That on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth

 

 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your father's guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?  Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"

 

- Matthew 23:27-39 

 

In yesterday's reading, Jesus continued His final sermon of His earthly life, preaching in the temple at Jerusalem:   "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.  Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?  And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?  Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.  He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells on it.  And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faith.  These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also." 

 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."  Here Jesus continues the theme we read in yesterday's reading (above), as His sermon focused on the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.  In the beginning of His sermon, as we read on Monday, He said of them that "all their works they do to be seen by men" and so this comment that they appear beautiful outwardly applies in that sense.  They have external signs of holiness (and "cleanliness" in this sense of religious purification) but internally are anything but. 

 

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your father's guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?  Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation."  Here is Jesus' theme elaborated that these religious leaders "are full of dead men's bones and all unrighteousness" -- He says they are the same, the very sons of those who murdered the prophets, for they continue in the same behavior.  Jesus gives His own prophecy here of those whom He will send to them, some of whom they will kill and crucify, scourge in their synagogues, and persecute from city to city.  In Greek, the verb that is translated as "I send" is ἀποστέλλω/apostello, the root from which we derive the word "apostle."  So while even now He sends them out (present tense), He speaks of the future when His apostles (prophets, wise men, and scribes) will be crucified, scourged, and persecuted from city to city.  Jesus speaks of those from the beginning, righteous Abel (who was killed by his brother Cain in Genesis 4:1-15)  to Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  While some patristic commentary indicates this was the prophet at the time of Joash the king (2 Chronicles 24:20-22), others as well as modern scholars say it refers to the father of St. John the Baptist, making the contemporary "whom you murdered" make sense.  According to tradition, Zechariah the father of John the Baptist was also murdered in the temple.  In Luke's Gospel, he is referred to in the Greek version of his name, Zacharias (see Luke 1:5-25, 57-80).

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"  My study Bible comments that God's deepest desire is the reconciliation of God's people, yet most do not want God.  The house which is desolate refers both to the temple in Jerusalem and to the nation itself, for "house" can be used to mean also family or tribe (see Psalms 115:12, 135:19).  Both the temple and the nation will be without God's protective presence once Christ departs.

Of course, Christian tradition understands Christ's prophecy of the destruction of the temple (and of Jerusalem) as fulfilled in AD 70, when the temple was destroyed by the Romans at the Siege of Jerusalem.  The prophecy of Jesus is seen in this light.  So, we might ask ourselves, how is it possible for "all the righteous blood shed on the earth" to come to one generation?  For that, we must ask ourselves about spiritual awareness and knowledge and the weight they carry in human lives.  These men to whom Christ speaks in today's reading are the experts in the Scriptures, the keepers of Jewish spiritual and religious history and tradition.  Moreover, these men are the ones responsible for the instruction of Israel, the carrying forward of the spiritual tradition of Judaism, and they have failed, in Christ's eyes, through their hypocrisy and corruption.  Even so, we might ask, how can the full weight of all the righteous blood shed come upon one generation?  First we must understand the responsibility that spiritual knowledge and experience carries.  When one "knows better" there is far more responsibility involved than something done in ignorance.  Second, Jesus gives us a very close hint when He tells them (in yesterday's reading, above), "For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves."   Bad habits and practices become extended from one person to another, and from one generation to another, when they are successively taught through practices and ways of thinking and being.  Righteousness is a question of how we relate to the world and all beings and things in the world; therefore unrighteousness can be acquired and learned as well through the imitation of those who fail to live righteousness.  Indeed, in the Orthodox tradition, the world is in a "fallen" state primarily due to the fact that we inherit the conditions created and, in a sense, "descended" from the first sin.  We don't inherit guilt, but we do acquire the habits of the world around us, the conditions into which we're born.  So these religious leaders are responsible for their own behavior, as they know the teachings of righteousness and yet simply accept corruption and its practices, even extended to unrighteous bloodshed and violence.  Jesus speaks of their hypocrisy when He tells them that "you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your father's guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?"   And He prophesies what they themselves will do, including His own crucifixion:   "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation."  Christ ties them in to an extended history of what they know to be blameworthy behavior ("you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets'"), and prophesies that they will continue to do the same nonetheless.   Therefore Jesus speaks of the power of spiritual reality at work in our world, which is not only the power of God which sanctifies and brings holiness, enables prophesy and all the varied fruit of the Spirit in our world.  But that same power of sanctification and righteousness is also at work when we fail to uphold what we know to be the good, when we know better, when holiness is standing before us and testifying.  Jesus indicates this when He sends out the apostles and tells them, "And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!" (Matthew 10:14-15).  Note also that what we might call this destructive spiritual power (in response to unrighteous denial or rejection of holiness) comes in time; it will be forty years before the fulfillment of this prophecy.  This is understood as merciful, for there is time for people to repent.  Therefore to those who would be blind to it, cause and effect are not necessarily understood; only those capable of repentance could see or sense the spiritual effects of their actions.  So we today who "know better," who are recipients of the spiritual teachings of Christ and the traditions of holiness that are handed to us, bear responsibility for the spiritual treasures and wisdom we have been given through prophets, wise men, and scribes.  For God's holy power is still at work.  Let us consider when we pray the power of holiness and the reality of Christ's words and teachings.  For righteousness and compassion always remain essential to our understanding of the people He calls us to be.

