The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation during Lent
Although we are still technically in the season of Lent, Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion shifts us into the unique time of Holy Week.
Holy Thursday is traditionally the Chrism Mass, held by the bishop to consecrate all the sacramental oils used in the coming year. There is also the Evening Mass of the Lord’s supper. Then there is Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion. The Easter Vigil follows on Saturday evening. These three services actually constitute a single liturgy. This is most starkly evident on Good Friday when the presider processes in with no fanfare and no opening Rites. The Easter Vigil liturgy is the oldest liturgy the church possesses and is traditionally the time to baptize and receive adult Catholics.
As we enter into Holy Week we often want to rush right to Easter’s joy. But Holy Week reminds us, as did Lent, that Easter joy is only gained by the road of suffering. Are you willing to walk these days alongside Christ as he suffers?
Today is a victory parade! How is the victory won? On the cross. It’s an illogical joy! Jesus rides in as a lowly conquerer on a donkey to claim his throne. He does not save the world with worldly power, but rather with love. It reminds us that the only entry into Christ is through his love for us, a love that encompasses humility and suffering.
Much of what we know about ancient Christian liturgy comes to us from a woman named Egeria. Between 381 and 384 AD she made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and visited most of the popular spots of the day. In a letter back home she described the Holy Week liturgies as they were practiced by the Christians in Jerusalem. You can learn more about Egeria and read her account here. Here’s another good article.
Isaiah 50:4-7
Chapter 49 through the beginning of chapter 51 moves us from sorrow to the hope of redemption. The people are in exile and long to return home. They need hope in order to persevere. This is the same movement echoed by Holy Week: we move through the sorrow of Jesus’ suffering and death into the hope of the resurrection.
Today’s reading is an excerpt from one of the suffering servant songs (Isaiah 42:1–4; Isaiah 49:1–6; Isaiah 50:4–7; and Isaiah 52:13–53:12). All these songs describe someone who brings hope and salvation. In their original context, they describe a nation rather than an individual. This is because the society was collectivistic, with an emphasis on family and groups, as opposed to our individualistic society with an emphasis on the person. So these are traits of a whole group of people. It wasn’t until the Christians read back through this material that they picked it up and applied it to a single person. The application of the suffering servant songs to Jesus is probably the oldest theology in the New Testament.
Everywhere these suffering servant songs appear, they interrupt the narrative flow of the surrounding text. If removed, the flow is restored. It’s almost as if they were not native to the text and someone just stuck them in at random places.
Another translation renders verse 4 as
The Lord YHWH has given me a disciple’s tongue
that I may know how to sustain the weary.
The word rouses me in the morning,
in the morning he rouses my ear
to hear like a disciple.
He rouses my ear to hear like a disciple.
“Disciple” is the passive form of the Hebrew word “to teach.” One must first experience what is to be transmitted to others just as Jesus will experience the passion for us. Experiencing what one teaches is part of what it means to be a disciple.
Think of the weary people you know right now. What words might you speak that would sustain them? What words might rouse them to a deeper faith in Christ?
Philippians 2:6-11
Biblical commentator Charles Barclay had this to say about today’s passage: “The diversity of opinion prevailing among interpreters is enough to fill the student with despair and to afflict him with intellectual paralysis.” This may be the most commented-on passage in the New Testament.
The genre of this reading is not systematic theology – it was originally a hymn for community worship; it’s poetry and song. Describing Jesus as “in the form of God” and “taking on human likeness” is metaphorical rather than theological language. A priest named Arius tried to read this poetry as literal and based on that, he taught that Jesus was not God. That theological debate was solved by the Council of Nicaea in 325. We have Arius to thank for every week tripping over the words “consubstantial with the Father” in the Nicene Creed.
It’s clear that Paul was not the original author of these verses, as they have a different vocabulary and style. This may be the earliest Christian hymn we possess.
The letter to the Philippians is concerned with unity. In this letter Paul was addressing a pastoral crisis: there was a danger of division and he exhorted them to unity. Jesus is the model of this. The central event in the drama of salvation is an act of humble self-emptying. Our Unity comes through renunciation of the natural, selfish state and the taking on of the divine state.
Paul speaks elsewhere of imitating Christ. Read and reflect on the first part of this passage. In what ways do you already imitate Christ’s self-emptying? Where might there be a call to deeper imitation?
This passage shows us a movement that is always occurring in the spiritual journey: there is an emptying of self, suffering, and death of things held dear. This then gives way to glory, JOY, and peace. This pattern plays out in many areas, such that, in one area we might be in the process of emptying, while in another we might be rejoicing in the transformation that has taken place. Consider this present moment in your own journey. How is this pattern playing out in different areas for you right now?
Mark 14:1—15:47
Every year on Palm Sunday we read a different gospel account of the Passion – the trial, suffering, death, and burial of Christ.
The “Passion” comes from the Latin verb patior and passus, “to suffer, bear, endure”, from which also comes “patience, patient”. It is the short, final period in the earthly life of Jesus Christ. Passus is also the root of the word “passive.” Up until this point, Jesus has been in active ministry. Now he is passive to the work of God.
It’s easy to get lost in the proclamation of such a long reading! I’d encourage you to set aside time before Sunday to read slowly and prayerfully through this passage. Read and ponder each small chunk of the story. Try to engage your imagination and enter the drama. Maybe choose one of the characters and try to view the events through that character’s eyes. Possibilities include
- One of the chief priests or scribes
- The woman who anoints Jesus in Bethany
- Judas
- The disciples who go prepare for the Passover
- One of the disciples at the Passover meal
- Peter
- James or John, the sons of Zebedee
- The servant whose ear is cut off in the garden arrest
- The young man who flees the garden naked
- Someone in the courtyard with Peter
- Pilate
- Barabbas
- Someone in the crowd
- A soldier
- Simon of Cyrene
- One of the thieves crucified with Jesus
- Joseph of Arimathea
- Mary Magdalene
- Jesus
Some of these characters appear only at one place in the story. You might extend your prayer by imagining them in other places of the story. For instance, the servant whose ear is cut off in the garden – imagine he follows to the courtyard, the trial, and on to Golgotha. What does he experience and how is he changed by these events?
What details emerge as you read from a specific point of view? Does this help you feel more connected to and a part of Jesus’ suffering?
Connections of the readings
All of the readings today speak of the value of suffering in the spiritual life. Without this understanding, Jesus’ passion and death can become a meaningless and cruel episode.
Questions to ponder
The purpose of Lent is to prepare the people of God for the Paschal feast. How does each reading prepare me for the Paschal feast?
Think of the weary people you know right now. What words might you speak that would sustain them? What words might rouse them to a deeper faith in Christ?
How is this pattern of the Philippians reading playing out in different areas for you right now?
What details emerge as you read the Passion from a specific point of view? Does this help you feel more connected to and a part of Jesus’ suffering?
Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
© 2023 Kelly Sollinger