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From: Isaiah 42:1-7

First Song of the Servant of the Lord

(Thus says the Lord,)
[1] “Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him,
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
[2] He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
[3] a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
[4] He will not fail or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.
[5] Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread forth the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
[6] “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
[7] to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

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Commentary:

42:1-9. The Lord, who revealed his power by creating the world (40:12-31) and
showed his determination to save mankind by his intervention in history (41:1-29),
now announces a new stage in his plans (v. 9). To advance them he will give a
special mission to the “servant of the Lord”; in the prophetic text, this personage
plays the key role in making known and putting into effect the salvific plans of
God. Four passages over the course of chapters 42-55 speak of the servant and
his mission; these passages may originally have made up a poem of their own.
These oracles are usually called the “Songs of the Servant”. Most biblical scho-
lars see 42:1-9 as being the first song or, rather, the first stanza of that poem.
The other three passages are: 49:1-6; 50:4-11; and 52:13-53:12. They combine
to make a very beautiful poem, but they raise difficult questions as to style and
content. They have been the subject of a great deal of commentary, and the i-
dentity of the “servant” is still a matter of debate. Those who consider the four
passages to be parts of the one poem take it that the “servant” in each is one
and the same person and has one and the same mission. Scholars who do not
regard the four passages as originally part of a single poem interpret the person
and mission of the servant as being different in each.

There are basically three theories as to who the servant is. One theory is that he
is a particular individual — a king of the house of Judah, or the prophet himself or,
of course, a future Messiah, who will redeem Israel. The second theory is that
the servant is a collectivity: he stands for Israel, or for some group within Israel.
The third theory argues that the servant is meant to be depicted ambiguously —
that is in a way that allows him to be interpreted in both of the ways mentioned
previously — as a person of significance but someone who can symbolize all Is-
rael.

In this first song (vv. 1-9) the servant certainly comes across as a figure of mys-
tery: v. 1 gives him very special universal transcendental attributes, Verses 2-3a
show his humility, but they are followed immediately by verses saying that he is
someone able to “establish justice in the earth”, to be “a light to the nations”,
someone who can “bring light to the nations” and “open the eyes that are blind
and set captives free...”. The “servant” can do all this because the Lord has “put
his Spirit on him” (cf. v. 1), that is, he is someone chosen by God and he has
the help of the Spirit of the Lord to carry out his mission to teach his Law to the
very ends of the earth. So, these words could be describing the prophet’s own
conviction that he has a mission to perform—to proclaim the word of God; a mis-
sion that he did not seek but, rather, had given to him. But the servant could al-
so stand for the whole people of Israel (cf. 41:8)—for in the same way were the
people chosen by God to bear witness to him before all mankind concerning
the Law they had received from the Lord.

The Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles without attempting to discover exact-
ly who this servant was originally (or whom he was meant to stand for) interpre-
ted the main features of the servant as being a prophecy about Jesus, in whom
the Father is most pleased, and who, in the unity of the Holy Spirit is truly the
light for all nations and the liberation of all the oppressed. For example, in the
accounts of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan and of the Transfiguration, the
voice of the Father refers to those features: This is my beloved Son with whom
I am well pleased (Mt 3:17); “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” (Lk
9:35).

The Gospel of Matthew, which makes a point of showing that the Scriptures find
fulfillment in Jesus, explicitly quotes vv. 2-4 of this oracle of Isaiah to show that
in Jesus is fulfilled the prophecy of the servant, who was rejected by the leaders
of the people and whose quiet and kindly teaching would bring the light of truth
to the world (Mt 12:15-21). And later in his Gospel, when St Matthew recounts
the passion and death of our Lord (cf. Mt 27:30), he again makes the link be-
tween Christ and the servant.

The expression “light to the nations” (v. 6) seems to find an echo in what Jesus
says about his being the light of the world (Jn 8:12; 9:5) and also in the “Bene-
dictus” of Zechariah (Lk 1:78-79). There is an evocation of v. 7 in Jesus’ reply to
the messengers from John the Baptist who ask him whether he is he who is to
come (cf. Mt 11:4-6: Lk 7:18-22); cf. the note on 29:15-24. And so St Justin will
say, commenting on vv. 6-7: “Everything that is said here, my friends, refers to
Christ and to the peoples who have been enlightened by his presence” (”Dialo-
gus Cum Tryphone”, 122, 2).

