Wednesday, April 8, 2020, The Wednesday of Holy Week

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.”

Of the many questions surrounding the betrayal of Jesus, one that provides the most fruit for meditation is why Jesus announced to his disciples that one of them was going to betray him.  Jesus, knew what was in a man (cf. John 2, 25), and so he was fully aware of Judas and his treachery: he was not trying to “smoke out” the identity of his betrayer.  He did not do this to let his Apostles know that his Passion was imminent.  He had already made that clear as they approached Jerusalem together for the last time (cf. Matthew 20, 17-29).  He also does not do this in order to rouse the Apostles against the traitor; in fact, Jesus seems to send Judas safely on his way, as we saw yesterday in John 13, 27-30: “Jesus said to him, ‘What you are going to do, do quickly.’ Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, ‘Buy what we need for the feast,’ or to give something to the poor. So Judas took the morsel and left at once.”  So what purpose does Jesus have in mind when he tells his disciples that one among them will betray him?

Jesus does this in order to urge Judas to repent of what he was about to do, without exposing his identity to the Apostles, who would take action against him.  Jesus seems to go even further, pressing Judas by saying to the Apostles in general, “He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me.“  Judas could not fail to note that Jesus knew him to be the betrayer.  In addition, in order to draw him back from the sin he intended to commit, Jesus provides a very grim warning: “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.”  This does not give Judas pause.  But he is curious, and also cautious.  The other Apostles are confused and dismayed.  Commotion erupts as each asks the other and the Lord if it is him.  Each man feels his own frailty and fears his fall.  Judas, along with the others, asks, “Surely it is not I, Lord?”, not wishing to stand out.  John records the response of Jesus, who uses the Hebrew idiom for saying “yes”: “You have said so.”  This has the effect of saying, “You know that it is true”, which is stronger than a mere “yes”.  But the other Apostles, in the confusion, do not hear him.  Judas then knows that the Lord could expose him at any moment, but the Lord does not, and indeed, according to John, who was also present, he offers safe cover for Judas if, in spite of all the chances he gives him to change his mind, he still chooses to depart.  Even after the betrayal, Jesus gives him time to repent.  This is the meaning of the Lord’s words to him:  “Do you betray the Son of man with a kiss?” (Luke 22, 48).  But Judas stands back and lets him be seized.  And then when Judas goes to the Jewish leaders and confesses that he has betrayed an innocent man, and they dismiss him, he does not then go and approach Jesus, whom he could still have seen, to beg forgiveness.  He does not try to rescue him.  Instead, he takes his own life.

We see how many chances Jesus gives Judas.  He does everything but stop him physically from committing his sin, but Judas is determined.  His obstinacy, in spite of all that he has seen and heard in his three years of walking with Jesus, and in spite of the dire warnings Jesus issues him directly, ought to give us all pause.  Free-will is a precious gift.  It allows us to love and to seek true happiness with God; but it also allows us to turn from God and to destroy ourselves.  What each Apostle seems to fear is that fate will cause him to betray Jesus in spite of his loyalty.  This is why they fearfully ask the Lord, “Is it I?”  They fear that God’s decree will override their own free-will.  But we know this is not so.  He does not treat us as pawns.  Indeed, he treats us as his own children, promising, warning, giving abundant chances, and allowing us to choose him, or the darkness of betrayal in sin.