GOSPEL
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.”
Food
for thought!
For
three days we have been with Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus. Before
we leave him, we ask, why did he do it? Why did Judas betray Jesus? Why would
anyone in their right senses betray someone like Jesus? And if one decided to
betray Jesus, that is, to give him away, how much would one exchange for Jesus?
Why was Jesus betrayed by one of his own?
The
gospel sap that they gave Judas 30 pieces of, not of gold, but of silver! What
is 30 pieces of silver worth today? Well, the best was to look at it is to
remember last Monday's gospel reading. In it, we read, that Mary brought her
perfume, very expensive. Judas calculated it to cost 300 silver pieces. The
same Judas valued Jesus to be worth 30 silver pieces. The perfume was 10x more
expensive than Jesus, that is according to Judas! Judas had lost all proportion
of things.
How
much money would you accept to deny Jesus? How much would it take for you to
abandon Jesus, to never follow Jesus, to never read his word or even to kill
him for good from your life?
As
we condemn Judas, we do well to remember that we too do exchange for something
else. All it takes is getting a little busy with studies, with work, with a
family, or just getting busy with life. Now days, it is easy to trade Jesus for
watching a movie instead of foraying or reading the Word of God. Trading off
Jesus for something else is getting easier and more frequent than we may want
to imagine. Jesus is getting cheaper and cheaper than 30 pieces of silver.
St.
Paul help us to recover the value of Jesus he did when he said: "I once
thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because
of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with
the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have
discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain
Christ." (Phil. 3:7-8).
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