Greetings Dear Reader,
In some Holy Week traditions, this day is called Spy Wednesday. It is the day in which Judas is thought to have arranged to hand Jesus over to the priests. I wish to acknowledge a couple of things that I often get asked on this topic. They are valid questions with salient answers.
The first is that, yes, Judas did hand Jesus over to the priests and was paid for it. When used in reference to Judas, the Greek word, “paradidomi” is translated “betrayed.” When used in other discussions about the disciples the word is translated “handed over.” The translation is used to set Judas apart as somehow worse and greedier than the other apostles.
Let us consider that for a moment. It was not just Judas who worried about the cost of the perfume used to anoint Jesus. They all judged the woman and grumbled about the money. They all argued about which of them would be the most important in the Kingdom. They all ran at some point.
We also need to remember that Jesus knew everything that Judas would do as events unfolded. He was neither surprised nor unloving about it. He counseled Judas to do quickly what he was going to do. Jesus wants things to unfold differently but knows that they will not.
We need a scapegoat. We want someone to blame for the death of Jesus and the horrible treatment that preceded it. Judas is villainized because he did openly what we do all the time. We deny and betray the Son of God daily. We know to do right and do not do it. We focus on the things that do not matter instead of pursuing Christ in raw devoted love.
Where is the love on this day? Do you love Judas? You see, you cannot claim to love Jesus without loving Judas, Dear Reader. I have heard a story that I cannot verify and Snopes says it is false. The glurge of it is still a good one. It is reported by some that when Davinci was painting The Last Supper that the same man who posed for Jesus posed for Judas many years later. He was not recognized by Davinci because of years living in degradation.
We cannot prove or disprove the tale. What I can say is this, if we fail to see that every human is the image of God, we fail to honestly see Jesus. We must love everyone. We must not believe for a moment that we are better than Judas, or Pilate, or Herod. We must see that man who was in very nature God saw in us someone to love and allowed his friend to move forward the plan to redeem us.
In the middle of Holy Week, we have already gone from welcoming Jesus as Messiah and King to selling him for silver. We are already stepping into the shadows to avoid being seen with the Light of the World. There is a darkness coming that we cannot avoid. Love is the only thing that will see us through it.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
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