Tuesday in the Octave of Easter, April 7, 2026

John 20, 11–18

Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he had told her.

We should note the appearance of Mary Magdalen in the Gospel of St. John.  Until he describes her coming to the tomb very early in the morning on the first day of the week, John does not mention her.  When he does mention her, he gives her name as though it were already well-known to his readers.  We know from the Gospel of St. Mark that the Lord had previously delivered her from possession by seven demons, but otherwise we know nothing for certain of her life until now.  For John to have mentioned her as he does and then to tell us in some detail of how Jesus met her seems to indicate that she had a prominent place in the Church in Judea during Apostolic times.   

In the Gospel Reading for today’s Mass, Mary Magdalene, who had announced the news of the empty tomb to the Apostles, had followed them back to the tomb.  She may have returned only after Peter and John had gone from it because we are not told that she interacted with them again, and they do not witness the Lord appearing to her.  Not having looked into the tomb, she had not seen what they had seen and so far as she knew, the chief priests had violated the tomb and hauled the Lord’s Body away.  John emphasizes this when he says that, “Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping.”  We should note here that she wept while the Apostles did not.  They feared that they would also be seized by the chief priests, especially since the Lord was no longer there to protect them.  Peter and John, at least, show that they overcome their fear.  But Mary Magdalene had no fear to overcome, for since she had first met the Lord and he had freed her from the demons, she was overcome with love for him.  

“And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been.”  Finally, her desire to at least see where her Lord’s Body had been laid brought her to look inside the tomb.  That she had to bend over to see into it tells us that she stayed outside whereas Peter and John had gone in.  Because the Apostles had been able to see when they were inside and Mary expected to be able to see indicates that the opening of the tomb must have been oriented to the East so that the light of the rising sun could illuminate its interior to some extent.  This might have influenced the orientation of altars toward the east in later times.  “She saw two angels.”  St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew correlates the various encounters the women had with the angels that Sunday morning and says that there were two sets of angelic appearances: before and after they go to the Apostles.  Here, Mary Magdalene sees them after her return to the tomb alone.  Their placement inside the tomb and “sitting” where the dead Body of the Lord had been laid has the same significance as the angel who moves the stone covering the tomb and then sitting on it: death has been conquered.  That the sitting is a sign is clear because angels do not need to rest.

“Woman, why are you weeping?”  They ask although they know why she sorrows: they prepare her for meeting Jesus by indirectly reminding her of his promise to rise again.   “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”  The Lord altered his form on a few occasions in his appearances after his Resurrection, or those who saw him were so convinced of his Death that they did not know him even though he showed himself plainly to them.  If Mary had not been filled with grief she might have remonstrated with anyone who asked this question in these circumstances what else should she be doing at a tomb?  The addition of the question, “Whom are you looking for?” seems to have alerted her to the possibility that this person might have been party to the moving of the Body.  From his proximity to the tomb, she assumed that he worked there — probably a number other tombs existed nearby.  “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.”  She could not have carried his Body any distance even if she could have lifted it, but her love made her bold,

“Mary!”  His singular pronunciation of her name with all his love for her caused her to know him.  It was as though he had opened the eyes of the blind.  The effect of his voice sounding her name had an immediate result.  One day, when we come to the end of our lives on earth, the Lord will similarly speak our names with great love.  “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.”  By this odd sounding command we know that she had held onto the Lord’s feet for some time and did not rise.  But there was work to be done before he ascended into heaven.  “But go to my brothers.”  He sends her back to the Apostles, who had not yet seen him in order to prepare them for his appearance to them.  Matthew also tells us that the Lord called his Apostles “brothers” after his rising, and the Lord does this to assure them of his forgiveness for their dereliction and denials.

“I have seen the Lord.”  Mary’s message to the Apostles is simple and direct, though doubtless she also told them the details of the meeting.  But they would have known this even if she come into the house where they were staying and she had not spoken a word.  Her eyes would have told them, even her silence would have told them.  You and I do not need to be great orators in order to bear witness to Jesus.  If we really love him, people will know, and through this they will come to know him.

