This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
Jesus is the sharp-edged sword of the first reading. He is the polished arrow. Whereas today, we might think of spreadsheets when we think of honing effectiveness and efficiency, the ancients thought of literal “honing”–sharpening the sword, polishing the arrow.
And Jesus is the great honed one, the great effective one, the great efficient one; He accomplishes what He has set out to do. And what is this? The end of the reading tells us:
It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
In the Gospel passage, as we come closer in time to the mysteries of the Sacred Triduum, we see words that confirm and crown those of the first reading:
Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once.
But let us not forget that this effectiveness of Jesus comes not through engineering analysis of how to do things in the most precise way, but through a mighty clash with sin. To battle sin and bring salvation to the ends of the earth, to achieve the glorious destiny for which He has come, Jesus must submit utterly to the consequences of sin. He must descend to the depths that sin has created. Hence it is that, immediately before declaring this to be His glorious hour, the omnipotent Jesus gives the nod to Judas to set the wheels of his betrayal in motion.
As we enter the mysteries of this Holy Week, let us not dream of a life different from Jesus’, an antiseptic life that is peaceful in the worldly sense and protected from suffering. Rather, let us desire a heart like His, which discerns our mission, its effectiveness, and its glory in the midst of the apparently random sufferings that life brings.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to help you plumb the depths of this Holy Week in your prayer. Ask Him to give you a much deeper understanding and assimilation of the mysteries that this week presents. Ask Him, at long last, to give you the heart of a Christian.
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