You are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness

 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?  Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house  is left to you desolate; for  say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"

- Matthew 23:27-39

We are reading Jesus' final sermon, given in the temple in Jerusalem during Holy Week.  The sermon began with Monday's reading (Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted).   Yesterday, we read that Jesus continued:   "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.  Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?  And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?  Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.  He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells on it.  And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.  These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."

  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."   Here we receive the real condemnation of religious practices as mere means of appearance, a method to maintain hypocrisy.  The comparison can't be minimized:  outwardly whitewashed and beautiful, like the bright wedding garments of those who will attend the marriage of the Lamb -- but inwardly full of death, the antithesis of God who is life itself, even Resurrection.  As my study bible pointed out earlier in this sermon, these warnings aren't merely for the scribes and Pharisees, but "every word applies equally to those in the Church who behave in this way."

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?"  Taken one step further, the inner remains of "death" becomes the lineage of guilt of murderers -- those who shed the blood of holy ones, the prophets sent by God.  But their own hypocritical actions continue those of "their fathers."  Jesus calls them a "brood of vipers" -- those who spread what is deadly, poisonous and painful to human beings.  John the Baptist has used the same expression to characterize the leadership earlier in Matthew's Gospel (see Matthew 3:7).

"Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation."   Regarding Zechariah, my study bible says that some Church Fathers teach that this was the prophet at the time of Joash the king (2 Chronicles 24:20-22), while others say it refers to the father of St. John the Baptist, who, according to tradition, was also murdered in the temple.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house  is left to you desolate; for  say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"   My study bible tells us that the deepest desire of God is the reconciliation of His people, yet most do not want Him.  The description of the desolate house refers to both the temple and to the nation itself -- house can be used to mean either "family" or "tribe"  (see Psalm 115:12; 134:19).  It says, "Both the temple and the nation will be without God's presence once Christ departs."