Monday in the Octave of Easter, April 6, 2026

Matthew 28, 8–15

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce the news to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had happened. The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel; then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’ And if this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.

“And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them.”  We might wonder why Jesus appeared to them as the women were hurrying to the Apostles.  They had already received their instructions and were making haste.  It is perhaps a reward for their faithfulness, for they did as the angel told them although they were fearful.  Perhaps also his appearance to them was meant to strengthen them at this time.  When we set forth to bring the Gospel to others, in whatever way, the Lord strengthens us with grace for the task.  “They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.”  They drew near him slowly and uncertainly, then they recognized him, knew him, and cast themselves at his feet out of joy and also showing their belief in him.  “They did him homage”, adoring him who conquered death.

“Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee.”  To this point on Matthew’s Gospel the Lord had not referred to his disciples as his brothers, but he does so now in order to convey to them that he had forgiven their dereliction and denials.  While the Hebrew understanding of “brother” and “sister” had a certain broadness to it, for a non-relative to be called such amounted to a great honor.  

“Some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had happened.”  That is, not all of the guards went.  Others simply disappeared, which speaks to the shock they had all received in seeing the angel come down from heaven.  The angel himself had not deigned to notice them and yet his very appearance caused them to panic and faint.  The guards who went to the chief priests feared that they would be arrested and punished for failing in their duty to guard the tomb.  This kind of failure usually resulted in the execution of the guard and so heading off trouble before the chief priests learned of what had happened from someone else seemed their best bet.  “The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel.”  It is almost as though the chief priests expected something like this and that the main consideration was what to do with the guards.  That they might have expected the Lord’s rising would explain what we read in in John 8, 28: “When you shall have lifted up, the Son of man, then shall you know that I am.”  That is, at the time of the the Lord’s Death on the Cross the chief priests had a sudden realization that Jesus was indeed God’s Son.  This might have come as an interior intuition or from the various signs attending his Death, such as the tearing of the veil in the Temple.  This would make their sin far worse, for they would have known that they were fighting God.  

“His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.”  This line would have fooled no one as opening the tomb would have attracted the attention of those in the city who would have alerted the chief priests.  Such is their desperation.  “And if this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”  This was a thinly veiled lie.  They would have done no such thing, nor would it have been in their interest to save the guards.  Such is their shamelessness.  “The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.”  The soldiers had little alternative.  Matthew notes the persistence of this lie without saying whether the chief priests spread it or the guards.  Certainly, the tomb would have remained open and anyone who knew of the burial could have easily discovered that something unexplained had happened.

We see the women bearing true witness to the Lord’s Resurrection and the guards bearing false witness.  The women who listened to the angel, the guards who fainted at the sight of him.  The women who met the Risen Christ, and the guards who went on to live a lie.  Let us persevere in our faith so that one day we shall see the Lord Jesus from our place among the angels.

Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023

John 20, 1–9

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. 

“On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark.”  St. Matthew says that she (and other women) came to the tomb at dawn, as the sun began to rise.  We can understand from this that she and her helpers made the preparations for the proper care of the Lord’s Body — obtaining oils and cloths and perhaps a donkey to convey these things, for the oil might be heavy (John had already said that Nicodemus brought a hundred pound jar of oil to the tomb).  By the time all was ready, the dawn began to break.  Or, we can understand that they started their journey at dark and arrived at the dawn.  It would not have made a long journey, but they would have to send their way through the streets of Jerusalem.  “And [she] saw the stone removed from the tomb.”  John does not mention the guards, for they were extraneous, and he does not mention the angel(s) that the other Evangelists do.  This could be because John wanted to highlight the announcement to the Apostles and their subsequent actions.  Matthew, in a similar way, tells us that the angel who spoke to the women told them to look inside the womb and they almost certainly did, but he does not say so.  

