Isaiah 50:4-9a,
Ps 69:8-10.21-22.31,
Matthew 26: 14-25 Full Readings
Saint Martin I
What will you give me if I hand him over to you?
Today we reflect on the third servant song of Isaiah presented 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 50:4–7 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. all these point to Jesus as the servant of God to whom all these prophesies were pointing.
Does this mean that Judas' betrayal can be justified since Jesus as a servant f God was prophesied to suffer, take all the sins of the people upon him and die for them? Well, this is what Jesus said: "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.” Here Jesus shows that he knows that he was going to suffer even die and after resurrect, but about who betrayed him would not have been Judas, one of his closest friends and disciple, and above all to betray him with just 30 silver pieces, with just a question, "What will you give me if I hand him over to you?"
Brethren, why should it be I or you to betray Jesus. Well we can say that now we cannot betray Jesus the way Judas did which is not right. We too everyday ask, "What will you give me if I hand him over to you?" Origen tries to put this in our context: "Let us consider what Judas said to the Jewish priests: What will you give me if I hand him over to you? He was willing to take money in exchange for handing over the Word of God. They do the same thing who accept sensual or worldly goods in exchange for handing over and casting out from their souls the Savior and Word of truth who came to dwell with them. Indeed, it would be fitting to apply Judas's example to all who show contempt for the Word of God and betray him, as it were, by committing sin for the sake of money or for any selfish motive. People who behave in this way appear openly to be calling out to the powers of the enemy who offer worldly gain in return for the sin of betraying God's Word, saying, What will you give me if I hand him over to you? And they gave him thirty pieces of silver."
Haven't we seen such people and don't we have them today? Selling the gospel literally, selling the gifts and talents God has given us to minister to his people whole forgetting that Jesus commanded us to give for nothing because we received for nothing? Haven't we heard such statements: How much will you give me to bless your car? To come to your house and pray for you, you have to give such amount of money? Too see a pastor, you have to make an appointment and pay this amount. To celebrate for you mass, you have to pay this and this. How different are we from Judas Iscariot? Are we not selling Jesus, the Word of God, too? Well, we need money for mission especially in the modern world, but should it the sole condition for us to take Christ to people? O how cunning and ready is the devil waiting to attack us and use us if we cannot overcome the greed of money! It is not the greed that spoils, but the devil it attracts. Do you think it was only greed for money that made Judas stubborn to betray Jesus even after Jesus had warned him? No, it is the devil that was attracted by that greed. Be aware!
Today, we are encouraged to never to allow anything in our lives that may attract the devil to use us nor start any conversation with it be it orally or from our thoughts. When the devil comes, it 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. 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. Is it not heart breaking and troubling for Jesus to hear Judas in denial saying, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”
Reflect today, on your love for money and how you have failed sometimes to give the Word of God for free as you received it? Whay are some attitudes in you that resemble those of Judas? How has the devil used you in your life, and is still using you today? Denounce it, and it's ways and come back to Jesus in this Holy Week. Don't remain in denial of your sins because 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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