The Flinty Face of Love

Wednesday of Holy Week

Isaiah 50:4-9a; Matthew 26:14-25

Thirty pieces of silver. It was what the Law of Moses decreed as compensation for the life of a slave gored to death by an ox (Exodus 21:32). It was what the prophet Zechariah requested as his wages for his earnest but futile attempt to shepherd the people of Israel, a people bent on self-destruction and destined for exile (see Zechariah 11:4-14). It was the price Judas accepted for betraying Jesus, servant and Good Shepherd.

Jesus, God’s only Son, spoke with “a well-trained” tongue and roused the weary—those who were sick, suffering, marginalized, and oppressed by evil of all kinds—with a message of hope. He opened his ear to his Father’s word and fearlessly spoke what he heard. He gave his back to those who beat him and his face to those who pummeled and spat upon him. From the time he was conceived in Mary’s womb and born in a manger, Jesus made himself as vulnerable as we are—all out of love.

Though his face would be bloodied and barely recognizable as human, it was flinty with resolve to fulfill his mission, to do his Father’s will. One man took 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus. Another group of men were willing to pay it. Betrayed for the price of a slave or the wages of a shepherd, Jesus paid the ultimate price for us and for the world—all out of love. As we experience this profound moment of personal and collective vulnerability in the form of a global pandemic, let’s set our own faces with flinty resolve to live and love as he did. –jc