The fact that the stone was moved, in John’s account, moved Mary Magdalene to run to the Apostles.  She does not run home in despair.  She knows something unprecedented has happened.  The sort of tomb in which the Lord’s Body was laid belonged to a rich family — everyone else was buried in the ground.  It was a vault carved out of the rock in the hills near the city.  It would have been large enough to hold several bodies, though this tomb has never been used before.  The opening would have been wide enough for bearers to carry in a body, and a rock of a size sufficient would have covered the opening.  The rock was fitted to the opening so that air did not go in or out.  Some tombs were hermetically sealed by a round slab of a rock, and that may have been true here.  It could have been opened only by a number of men equipped with ropes and wedges.  Opening a tomb in ancient times was a significant undertaking and it would have been well-known.  When Mary Magdalene saw that that rock was moved, she wondered.  The thing was impossible.  Even if someone had hired men and provided the tools to do this work, they would have had to perform this arduous work in the dark, lit only by torches, and on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath began at sunset on Friday, when work was not allowed.  When the Sanhedrin had gotten wind of this, there would be severe repercussions.  And there was no reason to think that the Sanhedrin would have moved the Lord’s dead Body., but if anyone had moved it, they were most likely involved.

“They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”  Mary Magdalene seems to assume that the Sanhedrin or the Pharisees had taken his Body.  Her “we don’t know” confirms that other women were with her at the tomb.  Her concern is “where they put him”.  It is not that a law has been broken or the horror of a grave robbery, but the place of his Body that concerns her.  She wants to be with her Lord, even in Death, wherever his Body was.

“So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.”. John also recalls that “they both ran”.  John ran because of his love for his Master, and Peter ran, racked with guilt over his denials.  “They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb.”  John is careful to note the sequence of events here.  In physical terms, John may have run faster because he was younger than the married Peter.  Spiritually, John teaches us that love precedes faith, for John, “the beloved disciple”, signifies love of Jesus, and Peter, who confessed before all the others that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, signifies faith.  We become Christians because we fall in love with the Lord, and this love leads us to belief in him and his teachings.  Thus, John arrived at the tomb first, but then Peter arrived.  Peter went in that he might believe more.

“[He] saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.”  Clearly, this was not the scene of a hurried grave robbery in which the invaders grab the corpse, burial cloths and all, and make their getaway.  The tomb had the orderly appearance of a bedroom attended to by a maid in the morning.  

“Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.”  The more knowledge of the loved one the lover gains, the more the lover loves and believes.  “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”  The Greek text translated here as “they did not know” actually means “had not known” — the verb is in the pluperfect.  This is an important detail because it tells us that they did not previously know the Scriptures about the Resurrection of the Lord until some later time, possibly when he told them about it after the Transfiguration or at the Last Supper (in John’s Gospel).  And so John is saying that at the time of the crucifixion and burial they did not remember or if they did remember, they did not understand the teaching about his rising, but when they saw the empty tomb, they did.

“This is the day the Lord has made: let us be glad and rejoice in it!” (Psalm 118, 24).  Our love for the Lord Jesus causes us to rejoice in his rising from the dead, and our belief in him gives us extra reason to be glad, for his Resurrection is ours, and we, who are members of his Body, shall rise in his to glory.

May God bless you all on this Easter Sunday and fill you with faith and love! And thank you for your prayers for my eye problems!

Holy Saturday, April 4, 2026

“And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledge of good and evil . . .  And he commanded him, saying: Of every tree of paradise you shall eat: But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in what day soever you shall eat of it, you shall die the death” (Genesis 2: 9, 16-17).

When we contemplate Adam as he came forth from the hand of God, we must set aside every image of frailty or decay that now clings to our experience. He stands in the garden not as we know ourselves, but as man in his original harmony: body and soul ordered, desires at peace, creation itself answering gently to his presence.

In the midst of that garden stood two trees, and between them, as it were, the whole drama of human history.

God had placed there the Tree of Life — not as a mere ornament, but as a sign and instrument of a deeper truth. Adam’s life, though real and full, was not self-sufficient. His body, formed from the earth, was by nature capable of dissolution. Yet he did not decay. He did not weaken. He did not approach death as we do now. Why? Because he lived not only from himself, but from God.

The Tree of Life was the visible pledge of that dependence.

