Isaiah 50:4-9a,
Ps 69:8-10.21-22.31,
Matthew 26: 14-25 Full Readings
Saint Stephen of Mar Saba
Never start a conversation with the Devil
Brethren, today we are again presented with the third servant song of Isaiah in the first reading. It has a darker yet more confident tone than the others. Although the song gives a first-person description of how the servant was beaten and abused, here the servant is described both as a teacher and learner who follows the path God places him on without pulling back. Echoing the first song's "a bruised reed he will not break," he sustains the weary with a word. His vindication is left in God's hands. Isaiah 50:4-9 Isaiah 50:4–7 is seen by New Testament commentators to be a Messianic prophecy of Jesus Christ. Isaiah 50:6 is quoted in Handel's "Messiah" of Jesus. There is an allusion in Luke 9:51 to Isaiah 50:7 ("Therefore I have set my face like a flint"), as Jesus "set His face steadfastly" to go to Jerusalem.
In the Gospel, we see that the time is near, Jesus is giving his last prediction of his suffering and death, and even points out the person who was to betray him as Judas Iscariot though Judas still denied that he can't betray Jesus: "Not I, Rabbi, surely? We can say Judas was very stuck in the sin of betrayal, nothing could change him. In yesterday's Reflection we saw that his love for money was uncontrollable but it even looks beyond this, it is the devil at work. Luke 22:3 presents to us that the devil entered Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve and John 13:7 presents to us that as soon as he took the bread Satan entered him, which automatically shows that it was not only Judas love for money that led him to betray but also allowed the devil to work in him.
Today, we are encouraged to never start any conversation with the devil neither orally nor from our thoughts. Judas started conversation with the devil and he betrayed and other examples in the Bible who ended into sin because of conversing with the devil are: Eve and the serpent, Joseph's brothers who sold him to Egypt, King David when he killed Uriah and took his wife and many others. In all instances we see that the devil destroys every kind of good relationship which existed before, no wonder Jesus says, in John 10:10, the devil comes only to steal, destroy and kill. No good is associated with Satan, and thus when we allow it in our lives, it is only evil that comes forth from us.
The devil makes you stubborn as it made Judas, gives you every fake reasons to do evil by rationalizing and then finally makes you stuck in evil, in a sinful life (perhaps Judas thought Jesus was very powerful not to be arrested by anyone, or he has delayed the Messianicship- that's to be a king- and so wanted to make it fast, or was it that Judas was disappointed when he learnt that Jesus was not a political liberator? and many other reasons which might have come in his mind). It makes you persistent in sin and makes sin easier to commit. And eventually, when one persists in the same sin, that sin is easily rationalized, justified and denied as sin altogether. When one gets stuck in this downward spiral of persistent sin it’s hard to get out. And often the only way to survive the psychological tension is to remain in denial.
It is this stubbornness and persistence in the sin of betrayal of Judas that led Jesus to suffering though Jesus knew it before when he says that the son of man is going to his fate as the scriptures say (was it perhaps the fulfillment of the prophecy through Judas?). This is echoed from the first Reading as the servant of the Lord has to suffer without any self defense, no resistance and be given up because it is the way of the prophets, the servants of God. But this would not have been done through Judas, his own disciple, Satan took control of him. In fact one of the sufferings and disheartening experiences Jesus had was the loss of his beloved, his disciple Judas who went out of his love, as we saw yesterday that Jesus' heart was very troubled.
This teaches us a lot in our lives, not to allow the devil use us in any way and when in any way fall trap of the devil and recognize it, we have to turn back to God, renounce it and be on the right path again. Perhaps if Judas had confessed publicly rather that denying when Jesus told him, things would have gone well with him. He didn't know where sin was leading him, and we all know what ended with Judas, even, he didn't use the money he had got. That's the way of the devil, no happiness at all.
Reflect today, on the way in which the devil has used you in your life, and is still using you today? Denounce it, and it's ways and come back to Jesus I'm this Holy Week. Reflect also upon Judas saying to Jesus, “Not I, Rabbi, surely?” This sad statement from Judas must have deeply wounded our Lord’s Heart as He witnessed the betrayal of Judas. Reflect, also, upon the many times that you deny your sin, failing to sincerely repent. Make this Holy Week a time for honesty and integrity. The Lord’s mercy is so deep and pure that, if you would understand it, you would have no need to remain in any form of denial of your sins.
Let Us Pray
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