Judas And His Price

Judas saw the gift of God that was before him in the person of Jesus Christ; the Son of God. Sadly he chose to monetize the GIFT out of greed, an act he later deeply regretted.  

Isaiah 50:4-9
Matthew 26:14-25

Dear friends in Christ, the paschal Triduum begins tomorrow evening and so we stand a threshold between what has been this Lenten season and what is about to take place in some few days. Taking a look back to our liturgical readings for this season, we realize that things are getting tougher for Jesus. It is one thing to have an enemy outside your defense line but Today, the net surrounding Jesus tightens even more.  Things get tough, for now, someone in Jesus’ inner circle plots to betray him.

A poet once said that “ sharper than a serpent’s tooth is a thankless child ”; but what shall we say of a disciple who would betray his own Master: an apostle who could sell Christ?
Judas Iscariot had one of the highest possible religious privileges. He was a chosen apostle and companion of Christ; he was an eyewitness of our Lord’s miracles and a hearer of his sermons; he saw what the prophet of old wished had happened during their time. He was in the presence of the living God.

The infamy of Judas betrayal made his name synonymous with treason.Judas had great potential and an opportunity to go down in history alongside Peter, John and the others. There was nothing in his character that alerted the other apostles about the duplicity in his heart. He was the treasurer (John 12:6); a position of great trust in any organization. Judas was destroyed by greed and avarice The words of the apostle Paul should often ring in our ears: “The love of money is the root of all evil .” ( 2 Timothy 6:10 ).

Have you ever been betrayed?  Think of the pain of that betrayal and prayerfully share it with the Lord as you read today’s Gospel and the actions and attitude of Judas.  As you pray through it, is the wound still tender?  Where are you in the process of forgiveness?   Betrayal paralyzes you.  It feels like a knife has pierced you through the heart and most painful it is from someone you confided, cared about, entrusted part of who you are.  When your enemy is outside your circle, its common to keep your defenses up. However, when it comes from inside your circle, your defenses are down and the knife cuts deeper.  And what does Jesus do?  He doesn’t condemn him, nor does he exclude him from the celebration at the table.

Stories in the Bible abounds in illustrations of this truth. For money Joseph was sold by his brethren(Gen37:13-14); for money, Samson was betrayed to the Philistines by Delilah (Judges 16:1-21)for money Gehazi deceived Naaman and lied to Elisha (2kings 5:20-27); for money, Ananias and Sapphira tried to deceive Peter(Acts 5:1-11); for money the son of God was delivered into the hands of wicked men. Matthew 26:45; Luke 24:7.

It is not much different than our world today.  As divided as we are, so much of our division is about differences in expectations.  What we expect our leaders to be, politicians to be, our family to be and even our church to be….. And when it doesn’t fill our expectations what do we do?   Are we really that much different than Judas? 
Let us all be on our guard against the love of money.

The world is full of it in our days: the plague is abroad. Thousands who would abhor the idea of worshiping political Juggernaut are not ashamed to make an idol of gold. We are all liable to the infection, from the least to the greatest. We may love money without having it, just as we may have money without loving it or without love ultimately. it is an evil that works very deceitfully: it carries us captives before we are aware of our chains. Once let it gets mastery, it will harden, palsy, sear, freeze, blight, and wither our souls Remember that one leak may sink a ship: one unmortified sin may ruin a soul.

This week is most challenging.  Holy Week asks us, how do you stay the course when things are falling apart and you think Jesus is the answer? May our relationship with Jesus be lived at a genuine level and may it lead us to everlasting life.

Fr Joseph Osho