Monday, April 12, 2004
Christ is Risen!
Monday of Bright Week
1st Royal Hr, Great & Holy Friday: Zechariah 11:10-13 Apostle: Acts 1:12-17, 21-26 Gospel: St. John 1:18-28
Zechariah 11:10-13 LXX, especially vs. 12: " So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of
silver." Today we stand bathed with radiant Paschal Light, for God in His mercy has turned His face upon us: "Shine,
shine, O New Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord hath risen upon thee." Why then consider a reading from Great and Holy
Friday and return to the rejection of Israel's true Shepherd? Ah, Beloved of the Lord, may we read it anew, suffused in
Paschal radiance, for we are united unto Christ, "the Great Shepherd of the Sheep" (Heb. 13:20).
Six hundred years prior to the actual 'great divide' in the history of the People of God, the Lord granted a visionary warning
to His Prophet Zechariah (Zech. 11) of a future time when "the poor of the flock" would be fed by the Messiah (Zech 11:7),
becoming the foundation of the New Covenant Church, while the majority of ancient Israel would reject their true
Shepherd. This devastating national calamity would serve as Divine judgment on a leadership grown rich at the expense of
their poorer brethren (Zech. 11:1-6).
In the midst of his vision of woe against the worthless shepherds who "will not care for those who are cut off" (Zech.
11:16), the Prophet describes the ultimate ministry of God Himself (Zech 11:7-9). Rejected by the majority of Israel, the
Incarnate Son of God gave them over to "eat each other's flesh" (vs. 9), a terrible fact that literally occurred during the
siege against Jerusalem by the Roman General Titus in 70 AD, at which time also the Temple was destroyed.
In our celebration of the triumph of our Lord, God, and Savior's ministry revealed in His Holy Resurrection, let us also
mourn the sad consequences that befell the ancient People of God for abhorring Him and His great New Covenant. Let us
remember that He came only to give them Life and to receive their true worship, and let us never calamitously reject the
Life-Giver.
The reading we are examining today (vss. 10-13) prophetically tolls the moment of judgment by the Lord: "I took My staff
Beauty [or Grace], and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples" (vs. 10). Note:
hereby He removes the protective cover that He had maintained over His ancient People, allowing foolish shepherds to rule
them who would "eat of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces" (vs. 16).
As we know from what happened on Great and Holy Friday, "...it was broken on that day" (vs. 11). Nevertheless, "the poor
of the flock who were watching Me, knew that it was the word of the Lord" (vs. 11) and they stood at the foot of the Cross
with Him (Jn. 19:25-27).
Observe how ancient Israel valued the truly Good Shepherd as a common slave. Note the irony: the Mosaic Law, received
of God Himself, required that "if the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels
of silver..." (Ex. 21:32 NAS). A slave was worth 30 pieces of silver. Through His Prophet, the Lord has us consider the
implications of what happened in the betrayal: "So they weighed out for My wages thirty pieces of silver" (Zech. 11:12).
This sum for all the Lord's care and protection over them for centuries!
We should not miss the irony in the Lord's description of these wages: "that princely price they set on Me" (vs. 13). In the
prophetic vision, God commands the Prophet to fling the thirty pieces of silver "into the house of the Lord for the potter"
(vs. 13), a role actually relegated to the wicked Judas historically (Mt. 27:3-5). While the Evangelist Matthew seems to
attribute these words wrongly to the Jeremiah (Mt. 27:9), in fact he is joining this present prophecy of Zechariah to
Jeremiah's longer prophecy addressing this same calamity of Israel (see Jer. 18, 19).
O, how noble! O how dear! O how sweet is Thy voice, O Christ; for Thou hast verily made us a true promise, that Thou
shalt be with us to the end of time, an anchor for our hopes!