Wednesday of Holy Week
Isaiah 50:4-9a · Psalm 69 · Matthew 26:14-25
Psalm 69 gives voice to a suffering servant.
A person who has done no wrong, yet becomes the target of insults and mockery.
“Zeal for your house consumes me,” the psalmist says.
And because of that zeal he becomes an outsider.
People gossip about him.
Some even turn his suffering into drunken songs.
It is the loneliness of someone who stands with God when others do not.
The prophet Isaiah speaks of a similar figure.
A servant chosen by God.
Not powerful.
Not protected.
But faithful.
“I gave my back to those who beat me,” the servant says.
“I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.”
Yet the servant does not lose hope.
“The Lord God helps me,” he says.
Because of that trust he continues to stand firm.
In the Gospel this ancient pattern reaches its climax.
Jesus sits at the table with the Twelve.
The meal should be peaceful.
But a shadow moves through the room.
Jesus speaks quietly:
“One of you will betray me.”
The words fall heavily.
Each disciple asks the same question:
“Surely it is not I, Lord?”
Even Judas asks it.
And Jesus answers with painful clarity.
Matthew adds a small detail.
Judas had already agreed to betray Jesus
for thirty pieces of silver.
A tiny sum.
The price once paid for a rejected shepherd.
The price of a slave.
The price of betrayal.
Yet Jesus does not speak as someone defeated.
He says:
“The Son of Man goes as it is written about him.”
The betrayal is real.
The responsibility is real.
Judas must answer for his choice.
But even this darkness cannot destroy God’s plan.
What looks like treachery will become the path to redemption.
The story echoes an older warning.
When Cain was tempted to harm his brother,
God told him:
“Sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you.
But you must master it.”
Cain did not.
Judas does not either.
And both stories end in tragedy.
Yet the suffering servant continues his path.
The insults, the betrayal, the coming cross—
all become part of a deeper story.
A story where suffering does not have the final word.
Because through this betrayal and through this suffering,
God is already working salvation.
The road ahead leads to the cross.
But beyond the cross lies resurrection.
And the story of redemption continues.
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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