To eat of it was to receive, again and again, the quiet gift of preservation. It was as if God had woven into creation a sacrament of life, by which man was sustained—not made immortal by nature, but kept from death by grace. Adam lived, therefore, in a kind of continual reception. His life was not something he possessed absolutely, but something he was always being given.

And this is why the command concerning the other tree carries such weight: “Of every tree of paradise you shall eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, 

you shall not eat” (Genesis 2:16–17).

The prohibition was not arbitrary. It marked the boundary between receiving life from God and seizing autonomy apart from Him.

When Adam chose to eat of the forbidden tree, he did not merely break a rule — he altered the very posture of his existence. He turned from dependence to self-assertion, from trust to grasping. And in that turning, something profound was lost: not his nature, but the grace that upheld it.

Then comes that mysterious and solemn moment after the Fall: “Lest perhaps he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…” And so he is sent out.

The Tree of Life is not destroyed — but it is barred.

Why? Not as punishment alone, but as a kind of mercy. For to eat of it now would mean to continue indefinitely in a wounded, disordered state — to prolong corruption rather than heal it. What had once preserved life would, in fallen man, preserve misery.

And so Adam is placed outside the garden — no longer sustained, now subject to time, to aging, to death. The body that had been held in harmony begins to return to the dust from which it was taken.

Yet even here, something astonishing remains.

The Tree of Life is not forgotten.

It stands, as it were, at the beginning of Scripture as a promise suspended — withdrawn, but not abolished. And all of salvation history moves toward its restoration.

For in the end, life will again be given—not now in the garden, but through another tree.

And man, once barred, will be invited again — not merely to preservation, but to a life that death itself cannot touch.

Good Friday, April 3, 2026

The Gospel reading today is the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. John.

Just a few notes on St. John’s Passion.  When we hear it or read it today, we should pay attention to the majesty with which John presents the Lord throughout his sufferings.  We see the Lord utterly in command in the Garden of Gethsemane when the thugs come to arrest him.  The Lord completely maintains his composure while his enemies fall down and seem to lose heart.  We get the impression that the Lord could only have been arrested if he had positively willed it.  He is not so much brought to the Sanhedrin as that he goes along with the crowd to it.  He stands unimpressed by the chief priests.  When he is brought before Pilate, the procurator almost treats him as an equal.  He is clearly of a mind to release the Lord and hands him over for crucifixion only under great duress.  Then, hanging on the Cross, the Lord is the one on control, giving his Mother into the care of his Apostle John.  He is careful to fulfill even the last bit of Scripture, calling out, “I thirst”.  And then, as John tells us, “He gave up his spirit.”  That is, it was not taken from him, nor did it depart solely out of the weakness of his Body, but the Lord sent it forth.  He died because he willed to die.

Such is the dignity and majesty of our Savior even in his terrible sufferings.  In like manner we are called to live our lives, ever looking beyond this world to the blessed repose in the next, alongside our Lord.

Holy Thursday, April 2, 2026

John 13, 1–15

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.” 

“Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father.”  For us, to know the exact hour and day of our deaths would be a terrible agony, but the Lord could hardly constrain himself, waiting for it: “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!” (Luke 12, 49-50).  This “fire” is the grace of redemption that “burns” away our sins.  “He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.”  In John 1, 11, the Evangelist had said plainly that “his own” did not receive him, by which we can understand the greater part of his family or of the Jews or of the world.  They did not receive him, but he did not let this stop him from loving them even to the end.  One of these was Judas: “The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over.”  

“Fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God.”  The Son of God was both sent by the Father and came of his own will.  He also both conducted himself on earth in obedience to the Father and according to his will.  He had revealed on an earlier occasion, “The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise” (John 5, 19).  By this he explains that he acts only in concert with the Father and does not act on his own.  We should strive to imitate him in this, for the conformity of our will to that of the Father is crucial for our salvation.

