RBWords

     I am unable to say if it is deliberate, but this powerful scene (famously painted by Leonardo Da Vinci on the dining room wall of a Dominican priory in Milan, Italy) contains irony of a special kind.  All the attention about betrayal seems focused initially on Judas, but there is a second betrayer as well, Peter.  "Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times."

     Which is harder to bear? Deliberate betrayal or betrayal through sheer weakness?In fact, all the disciples in the room will run like scared rabbits at first when Jesus is arrested.  Peter may trail along to the house of the high priest and utter his denials there, and John may join the women at the foot of the cross, but Jesus could have said, "Every one of you will betray me!"  Would he be looking at all of us as he looked at Peter [Luke 22:61]?  

     If we wish to enter into the profound experience of Holy Week, we should be on guard against being too selective about which roles we want to play.  If we place ourselves at the table of the Last Supper, we must hear the words, "...one of you will betray me.." and know that at some point Jesus means each of us.  AMEN