Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve

And in the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet.   Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.

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 21:37-22:13

Yesterday we read that, after Christ's prophecy regarding both the destruction of the temple (during the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD) and of the end times, He spoke to them a parable:  "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees.  When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near.  So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.  Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.  But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.  For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.  Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."

And in the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet.   Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.  Jesus teaches in the temple daily for the people; at night we're told He stays on Mount Olivet, as with other pilgrims who've come to Jerusalem for the Passover.

 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.  The Passover, my study bible explains, is the celebration of the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt and the deliverance of God's people from bondage (Exodus 12-14).  In remembrance of this, an unblemished lamb would be slaughtered and eaten with unleavened bread.  My study bible comments that it is a prefiguration of Christ's Passion, in which the only-begotten Son of God is slain in order to deliver His people from bondage to sin and death, and then is raised to lead them into the eternal Kingdom.  In the Greek of the Gospels, Passover is Pascha/Πασχα, and for the Easterm Orthodox, Pascha is the primary term for Christ's death and Resurrection, known as Easter in the West.

 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 tells us that Satan doesn't enter into a person unless there is at some level consent.  The reason that Judas was chosen and none of the others is that Judas had a place for Satan in his heart, and the others did not.  The fact that it is emphasized by the text that Judas was numbered among the twelve underscores the depth of betrayal.  It teaches us that religious position has no value if it is 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.  The term Passover, my study bible says, can refer to the original event itself (the events recorded in Exodus 12-14), or it can refer also to the celebration of that event, or to th efood that is eaten, or also the lamb that is slain.  According to patristic commentary, Peter represents zeal and John represents spiritual understanding -- these are the virtues with which we are to partake of the Lord's Supper.

The events which begin to be described in today's reading are not simply the happenstance of 2,000 years ago in Jesus' final week of His worldly life.  Scripture records for us events of significance that exceeds simple historical value.  Commemoration of such events as the original Passover, and of its fulfillment in the events of Holy Week and Easter, tell another and more full story about spiritual reality, and our own lives as faithful.  That is, to some extent, as we each are called to carry our own crosses in life ("If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" - 9:23), we may also "live" reflections of these events in our own lives.  They echo throughout the fabric of personal experience in the lives of the faithful.  Yes, Christ's Passion and Resurrection happened a single time once and for all -- and for all humankind.  Nevertheless it remains true that each of us are called to participate in His life and Kingdom, and that we each may find ourselves in circumstances and experiences that recall to us what He did first and for all of us.  That Satan enters into Judas is another piece of the reality that may also be reflected and echoed in our own lives.  Although the defeat of death (and Satan) is clear through the Cross of  Christ, nevertheless the end times have not yet manifested; we still live in a world in which human beings have somewhere deep inside each one of us a will, a volition, a heart that can consent one way or another to love God or not.  As such, each of us may have experiences of evil in our lives.  Experiences of betrayal can echo the shocking depth of choice -- and personal destruction -- we see in Judas.  Betrayal is a kind of pain that we can understand as the destruction of trust -- and faith is, in fact, trust.  When we are talking about a betrayal of faith in goodness itself -- in God, then betrayal becomes truly evil, destructive, an act against goodness, righteousness, justice, love.  These realities happen in the events of the Passover Week 2,000 years ago, but do so at such levels that they continue to echo and ripple through the experiences of the faithful in practicing their faith.  Such has been the experience of the Church and its saints throughout the centuries, those both known to us and unknown in the struggles for their own faith.  What we can count on is that should we also go through such struggles, we must never lose sight of the fact that this happens for a reason and purpose, and that reason and purpose is salvation for all, and for the life of the world.  When we follow in faith and find our own betrayals and hardships and crosses to bear, we can known and understand that we share and participate in our Lord's Passion as He has gone before.  These reflections in the life of Christ go both forward and backward in history, with His Passion, death, and Resurrection in the center,  even as the story reminds us that His Passion is the fulfillment of Passover.    Christ's Passion is reflected in the Psalms He will pray on the Cross (see Psalms 22 and 31), and through the Old Testament Scriptures the Church has always seen "types" we know fully in Christ.  But we should not forget that we also are called to participate in the fullness of His life, and to take up our own crosses -- and to see our own difficulties in this light of faith.  As the Psalmist reminds us, "Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway" (Psalm 85:13).  If we live to Him, in faith and love, then our own sufferings take on meanings and strengths that run deeper than our experiences of this world.  He goes for us into His Passover, His Passion, so that we may always remain with Him (John 12:32).   "Come to Me," He says, "all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).  We give to Him our burdens -- of betrayal, hardship, injustice, cruelty, abuse, abandonment, loss, death, and suffering -- so that we may be healed even in the depths of our souls to which His salvation can reach.  He doesn't look away from our lives but reaches into them for each of us, even as we may share in His.  Christ does not invite us into a "perfect" worldly life, but rather into a good fight.  He invites us to be truly healed.  As so many have found, it's not the battle scars in the end that matter.  It's not about winning in a conventional sense of that word.  It's not about what everybody else is doing.  It's all about what you decided in your heart to stand up and fight for.

Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve

 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

In recent readings, Jesus has been giving a discourse covering both the future destruction of the temple (and the Siege of Jerusalem) and end times, His Second Coming.  On Tuesday, we read that He gave a parable:  "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees.  When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near.  So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.  Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.  But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.  For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.  Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."  And in the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet.  Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.

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.    The Passover (Hebrew: Pesach; Greek: Pascha), says my study bible, is the celebration of the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt and the deliverance of God's people from bondage (Exodus 12-14).  In remembrance of this, an unblemished lamb was slaughtered and partaken with unleavened bread.  It prefigures the Passion of Christ, in which the only-begotten Son of God is slain in order to deliver His people from bondage to sin and death, and then is raised to lead them into the eternal Kingdom.  For much of the world, Pascha (or a variation of the word) is the primary term by which Christians refer to the death and Resurrection of Christ, known in the West as Easter. 

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 suggests that Satan does not enter a person except by the person's consent.  The reason Judas was chosen and none of the others is that Judas had a place for Satan in his heart, and the others did not.  Judas mentioned as numbered among the twelve is an emphasis on the depth of betrayal here.  It shows that religious position is worthless if not accompanied by both faith and virtue.    We note the fear of the leadership:  they fear the people, who flock to Christ to hear Him preach in the temple.  Judas colludes to find a way to betray Christ in the absence of the multitude.  It is more than a betrayal of Christ; to betray Christ is also to betray the people.

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.  Christ prepares for the Passover, for His Passover, which we know as the Last Supper.  It will be the institution of the Eucharist, by which we know and commemorate His sacrifice as our Passover.

We note above how the leadership fears the crowds.  What they do they must do in secret.  Tuesday's reading (above) told us that early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.   They listen to Jesus challenge the leadership, an open dialogue, even as the leaders plot to rid themselves of Him and kill Him.  What are we to make of all this intrigue swirling around Christ?  There seem to be so many contradictory things happening.  He has been welcomed as Messiah into Jerusalem, in His Triumphal Entry upon a donkey.  He teaches daily in the temple.  He spars with the leadership as they question Him and demand to know by what authority He's done what He's done, including the cleansing of the temple (see this reading).  But the people love to hear Him.  He tells the truth that they can't say out loud.    And so, it's the "leadership" that fears the people.  And then we read that Judas, one of Christ's chosen Twelve, is one whom Satan has entered.  I think we have to try to understand the depth of betrayal this entails.  It isn't just about betraying his Master.  Judas betrays the depths of his own soul; He betrays his Savior, his own salvation.  We can speculate why his heart is open to Satan, to this kind of perverse betrayal.  In John's Gospel, we read that Judas was among those criticizing the woman who used the expensive ointment to anoint Christ, and whom Jesus chastized.  John tells us that Judas was a thief who would steal from the money-box, of which he was in charge (see John 12:1-8).  It's not strange, in human psychology, that one would cover one's own guilt by pointing an accusing finger -- the guilt itself enforcing a need to scapegoat the innocent.   (Perhaps the Gospels can teach us much more about scapegoating and bullying than we understand.)  Christianity places the ultimate importance on awareness of our own imperfections, the humility necessary to come to metanoia (literally "change of mind"), the Greek word for repentance.    Think of it, Christ comes into the world with a mission of love, inseparable from a mission of truth (I am the way, the truth, and the life - John 14:6).  It is the truth He tells to the leadership that they don't want to hear, the truth He tells to Judas, the truth He offers to each of us.   This is a healing truth, a salvific truth, one that is the answer, the solution, to the problems of the world.  But some are invested in the problems - and that's where a heart is open to Satan, to the betrayal of one's own salvation and life.   The early Church would hear of the spirit of the antichrist, that which betrays Christ with false doctrine, lies and half-truths masquerading to appear as truth, like wolves in the guise of sheep.   Let us consider how we're advised to choose in this puzzling circumstance, in our world, where truth is lined up with betrayal, where lies are masked as authority, where we're with the people --  who must filter and sift through all things with the lens of faith and find the way, the truth, and the life.  We're one of them.  Christ shows us our world and exposes its problems for us.   The real struggle for faith is all about what we stake our lives on, where our betrayal means we betray ourselves, and how we can have the humility to serve Him and find who we truly are.