“He rose from supper and took off his outer garments.”  He does this to show how he had put off the glory he had with the Father in order to go to the floor, as it were, and take on a human nature for our service.  “Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.”  He made himself the slave of all in order to save all.  The water signifies his Blood with which he wiped clean our bodies and souls from sin, signified by the feet.  The towel signifies the grace which makes us capable of living in heaven, signified by the house in which they ate the Last Supper.  “You will never wash my feet.”  Peter did not understand the sign.  He objected to his Master taking the place of a slave to wash his feet and he saw this as an injustice, just as John the Baptist had not understood why Jesus insisted on being baptized.  Or, Peter may have seen this as a test to see which of the Apostles would declare that he was unworthy that the Messiah should was him in this way.  “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”  That is, unless Peter accepted the sign of service to the Church with the other Apostles, he would exclude himself from God’s plan for him.

“You are clean, but not all.”  The heart of Judas was already hardened against the Lord and against his grace.  Grace is not magic.  It can be refused.  The forgiveness of God can be refused, the prospect of heaven can be refused.  

We pray that we may gratefully receive the grace of Almighty God, won for us at a terrible cost by his Son, so that we may dwell in heaven with all the angels and saints.

Wednesday in Holy Week, April 1, 2026

Matthew 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.”

Two preparations are made in today’s Gospel Reading: that of Judas to hand over Jesus, and that of Jesus to hand over himself as a Sacrifice for sins.

“What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?”  St. Thomas Aquinas points out that this question shows how little Judas valued Jesus.  Thomas says that when a person values a thing he wants to sell, he tells the prospective buyer what the price will be.  He sets the price.  But a person who does not care much about what he is selling only asks what a prospective buyer is willing to pay.  He lets the buyer set the price, and he will set it as low as he can.  Thus, Judas did not offer Jesus to the Sanhedrin for his price, but let them set the price as though he were glad to be rid of Jesus, as though he did not need him anymore.  Once we add the consideration that Judas was a greedy man, as shown in yesterday’s Gospel Reading, and we can see the contempt in which Judas held the Lord.  There are those who have a misplaced sympathy for Judas.  Let this help them see him in a different light.

“Go into the city to a certain man.”  It is not clear if Jesus names a man or describes him in more detail than St. Matthew tells us here, or if he simply says, Go to the first man you see.  The first case would tell us that he knew one particular man was eager to give Jesus a room for the Passover but did not know how to find him.  He looks for Jesus, but Jesus finds him.  The second case shows the Lord’s power, that he seemingly chooses a man at random and such is the Lord’s reputation with the man that he is glad to offer him his room.

Normally in the division of household responsibilities the women of the house prepared the meals, but the Passover meal was prepared by the men.

“My appointed time draws near.”  The Greek text only says “time”, but the word can also mean, “a fitting season”.  But the question would have struck the Apostles as unusual.  What did it mean that his “time” was drawing near?  The time for taking over Jerusalem?  They would not have understood its significance.  The Lord’s time draws near just as the time of the Paschal lamb was drawing near.  “Surely it is not I, Lord?”  We might wonder about the Apostles asking this question.  After all, they should know whether or not they planned to betray Jesus.  They speak as though fearful that one of them was fated to betray him even against his will.  Or, they were speaking out of shock at what he had said.  Or, they wanted him to know it was not them.  “He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me.”  They were all dipping their morsels into the one dish.  The Lord is simply emphasizing how that the traitor was of their fellowship.  “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.”  Judas betrayed Jesus through his own freewill.  This was foreseen by the Prophets and foreknown by Almighty God.  Because he acted wickedly in betraying Christ despite all the attempts the Lord made to get him to repent, he was to be punished so severely that it “would be better for that man if he had never been born.”  

“Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” He answered, ‘You have said so.’ ”  In the ongoing commotion, Jesus tells Judas directly that he knows the truth about him.  Any prudent man would have broken off the plan and either have done nothing, hoping that the Lord would not give him away to the others, or he would have run for his life.  Judas had such contempt for the Lord that even this display of foreknowledge did not impress him and he continued on with what he intended to do.

There are many sinners today so hardened in their ways that their conscience is in effect dead.  Let us pray for their conversion, for the conversion of the worst of sinners may especially glorified Almighty God.