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The Gospel account of our Lord's passion and death dominates today's liturgy, but the first reading does set our celebration in the context of mission. It is taken from the last of the four Songs of the Servant found in the second section of the Book of Isaiah. The servant speaks of his mission to the Jewish exiles living in Babylon. They were discouraged and did not believe that they would ever be allowed to return to their homeland. They even doubted their own ability to make the journey if they were allowed to do so.
The servant is not daunted by the lethargy of his audience. "The Lord God has given me a welltrained tongue," he says, "that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them." He does indeed speak the word that he has heard, but in so doing, he encounters opposition, an opposition that foreshadows the torments that Christ suffered during his passion. Even this does not stop him from doing what he has been commissioned to do. Filled with confidence in God who has sent him, he meets this opposition head on. "I have not turned back," he says, "I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting."
Jesus, too, displayed this kind of confidence when he carried out his mission in the face of violent opposition. He was not afraid to accept death, even death on the cross, to do the work the Father had given him to do. In his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul tells us that Jesus' trust was not misplaced. Because he did what he was sent to do no matter what the cost, "God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name". His death led to his triumph over death that gives us all the hope of eternal life.
Through our celebration of the Eucharist, we share in the mystery of Christ's death and resurrection and are commissioned to carry on his work. We are sent out from the Eucharistic assembly to speak a word that will rouse the weary. Like Jesus and the Servant who foreshadowed him, it is our mission to lead others to the kingdom of God and to encourage when they stumble and fall along the path. Though it is unlikely that we will meet the kind of violent opposition that Jesus faced, sharing in his mission is difficult and requires courage.
The Gospel of the Lord's passion and death provides us with the most inspiring example imaginable of fidelity to mission. It also reminds us that what seems to be defeat may indeed be victory when we are carrying out the Father's will. That knowledge gives us the courage to accept the commission we receive in the celebration of the Eucharist and the inspiration we need to carry it out with trust and confidence.
