In the second song of the suffering servant that we hear from the prophet Isaiah today, these words can be applied to Jesus, which is why we hears these four songs of the suffering servant from Isaiah during the liturgies in Holy Week. Like the suffering servant in Isaiah, Jesus can been seen as a sharp-edged sword and as a polished arrow in the message God gives him in his ministry and his proclamation of God’s kingdom. Jesus is the one through whom God shows his glory, as is stated in the words of Isaiah, but then we could see Jesus thinking at times that his work is in vain by the way his message is rejected so many people in Ancient Israel. In Jesus’ sufferings and in his death on the cross, most of his disciples and followers have abandoned him. As he is dying on the cross he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
In today’s Gospel, we hear of two betrayals of Jesus. One by Judas, as we see Jesus discussing the one who will betray him at the last supper with his apostles. Then, the foreshadowing of the betrayal that Peter makes of Jesus, as he denies Jesus three times. Perhaps Peter’s betrayal cuts to Jesus’ heart even mores, as Peter swears a promise that he will go to Jesus to the end, even to death. Judas makes no such promise. What will save Peter will be his heart-felt repentance and conversion. We think of the many times we ourselves have betrayed Jesus in our hearts and our actions. We receive the body of Jesus in the Eucharist, but then we commit a sin or we turn our back on him in different ways. Like Peter, may we cry out for the wrongs we have done to Jesus and our brothers and sisters. May we cry out for the sins we commit in action and omission.
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