Gospel Commentary, MT
26:14-27:66
The coronavirus has radically disrupted our lives and forced all
of us to look at life with new eyes. We are rethinking family, health, work,
leisure and God. Ironically, this is the normal purpose of Lent. It has become
clear to me that this is one way in which our heavenly Father can bring good
out of this present evil — by inviting
the whole world to a new perspective on life.
One way to gain a new perspective on life is to spend more time
pondering the majesty of God and the marvels he has done in our world. Well, it
just so happens that we are entering the week in which we celebrate the most
marvelous of his deeds — the moment when
God chose to demonstrate the depth of his love, heal a horribly broken world,
save us from sin and death, restore our severed relationship with God, bestow
abundant new life on us and open the gates of heaven to his beloved children.
This last week of Lent begins with our solemn celebration of Palm
Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. This year we read through the passion
narrative of Matthew, which shines a focused beam on the baseness of our broken
human nature as well as the greatness of our God.
Let’s take a peek at the prideful and selfish actions of the men
in the Gospel and compare them to the humble and selfless acts of Jesus in the
last days of his earthly journey. Most of us are familiar with these events.
However, it is good to ponder them anew.
Judas, one of Jesus’ closest collaborators, betrays our blessed
Lord with a kiss.
Immediately after the kiss, all Twelve Apostles abandon Jesus in
the Garden of Gethsemane.
Not long after, Peter, arguably the closest collaborator of Our
Lord, is confronted by a woman in the courtyard of Caiaphas, the high priest,
and responds with those frigid words, “I do not know the man.”
During the false trial of Jesus before the high priest, members
of the crowd “spat in his face and struck him, while some slapped him … ”
Soon after Jesus reveals the truth about his identity to
Caiaphas, the people exclaim, “Let him be crucified.”
The soldiers of the governor “stripped off his clothes and threw
a scarlet military cloak about him. Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed
it on his head, and a reed in his hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked
him … ”
The actions of these weak, selfish, proud and blind men are
starkly contrasted by the actions of Jesus, God’s only begotten Son.
Our Lord makes a promise in the Upper Room to lay down his life
in order that we might be restored to life: “Drink from it, all of you, for
this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the
forgiveness of sins.”
Jesus refuses to return evil for evil and turns the other cheek
in the face of each of these profoundly confused and misguided human beings.
Jesus confronts the great fears welling up in his human nature
and the agony that lies before him as he carries the weight of every sin on his
back and still resolves to do the will of the Father: “My Father, if it is
possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.”
Jesus chooses not to lie or play with the truth in order to avoid
disapproval when confronted by Caiaphas: “I order you to tell us under oath
before the living God whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.” He responds
quite simply, “You have said so.”
Jesus loves us and remains faithful to the end when he cries out
in a loud voice and gives up his spirit to his Father.
May the most humble, selfless and generous actions of Christ
poured out in his last days for our redemption shake up your life more than the
coronavirus and call you to rethink family, health, work, leisure and God.
Fr. Peterson is
director of mission and development for the Youth Apostles.