Gospel MT 26:14-25
One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,
went to the chief priests and said,
“What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?”
They paid him thirty pieces of silver,
and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
the disciples approached Jesus and said,
“Where do you want us to prepare
for you to eat the Passover?”
He said,
“Go into the city to a certain man and tell him,
‘The teacher says, “My appointed time draws near;
in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”’”
The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered,
and prepared the Passover.
When it was evening,
he reclined at table with the Twelve.
And while they were eating, he said,
“Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
Deeply distressed at this,
they began to say to him one after another,
“Surely it is not I, Lord?”
He said in reply,
“He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me
is the one who will betray me.
The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him,
but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”
Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply,
“Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”
He answered, “You have said so.”
Reflection:
We all sin but there are varying degrees of sin.
There is the sin where, as a result of passion or greed, we may have a momentary lapse of good judgement and give in to temptation.
There is the sin of omission where, either intentionally or unintentionally, we ignore the suffering of another and fail to help our brother or sister in need.
There is the intentional, deliberate action of looking at the sin and the Lord square in the eye and then doing the wrong thing anyway. This was the sin of Judas.
After Jesus identified him as his betrayer, Judas went ahead and followed through with his plan: selling Jesus out for “thirty pieces of silver” to those who would orchestrate our Lord’s death.
Some argue that because the betrayal of Jesus was predicted in the Old Testament, Judas was therefore predestined to turn on Jesus.
However, we cannot presume that God’s foreknowledge of Judas’ future behavior condemned him to act as he did. In betraying Jesus, Judas still had to exercise his own free will.
We can only speculate as to Judas’ motive for betraying Jesus. Perhaps, he was compelled by greed, jealousy or disillusionment.
Judas’ greatest sin was giving in to despair and hanging himself rather than trusting in the forgiveness of Jesus.
It is important for me to remember that it is not my place to judge Judas, but to picture myself as his father praying, “In your mercy, forgive my son, O Lord.”
“I promise you that any of the sinful things you say or do can be forgiven, no matter how terrible those things are. But if you speak against the Holy Spirit, you can never be forgiven. That sin will be held against you forever.” Mark 3: 28-29