A Reflection for Wednesday of Holy Week
Find today’s readings here.
The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
This Lent, I’ve been slowly reading Isaiah 40-55, a few verses per day. The book emphasizes that “God is the Lord of history”—something I’ve often heard Pope Francis say but whose significance I’ve never really understood. Isaiah, though, helps me understand: The God who speaks in the book of Isaiah repeatedly, almost relentlessly, directs the people of Israel to remember the times God has delivered them, the times God’s prophets have accurately predicted the future in contrast with the “diviners” in the community and the times their carved idols have been powerless to help them. This God acknowledges that sometimes, out of anger, he has not stepped in to help his people, but assures them that those days are over.
This narrative is punctuated by the four “Servant Songs,” portions of the book of Isaiah that describe a mysterious “servant” whom God called before he was born, who in some ways represents Israel but is also an individual, who teaches with authority, is scorned and “even appears to fail” in his mission (as the footnote in my Jerusalem Bible says) but ultimately emerges victorious. Today’s first reading is the third of these four songs—the one that describes the suffering servant’s determined trust in God. Read in the context of the salvation history the surrounding Book of Isaiah insists upon, we start to understand what it means to trust that “God is the Lord of history”: That is, that our trust is in a God who is eternal and ultimately victorious, no matter how much we are suffering in the moment.
I’m struck in this reading by the source of the servant’s trust and preaching: He says, “Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear.” The servant’s daily prayer, listening to God, is what enables him to “speak to the weary a word that will rouse them.” I hope my small Lenten practice of reading the prophet’s words each morning has given me a bit of the servant’s ability to rouse the weary.
The fourth servant song, Isaiah 52:13-53:12, is the most powerful reading I’ve encountered this Lent. It will be the first reading on Good Friday, and I’d encourage you to ask God for the grace of an “open ear” and to reflect on it as we move further into our reflections on the Passion this week.
