OUR FATE IN JESUS CHRIST


WEDNESDAY OF HOLY WEEK    

Isa 50:4-9; Ps 69:8-10,21-22,31,33-34; Mt 26:14-25

The Fate of the Son of Man

Are persons destined to particular ends without any input or choice? Many people believe this to be the case. But to believe such is to hold or believe something different from what the word of God reveals about the human person. The book of Genesis started with the creation of man and woman. As we have noted previously, the story of the fall is intended to demonstrate the free will of man and woman, as the fall validates the claim that God created them in His own image. The whole revelation, as contained in the Scriptures, is based on this truth: that we are free to do or not to do; to obey and worship God or not. The salvation story we are celebrating is a vocation to each of us to accept the redemption from the effects of the Fall that God has worked for us through His Son. So, we are free to accept or reject the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. As we previously stated, each of us plays the role of God or the role of the evil one. The former is a walk in the light, and the latter is a walk in the darkness of evil. The choice remains open for each of us as long as our mortal life lasts. Thus, the role of the Servant of God is a choice open to each of us and never forced on anyone.

The prophet, Isaiah, who walked in the light of the word of God, received illuminations from God on the role of the Servant of God. As we noted yesterday, the Son of Man is the first in this regard. Thus, the prophecy applies to him most fittingly, but also to all who walk in the light of the word of God. “The Lord has given me a disciple’s tongue. So that I may know how to reply the wearied he provides me with speech. Each morning, he wakes me to hear, to listen like a disciple. The Lord has opened my ear.” These confirm the role the Servant is called to play; playing a role requires an understanding of the character we are to represent or act. So, the most important gift in this regard is the grace of an open ear to hear and the grace of an open and humble heart to listen to God. Recall that these gifts were remarkable in Mary of Bethany, bringing her close to Jesus Christ. By hearing with an open ear and listening with an open and humble heart, the Servant’s tongue is transformed into a disciple’s own, making him a true steward of God’s graces to the wearied. With a rapt attention on God and his divine will, the Servant receives everything as from God’s hands. “For my part, I made no resistance, neither did I turn away. I offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who tore at my beard; I did not cover my face against insult and spittle.” The word of God carries the presence of God, which confers divine invincibility on the Servant.

Notwithstanding this divine immunity conferred on the Servant by the presence of God, his weak human nature feels crushed by the temporal, emotional, and psychological sufferings associated with the divine role. He has to relate with his brothers and sisters, because he is sent to them. While he is a channel of God’s providence and love to them, they play the alternative role of the evil one. They are channels of forces of darkness and evil to counter him. The psalmist expresses this truth. “It is for you that I suffer taunts, that shame covers my face, that I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother’s sons.” These are causes of the great sorrow of the Son of Man as he approached his Passion. Satan found a channel in one of his apostles to attack and pierce his Sacred Heart. “When evening came, he was at table with the twelve disciples. And while they were eating, he said ‘I tell you solemnly, one of you is about to betray me.’ They were greatly distressed and started asking him in turn, ‘Not I, Lord, surely?’ He answered, ‘Someone who has dipped his hand into the dish with me, will betray me.’” The common meal, which is the symbol of our Communion, is a demonstration of our covenant with the Son of Man, and with God. To act contrary to what we say by our participation is to pierce the Sacred Heart of our Lord. “The Son of Man is going to his fate, as the scriptures say he will, but alas for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! Better for that man if he had never been born!” Let us watch ourselves, for the Son of Man lives on in our brothers and sisters. What we choose to do with the least of his brethren seals our fate.

Let us pray: O God, who willed your Son to submit for our sake to the yoke of the Cross, so that you might drive from us the power of the enemy, grant us, your servants, to attain the grace of the resurrection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.  

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