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.  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 His teachings on "end times," that He 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 comments that the Passover commemorates God's deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt to the Land of Promise.  It is a prefiguring of the Passion of Christ, which is the new Passover (in Greek, Πάσχα/Pascha); that is, as my study Bible puts it, 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 it was the day before is a subject of dispute in patristic commentary.  But what is clear is that Jesus regards with the disciples as 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.  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."    My study Bible comments that simply because it is written of Him does not cancel Judas' responsibility for his betrayal.  It notes that God foresees but does not cause the evil actions of human beings; we always have free will.  Here, Jesus allows Judas to accuse himself, but even upon hearing that Jesus knew of His deception, there is no repentance on Judas' part.  

My study Bible has an interesting note on St. Luke's version of today's story.  The Gospel reads, "Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve" (Luke 22:3).  My study Bible comments on this verse that Satan does not enter a person except by that person's consent.  It says that 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.  What can we say about this, except that somewhere in ourselves, we may become vulnerable to such promptings?  And likewise conversely, what makes us available to the promptings of what President Abraham Lincoln referred to as "the angels of our better nature?"  The same can be said of our faith in and love of Christ.  What is it that opens our heart to God's love?  It's important to think about such things in the context of what it means to be a person, because our communion is not simply with abstract ideas and theories.  It is with persons -- other people, and the Persons of the Trinity, known through Jesus Christ, who became human so that we could know God through Him.  Father Stephen Freeman, who writes the Glory to God for All Things blog, has commented, "We know the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. But we don’t know the Father apart from the Son, and the Holy Spirit does not speak of the things concerning Himself."  Therefore we understand that part of Christ's mission into our world is so that we can know the Father through Him, and the Holy Spirit has also come through His mission in order for us to recall the words of Christ and to understand them (John 14:26).  So in knowing Christ, we know the Trinity, whom we understand as three Persons.  They are divine and beyond our scope of understanding, but they are Persons nonetheless.  Therefore, we must ask ourselves -- since being a "person" is so central to how we come to know in the Bible -- what makes us open or vulnerable to one person or another?  What opens our hearts or closes them?  We can see in today's reading how Judas has his heart closed to Christ, despite all that has happened, for he does not repent, despite Jesus' words, "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."  Have you ever had the experience of speaking to someone, and even though they seem to be paying attention, they just can't hear what you're saying?  Can't grasp its meaning?  This is an important aspect of human relations to understand, and the Gospel seems to illustrate that repeatedly.  If a person does not want to hear, we have a remarkable way to block whatever it is we don't want to let in.  Perhaps we're clinging to something we just can't let go of that gets in the way.  Perhaps this is the case with Judas.  Some have suggested that he believed in a political messiah, and could not accept Christ's position as One who would not make a decisive kind of battle against His enemies in the religious leadership.  St. John's Gospel seems to suggest to us that he was greedy and dishonest (John 12:6) as a possible motive.  But whatever the cause we can see that there are impediments to the heart and its opening to the love of God, and this is an important reason for self-awareness and repentance.  Jesus has frequently taught the disciples about being aware of their own impulses which will do harm, and to cast them off.  So it seems that keeping our hearts open to God requires a kind of work, and perhaps we could call it the work of faith.  We need to be open to our own flaws, and to work at casting off impulses that lead us down a bad path (Matthew 5:21-37; 18:6-9).  Faith isn't something we can take for granted, but something we work at (John 6:28-29).   Keeping our hearts open to God requires vigilance, but also the ability to let go even of things we've always clung to (Matthew 19:16-22).  This may be true even of the things we cherish most (Matthew 10:37).  When Jesus teaches us that it is the truth that makes us free (John 8:32), he's not talking about a set of abstract principles or aphorisms, but a living faith with a powerful mystical component, about abiding in His word, and becoming a "son."  Therefore our faith is dynamic, and requires of us growth.  This is a growth that is willing to continue down a path of greater intensity, and perhaps greater sacrifice -- for we all are meant to carry our crosses, to join Him at the Cross and participate in His life.  Let us consider that keeping ourselves closed off, or hanging on to the things that keep us from truly hearing and abiding in His word, keep us from a closer communion with Christ and the greater life of the Kingdom He offers.  None of those things are worth the freedom He promises, the living truth He offers, the love that shows us the way and illumines a path.  Perhaps Judas is clinging to a past he cannot let go of to follow Christ, a delusional outcome that is a false hope -- or maybe just his greedy habit, or perhaps the rebuke from Christ (see yesterday's reading, above).  None of these are worthy of forfeiting the life Christ offers, the redemption to be found in changing our mind and growing in the ways He asks, and following Him.