Wednesday in Holy Week, April 5, 2023

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.