Tuesday of Holy Week

“I Tell You Solemnly, One of You Will Betray Me.”
 
These words of Jesus (John 13), as we all know well, refer to Judas Iscariot.
 
And in this same passage from today’s gospel, Jesus goes on to say to Peter, who has just professed his willingness to lay down his life for Jesus,
 
“The cock will not crow
before you have three times disowned me!”
 
On this Tuesday of Holy Week, our gospel “sets the table” at the Last Supper for our celebration of the Paschal Mystery of Our Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection, which begins two days from now.
 
I think it is most reasonable to assume certain things about this context that the gospels do not describe in detail.
 
Jesus must know that this is, indeed, His Last Supper with His disciples. Knowing this, He must feel acutely a need of understanding and support from his closest friends and allies who have been His constant companions for the past few years. They have heard firsthand His message; they have witnessed the signs He has done; they have broken bread with Him countless times. He knows He will entrust the continuation of His work to these disciples. Who else would He want to share this meal with?
 
And yet, at this last meal together, they argue about who will be first in the coming kingdom of God; one betrays Jesus’ whereabouts to His enemies; and another of his closest friends will deny even knowing Jesus during His “trial”.
 
Scripture scholars point out that the gospel accounts of the Passion spend more time and attention on its emotional and spiritual aspects as opposed to Jesus’ physical sufferings. Perhaps because they thought these were ultimately the more painful aspects of the Passion?
 
Whatever the reason, it is also the case that most (all?) of us literally cannot begin to imagine what Jesus suffered physically.
 
But we can imagine and relate from our own experiences to his emotional sufferings of betrayal, abandonment, loneliness, not being understood, fear, rejection, loss, failure, …..
 
The third week of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius focuses on the Passion and Death of Jesus. At the beginning of this week Ignatius tells the retreatant to ask for the graces of ‘sorrow with Christ in sorrow’ and ‘compassion’.
 
On Good Friday we come forward physically or spiritually to venerate the Cross with our own sufferings, past and present.
 
He truly was one of us in all things (except sin).