The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!

 Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?"  And he said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples," ' "  So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.  When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve.  Now as they were eating, He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me."  And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, "Lord, is it I?"  He answered and said, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me."  And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, "Lord, is it I?"  He answered and said, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me.  The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!  It would have been good for that man if he had not been born."  Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, "Rabbi, is it I?"  He said to him, "You have said it."

- Matthew 26:17-25

Yesterday we read that it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings about the end times and His Second Coming, that Jesus said to His disciples, "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified."  Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him.  But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people."  And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table.  But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste?  For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor."  But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman?  For she has done a good work for Me.  For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always.  For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial.  Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her."  Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?"  And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.  So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.

 Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?"  And he said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples," ' "  So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.  My study bible reminds us that the Passover is a commemoration of God's deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt to the Land of Promise.  It acts to prefigure the Passion of Christ, who is the new Passover (Greek Pascha/Πασχα), or God's redemption of all humanity from sin and death, and entrance into the promised Kingdom.  Whether the first day of the Feast was Passover or the day before Passover is something of a debate among the patristic teachers.  It is certain, however, that Jesus regarded this meal with His disciples to be the Passover meal.

When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve.  Now as they were eating, He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me."  And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, "Lord, is it I?"  He answered and said, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me."  And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, "Lord, is it I?"  He answered and said, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me.  The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!  It would have been good for that man if he had not been born."  Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, "Rabbi, is it I?"  He said to him, "You have said it."  Here my study bible comments that it is written of Him doesn't cancel the responsibility of Judas for his act of betrayal.  It notes that God foresees but doesn't cause the evil actions of human beings, who always have free will.  Furthermore, it's noted here that Jesus lets Judas accuse himself, but even hearing that Christ knows of his deception, he doesn't repent.

What is repentance?  In some sense, repentance is a way in which we return to Christ from a place where we are separate, broken off from Christ.  If we look at Judas' betrayal in this light, we may observe the depth to which he cuts himself off from Christ through betrayal.  There is first of all the deep trust Christ has placed in Judas as one of the twelve, his closest disciples -- and then there is the thing that Judas will do, the betrayal from such a place of deep trust.  If we imagine these things for ourselves -- that depth of bond and trust as one of the Twelve -- then we can indeed envision the gulf of brokenness which results from betrayal.  As Jesus says, although the Son of Man goes "as it is written of Him," nevertheless this deep severing of relationship through betrayal will bring great woe to Judas himself.  How could we think about repentance under the circumstances?  If repentance is the return to Christ, a turnabout from separation from Him, then what do we imagine that may have looked like for Judas, had he truly repented?  If we look carefully at Jesus' words here, He does not pointedly draw out Judas in front of the others and in that way shields Judas from immediate reproach by the other disciples.  But Jesus does draw out his identity in such a way that Judas is aware that Jesus understands what is happening, and Judas even identifies himself in this role through his question, "Rabbi, is it I?"  This might seem somewhere mysterious to us as a way for Jesus to proceed, unless we see it in the light of Christ's hope that Judas will repent, and a way of offering that opportunity to Judas before he proceeds.  In other words, although we make the choice to sever relationship or not, Christ still holds out salvation to Judas.  He still offers him a chance for communion and redemption.  Neither does Jesus pronounce condemnation here, but responds only with the words, "You have said it," allowing and acknowledging the free will of Judas.  In the original Greek of the text, these are the same words that Jesus will say to Pilate when Pilate asks if He is king of the Jews.  The only difference is that here, the response ("You have said . . .") is in the past tense, and to Pilate Jesus will reply in the present ("You say. . .") in 27:11.  It is a way in which Christ affirms an action or choice on both men's parts, but without pronouncing condemnation or judgment.  So how are we to understand repentance?  Peter, we know, will deny Christ at His time of trial, but he will return to the group of the disciples.  He will once again seek communion with Christ.  But Judas will not.  These are things we may understand from the stories of the Gospels.  In our own lives, we might consider the places where gulfs or "brokenness" exists between ourselves and Christ.  We can also see the brokenness in our relationships with others as well.  We consider the two greatest commandments, upon which hang all the rest:  that first we love God with all our heart, and soul, and mind; and second, we love neighbor as if neighbor were ourselves.  We can look at the brokenness in our lives in each of these respects.  But we return to Christ by placing all things in Christ's hands, returning even our broken communion to His care.  This is one way of seeing repentance, a return to the One whom we may entrust with all things in our lives, and seeking God's guidance and care for all of those things.  In this sense, life offers us constant opportunities for repentance, as we place our trust in Christ's hands, by returning all the many separations in our lives to Him -- all those places of emptiness without communion.  We entrust Him to repair our lives with His love, and to teach us His way; in this we get a sense of the beauty of repentance, and the ongoing work of faith.