The Church in the Second Vatican Council acknowledges her duty to strive to
use every opportunity to show that Christ is truly the “light of the nations” (v. 6):
“Christ is the Light of nations. Because this is so, this Sacred Synod gathered
together in the Holy Spirit eagerly desires, by proclaiming the Gospel to every
creature, to bring the light of Christ to all men, a light brightly visible on the coun-
tenance of the Church” (”Lumen Gentium”, 1).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: John 12:1-11

Mary Anoints Our Lord at Bethany

[1] Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was,
whom Jesus raised from the dead. [2] There they made Him a supper; Martha
served, and Lazarus was one of those at table with Him. [3] Mary took a pound
of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet
with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. [4] But
Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples (he who was to betray Him), said, [5] “Why
was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” [6]
This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as
he had the money box he used to take what was put into it. [7] Jesus said, “Let
her alone, let her keep it for the day of My burial. [8] The poor you have always
have with you, but you do not always have Me.”

[9] When the great crowd of the Jews learned that He was there, they came, not
only on account of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead.
[10] So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also, [11] because on
account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

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Commentary:

1. Jesus pays another visit to His friends in Bethany. It is very touching to see
this friendship, at once divine and human, expressed in the form of frequent con-
tact.

“It’s true that I always call our Tabernacle ‘Bethany’....Become a friend of the
Master’s friends: Lazarus, Martha, Mary. And then you won’t ask me any more
why I call our Tabernacle ‘Bethany’” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 322).

2-3. Apparently, our Lord was anointed on two different occasions — first, at the
start of His public ministry, in Galilee, as recounted by St. Luke (7:36-50); and,
second, towards the end of His life, in Bethany, reported here by St. John and
undoubtedly the same incident described by St. Matthew (26:6-13) and St. Mark
(14:3-9). The two anointings are quite distinct: they occur at different times and
the details of the accounts differ: the first is a demonstration of repentance fol-
lowed by pardon; the second, a delicate expression of love, which Jesus further
interprets as an anticipation of the anointing of His body for burial (verse 7).

Although these anointings of Jesus had a particular significance, they should be
seen in the context of Eastern hospitality.

The pound was a measure of weight equivalent to three hundred grams; a dena-
rius, as we have indicated elsewhere, was a day’s wage of an agricultural laborer;
therefore, the cost of the flask of perfume would have amounted to a year’s wage.

“What a shining proof of magnanimity is this ‘extravagance’ on Mary’s part! Ju-
das on the other hand laments this ‘waste’ of so valuable a perfume; in his greed
he had been calculating the price: it would have fetched at least ‘three hundred
silver pieces’.

“True detachment leads us to be very generous with God and with our fellowmen.
[...] Don’t be mean and grudging with people who, without counting the cost, have
given of their all, everything they have, for your sake. Just ask yourselves, how
much does it cost you — in financial terms as well — to be Christians? Above all,
don’t forget that ‘God loves a cheerful giver’ (2 Corinthians 9:7)” (St. J. Escriva,
“Friends of God”, 126).

4-6. From this passage and from John 13:29 we know that Judas was the person
in charge of the money. His petty thefts—they could not have been any more than
that, given the meagre resources of Jesus and the Twelve—played their part in dis-
posing him to commit his eventual sin of betraying Jesus; his complaint about
the woman’s generosity was quite hypocritical. “Frequently the servants of Satan
disguise themselves as servants of righteousness (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:14-15).
Therefore, (Judas), hid his malice under a cloak of piety” (St. Thomas Aquinas,
“Commentary on St. John, ad loc.”).

7-8. As well as praising Mary’s generous gesture, our Lord announces in an indi-
rect way His forthcoming death, even implying that it will happen so precipitously
that there will hardly be time to prepare His body for burial in the normal way
(Luke 23:56). Jesus is not saying that almsgiving is not a good thing (He often
recommended it: cf. Matthew 25:40); what He is doing here is exposing the hypo-
crisy of people like Judas who deceitfully profess noble motives in order to avoid
giving God the honor He is due.

9-11. The news of the raising of Lazarus has spread rapidly among the people of
Judea and those travelling up to Jerusalem for the Passover; many believe in Je-
sus (John 11:45); others look for Him (John 11:56) perhaps more out of curiosity
(John 12:9) than faith. Following Christ demands more of each of us than just
superficial, short-lived enthusiasm. We should not forget those “who, when they
hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no root in them-
selves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on
account of the word, immediately they fall away” (Mark 4:16-17).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.