Word to the Wise
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - Holy Week - Wed
[Isa 50:4-9a and Matt 26:14-25]"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....."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?".....Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, "Sure it is not I, Rabbi?" He answered, "You have said so."
The gospel scene today changes story-teller but not location. We are still at the Last Supper. This time the contrast is not between two vivid characters like Judas and Peter, it is between Judas and all the other apostles. Notice that all the other apostles say, "Sure it is not I, LORD?" Judas says, "Surely it is not I, RABBI?" The Gospel of Matthew reveals what may be part of Judas' motivation. He has never really understood Jesus and in the end sees him as another rabbi/teacher and not as LORD! Even when he tries to return the money, he speaks of "innocent blood" but there does not seem to be any greater faith.
Ultimately, Holy Week is the continuation of a journey of faith. When Judas is replaced after the resurrection of Jesus, one of the criteria for replacing him would be a person who had been following Jesus from the very beginning of his ministry. Although scripture scholars tell us that the passion accounts were the first parts of the gospels to be put into writing, we cannot separate them from the rest of Jesus' life and ministry. A complete understanding of what happens in Holy Week depends on our understanding of what has happened before. Judas sees only a chance to profit because he cannot see Jesus as being any different from any other "rabbi." Our own journey of faith with Jesus in this week must be founded on what we have learned about him from his life and ministry. If we were simply to chance on the scene of the events of Holy Week, why should we see what happens as anything more than another Roman execution of a would-be Messiah? The measure of Judas' act is the person who is betrayed. Do we know who that person is? Is he LORD or is he simply TEACHER? AMEN.
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