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Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.
Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.
Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat." So they said to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare?" And He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. Then you shall say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?" ' Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready." So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.
- Luke 22:1-13
Yesterday, the lectionary gave us a passage from John's Gospel, which some insert at this point in Luke's Gospel. We read that after another test by the leadership, everyone went to their own homes, but Jesus spent the night on the Mount of Olives, with the pilgrims. The time is set (at this point in John's Gospel) during the Feast of Tabernacles. Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people. Here, my study bible notes that the Passover (Pascha in the Greek) is the celebration of the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt and the deliverance of God's people from bondage (see Exodus 12-14). It says, "In remembrance of this, the Jews would slaughter an unblemished lamb and partake of it with unleavened bread. This prefigures Christ's Passion, in which the only-begotten Son of God is slain in order to deliver His people from their bondage to sin and death, and then is raised to lead them into the eternal Kingdom." Thus, Pascha is the primary term by which Eastern Orthodox refer to the death and Resurrection of Christ, (known as Easter in English, related as the One who comes from the East, the sunrise - a name taken, according to Bede, by Anglo-Saxon Christians from an ancient goddess related to spring equinox, but a concept entirely appropriate to Christ throughout the whole of Christianity). All over the early Christian world, pagan concepts, for example, of resurrection (e.g. celebration of spring) were understood as primitive, very partial glimpses of the mysteries Christ fulfilled, revealed, and expanded for all. He was the fullness of truth revealed for all that humanity had grasped for, the fulfillment of the most valuable (good, true, and beautiful) concepts of the pagan world, including Greek philosophy (i.e. Logos).
Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude. My study bible notes: "Satan does not enter a man except by the man's consent. The reason Satan chose Judas and none of the others is that Judas had a place for Satan in his heart, while the others did not. Luke's mention of Judas being numbered among the twelve emphasizes the depth of the betrayal and shows that religious position is worthless if not accompanied by faith and virtue."
Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat." So they said to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare?" And He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. Then you shall say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?" ' Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready." So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover. Here is another mysterious segment of Jesus' time in Jerusalem at this final Passover of His life as Jesus of Nazareth. It's similar to the passage in which Jesus teaches the disciples what they must do to find the animal He will ride into Jerusalem (from the East, the Mount of Olives) in His Triumphal Entry. (See Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.) As in that earlier preparation, every detail is supplied by Jesus, there is no question of His omniscience and His arrangement for things; all the disciples do is act in obedience to Him.
What can we observe about today's reading? There is the great betrayal of Judas, which comes at a particular time in Jesus' ministry. It is the apex, in some sense, of Jesus' ministry. He successfully engages with the leadership at the temple that tries to test Him. He has ridden into the holy city hailed as Messiah. In our worldly understanding of success, He has seemingly conquered this city in an entirely peaceful way. But right at this moment, at this crux of engagement and powerful ministry in the center of religious life at the great temple, in creeps our denouement, the thing that sets in motion His worldly ministry as Jesus toward a particular close. But let's take note what the Gospel tells us, it is the evil one, Satan, who is creeping in and finding the weakest link in this chain. Judas' own vulnerabilities lead him into this place. John tells us that Judas was a thief and would steal from the treasury (of which he was in charge). We're given the story of the anointing of Jesus by Mary, in which Judas complained against her, but was rebuked openly by Christ. Perhaps this sealed Judas' resentment. This took place on the eve before the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Perhaps, combined with all of the above, Judas' greatest vulnerability was a desire for importance, and he seized his chance by playing to the authorities, deluding himself about his motives. In modern terms, people may say it was a lack of "self-esteem" -- and I'm not ridiculing this concept, except to put it in light of discipleship: if Judas needed to be in some place where others looked up to him then it was a weakness never addressed. The "opinion of men" cannot fix this internal problem. Arrogance isn't the same as a true understanding of self-worth in Christ's eyes. A seeking of position for self-aggrandizement is entirely inappropriate for the Church, condemned by Christ in His teaching. And that is a weakness cured with the type of humility we learn in dialogue with Christ, in relationship. It all speaks to a lack of humility that is necessary for real discipleship, a knowledge of the forgiveness we may need, a true picture of what our worth is, separating weakness from identity and redemption in Christ's eyes -- a lack of honesty within himself and regarding himself and his true spiritual state. Whatever the reasons, it's important that we see our own vulnerabilities and the reasons why we practice the discipline of humility before God. As we spoke of in yesterday's commentary, there's a reason why we seek to truly "know ourselves" but always in the light of Christ and the safe place that He offers for guidance, repentance, and a new beginning. Many people say this was Judas' greatest mistake, a lack of repentance with the Master, which truly led to his fate. Even after betrayal, he could have come to Christ. Even in the garden of Gethsemane at His arrest, Jesus gives Judas an explicit chance to explain and confess, as we will read later on in this chapter. Let us remember the importance of the kind of humility Christ asks of us, a humility before God, before Christ, the Person who is Truth, in a loving embrace that only wants for us restoration and wholeness. But it takes honesty, and a willingness to face ourselves in that place of truth and God's love. Let this be an example about our own weaknesses, and where they may lead us if we do not do the work of spiritual discipleship, and take care in our own spiritual struggle. There's a kind of wisdom one hears, for example on an airplane, in the instructions in case of emergency. We're to take care of our health first (by putting on an oxygen mask) so that we can help others. The spiritual struggle is the same. We deal with our own weaknesses and vulnerabilities and blind spots in dialogue with Christ, in confession and humility, we seek to remove the plank in our own eye -- and thus we are better prepared to be of service to others in this love we learn at the feet of Christ. It is only there we find real leadership and strength.