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 the 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

 In our current readings, Jesus is in Jerusalem and it is Holy Week.  He has just been speaking to the disciples about end times, the time of His Second Coming and of Judgment.  He gave the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, and the Parable of the Talents to illustrate the basis for Judgment.  He spoke to the disciples about "the least of these My brethren" and how their treatment determines Judgment.  Yesterday, we read that when Jesus had finished all these sayings, 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 at 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 the 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.   The Passover, as my study bible explains, commemorates God's deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt to the Land of Promise.   It prefigures Jesus' Passion (Pascha in the Greek, from Hebrew Pesach), which is the new Passover,  God's redemption of all humanity from sin and death, giving entrance into the promised Kingdom.  It is debated as to whether the first day of the Feast is Passover or the day before.  But clearly Jesus indicates 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.  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."   Jesus says, "The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him . . . "  That it is written of Him does not cancel Judas' responsibility here, says my study bible.  Prophecy is a revelation of God's foreseeing knowledge of evil, but cannot be the cause of the evil actions of human beings.  We have free will to make such choices, as does Judas.  My study bible says that Jesus lets Judas accuse himself here, but even hearing that Christ knows about his deception, Judas does not repent.

What is repentance?  Once again, Judas seems to show that his failure as a disciple is rooted in a lack of humility.   Although it is clear that Jesus knows what he's thinking of doing, Judas still does not "come clean."  He does not go before Christ openly and repentantly in order to speak of what is in his heart.   Some say that even after the betrayal, Judas' great failure is lack of repentance, his failure to return to the disciples and Christ and ask for forgiveness.  Whatever the answer to that mystery, it is clear that Judas in his betrayal is no longer a disciple, nor longer capable of the necessary humility to put everything before the Teacher and take instruction, including a rebuke.  Trust and faith are absent.  Interestingly, Jesus knows what Judas is up to, but does not rebuke him.  The fear and loathing of the apostles for such an act, one would think, would make it clear enough what betrayal means.  But Judas is determined to do what he would do.  It's very hard to return from the kind of indignation one might perhaps imagine is motivating Judas.  He chastised the woman for "wasting" her bottle of expensive perfume with which she anointed Jesus.  (At Christ's time, this would have been a kind of ointment, as the base for the finest perfume was a very pure olive oil that gave no scent of its own.)  In return Jesus chastised those who criticized the woman.  We're told by John that Judas was greedy, in fact a thief, and that what motivated his criticism of the woman was the fact that Judas would steal from the collection box for the poor, of which he had charge.  But it is Judas' inability to repent here that really betrays the betrayer, so to speak.  It gives us a vivid example of what lack of humility does; he's lost in his anger, and no longer is capable of being a disciple, a "learner," as the word means in Greek.  If we examine what seems to be in Judas' mind, we see an incapacity for changing his mind, rethinking his desire and his decision.  It is a failure to have the ability turn around, to reconsider.  And this is the deepest failing we make, the root of all others, and of great sin.  Our Teacher is One who forgives, and He is always awaiting our return to Him, our capacity to reconsider -- to repent, turn around.  The stumbling block that stands in the way of a return to the Teacher is lack of humility.  Perhaps this is why humility is considered the greatest of all virtues.  It is a sign of faith, love, and trust in God's love.   It keeps us on the straight and narrow, it leads us back to prayer, back again to ask for help and for guidance and instruction.  When we're lost in indignation, when we feel we have been involuntarily humiliated, then we may be in the gravest danger of all, because then is when true humility becomes very hard.  In the false thinking that bad judgment would impose, it would seem that humility is a further injustice, even a punishment.  But it is God's love before which we are humble.  The treasure of grace we receive is made accessible through the kind of humility we are asked to bear.  It is a circle of love and good instruction we would enter through such practice.  We note also that the rebuke of Christ is one that came in front of the other disciples, and in favor of this humble woman.  In this particular consideration, we also have to keep in mind Jesus' warnings about those who would prefer the praise of men to the praise of God.  It's one more instruction in humility, a willingness to appear out of favor, even in misfortune, before the world -- and for the love of God.  Jesus will give us the supreme example of that kind of humility in the Crucifixion.  He will follow the Father's will even to death and the contempt of the leadership and the people.  This serves as the reverse of Judas, the great thing necessary he lacked as disciple, and it will be the first fruit, the inspiration for all who will follow Christ into this true way of doing battle with evil.  We make a discernment between humiliation (what others may do) and humility (our total commitment to discipleship in faith to God).  We may bear the one in truth and dignity, as Jesus will do, only in proportion to our faith in the other.  This is the power of God's justice.  It is the recipe for a truly successful life.  Without humility, we cannot serve and we do not know what "spiritual battle" really means or is.   Let us remember the example of Judas and his failure, his incapacity, for reconsideration and humility before the Teacher -- and what calamitous result it brings.