THE liturgy for today sets the stage for the coming memorial of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The reading from Isaiah (42:1-7) heard in today’s Mass is a prophetic description of the faithful servant who will bring justice to the earth and be a light for all people. The reading from the Gospel according to John (12:1-11) narrates how Mary anointed the feet of Jesus, six days before the Passover. While the Gospel portrays Jesus as the Messiah, God’s anointed, Judas appears as a duplicitous and greedy man who had not understood what Jesus tried to teach. In the Gospel reading Jesus and Lazarus represent a threat to the Jerusalem religious establishment. Jesus brings a new teaching while the resurrected Lazarus is living a testimony to the power of God.
The anointing of Jesus took place in Bethany, at the home of His dear friends, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. As before, Martha took charge of serving the meal; her sister Mary used costly oil to anoint the feet of Jesus. Then she dried His feet with her hair. Judas protested such extravagance, suggesting that the expensive perfume should have been sold and the money given to the poor. Jesus, however, tells Judas to allow Mary to keep the expensive oil for the day of his burial. Jesus knew what was in Judas’ heart.
The Gospel according to John presents Jesus as the Word of God, emphasizing His divinity. Jesus is totally in control of His own fate. He knows His hour is coming. He foresees that Judas will betray Him but He allows Judas to do so. Jesus knows Peter will deny Him. When the guards came to arrest Him in the garden, Jesus asks them whom they sought. When He told them He was the one, they retreated slightly and fell to their knees. Jesus tells them to arrest Him and let the others go free. Interrogated by Pilate, Jesus questions Pilate and reminds him that he would have no authority at all were it not given to him by God.
By using readings from the Gospel according to John, the Holy Week Masses prepare the faithful for the final drama of Jesus’ story by showing that Jesus is really God. Though Jesus will be executed because of a sinister plot launched by the religious establishment of Jerusalem, He is the one who freely offers up His own life as the sacrificial Passover victim. Jesus is the Word of God spoken to His own people who largely rejected Him. "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that those who believe in Him may have life everlasting." (Jn 3:16)
