God. That’s my name.
    I don’t franchise my glory,
    don’t endorse the no-god idols.
Take note: The earlier predictions of judgment have been fulfilled.
    I’m announcing the new salvation work.
Before it bursts on the scene,
    I’m telling you all about it.”

 

Gospel: John 12:1-11 

Six days before Passover, Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus’ feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house.

Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, “Why wasn’t this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces.” He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them.

Jesus said, “Let her alone. She’s anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you. You don’t always have me.”

Word got out among the Jews that he was back in town. The people came to take a look, not only at Jesus but also at Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead. So, the high priests plotted to kill Lazarus because so many of the Jews were going over and believing in Jesus on account of him.

 

Prayer

Lord our God,

you have called your people
to be the servant of one another

in the cause of justice and mercy.

You showed us in Jesus, your Son,

what it means to serve

and how much this may cost us.

Fill us with the Spirit of Jesus,

that we too may not break those who are weak

nor repel those groping in the dark.

Let him teach us to serve and to love

with compassion for the helpless

and respect for the least and the poorest,

together with Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

 

It is the first day of the Holy Week during which we prepare ourselves to celebrate the mysteries of the death and resurrection of Jesus. We call them mysteries because with the human intelligence and wisdom, we will never be able to comprehend or explain them. As we begin our journey through the Holy Week, today let us join this family of Lazarus and his two sisters – Martha and Mary, a family that Jesus loved. This family – re-united miraculously after Jesus brought Lazarus back to life – knows that no welcome is too lavish for their most honoured guest. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus seem to understand that Jesus has fixed his eye on Jerusalem and he is on the go. They didn’t ask questions. They simply had their home open to him. They loved him – true love, true friendship.
Perhaps they sensed that it was their last chance… a final opportunity to show their undying loyalty to their Lord, before his impending passion and death. It was more than a visit of a dear friend … it was the farewell gathering! It appears that the family of Lazarus, Mary in particular was fully aware of the intensity of the occasion. When emotions run high, one has nothing much to talk…
They could feel something painful was going to happen to their Lord. Lazarus shares the table with Jesus while Martha serves them. Then happens the profoundly intimate act of Mary – the anointing. This woman had seen, heard, and secretly acted upon Jesus’ open prediction of his coming suffering and death. How does she express the emotions she feels? With gestures that display her affection and feminine sensitivity: the perfume, the kisses, loosened hair, the tears. Gestures that could rattle and scandalise those present. She loved him much.
On the other hand, the disciple who was handpicked by Jesus and had accompanied him during the years of his preaching and healing ministry could not read anything more than the calculations of income and expenses! 300 silver coins were what he calculated for this jar of perfume. In a few days from now we would find him fixing an amount for his Master, it was a mere 30 silver coins! His Master whom he followed for three years was 10 times less worth than a jar of perfume!
Does it ring familiar? Do we come across people in our Church communities who are vociferous for their concern for the poor and find faults with everything that happens in the Church? We too make wrong calculations in our lives – when we consider our social status, power, and positions more valuable than friends and family. When we give to the Lord, it is either everything or nothing.

 

Video available on Youtube: A jar of perfume worth 300 and a Master worth 30!