 In future readings, we will get a deeper sense of where Jesus is heading with these last words.  But in the comparison to whitewashed tombs, the declaration of the guilt of sons of murderers (those who practice the practices of their murderous predecessors, but declare they would do differently), and the epithet brood of vipers, we get a sense of a spiritual declaration here.  There is a way of life and a way of death, and the two are enemies of one another.  We know that God is the God of life everlasting and eternal; Christ's Resurrection gives true meaning to just what life is.  It cannot be defeated by death.  In the Easter Resurrection hymn, the Orthodox sing that Christ, through the Crucifixion, "trampled death by death, giving life to those in the tombs."   In one of the earliest teaching documents of the Church, the Didache (dated by most to be written sometime near the end of the first century, and subtitled "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles to the Nations"), the great theme is that there are two ways in life:  the way of life and the way of death.  Jesus' way (as in I am the way and the truth and the life) is the way of life.  This word in Greek for way is οδος, which also can be translated as "road" or "path."  By using the allusion to a death-filled tomb, Jesus is explaining that hypocrisy is the way of death, encased in a false picture of life.  But true life comes through the one who truly loves God, as in the first great commandment, and is therefore extended into the second, to love one's neighbor as oneself.  Apart from this, the suggestion goes, there is no life, no way of life.  The contrast cannot be anymore stark nor clear.  According to my study bible, the condemnation is all the greater for those who would be leaders or teachers of this "way of life" who are, in fact, hypocrites.  For us to really understand what this means, we need to have a sense of what life really means.  Life isn't something that ends with what appears to be death.  Whether or not we are speaking about a venture in life that doesn't work out, a dream one has that must be discarded, or physical suffering and diminishment, even physical death itself, none of these things overcome God's power of life.  The power of life includes Resurrection, and all of its forms:  the capacity to recover from disaster and disappointment, the capacity to continue "the good fight" of life, the capacity to pray, to keep trying, to restore, and to heal -- even the capacity to mourn properly, with love:  all of these things are a part of the way of life which is always at work.  It is truly remarkable how prayer or communion with God in meditation can uplift and energize in defeat, restore one back to the "struggle" of a godly life -- even when faced with the ways of death.  We all can come to recognize those; their basis is selfishness, a kind of self-centeredness that sucks the life, maybe the hope, out of everything around it, that gives nothing to others.  That's a broad description but as Jesus said, "by their fruits you shall know them."  This stark contrast is given to us so that we understand the difference that repentance makes, that with true life there is always recovery, resurrection (even in the act of repentance that restores right relatedness to God and to others).  These are the "weightier matters" (as Jesus said in yesterday's reading) of justice and mercy and faith.  Which road do you choose?

Thirty pieces of silver

When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.

Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." And they said, "What is that to us? You see to it!" Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood." And they consulted together and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced, "and gave them for the potter's field, as the LORD directed me."

- Matthew 27:1-10

In yesterday's reading (see Surely you are also one of them), we read of Peter's denial of Christ three times, and his bitter weeping when he realized that he had failed - just as Jesus had predicted he would. Today, we revisit Judas, in the aftermath of his betrayal.

When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Night trials were not allowed by law, so Jesus has been tried illegally. The leadership meets again in the morning in order to justify what has gone on the night before. My study bible has a note here that reads, "Under Roman law, only the governor had authority to pronounce the death sentence." We must remember that, for the temple leadership, the charge they have decided that Jesus is guilty of is blasphemy - for which the penalty is death. But for the Roman governor, there will have to be a different charge in order to bring about a death sentence.

Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." And they said, "What is that to us? You see to it!" My study bible says, "Judas is remorseful but not repentant -- a sharp contrast to Peter's sorrow after his denials. Two accounts of Judas's death are given, here and in Acts 1:16-19." I think these issues of remorse and repentance are very important. We realize Peter's bitter weeping in yesterday's reading to be that of repentance. He realizes that he has failed; his own strength of character and sworn allegiance have failed him. But Judas has a kind of guilt here that is different from repentance. In some sense, it seems to me that it is a guilt brought about by violation of law. We remember that Jesus had offered several opportunities for Judas to repent, to change his mind (which is what the Greek word metanoia - translated as "repentance" - means). He held out the Eucharist to all the apostles, including Judas, at the Last Supper. Before that, when Jesus predicted his own betrayal, Judas had an opportunity to speak to Jesus and change his mind (see Rabbi, is it I?). And even in the garden at the moment of betrayal with a kiss, Judas had the opportunity to repent, when Jesus greeted him with the words, "Friend, why have you come?" Here, Judas turns to the chief priests and elders, those who wish to put Jesus to death, rather than to Christ or the Father in prayer - or to the apostles. He cannot undo what he has done.

Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. By the law, Judas is condemned. He remains guilty. By returning the silver, he sought to undo what he had done. But this is not possible. The ones who wish to bring about Jesus' death will not help him resolve his guilt. Instead, they claim it has nothing to do with them - it is just Judas' problem. In the note in my study bible on yesterday's reading, regarding Peter's repentance, it remarked on "the process of repentance, confession, forgiveness, reconciliation and renewal." This is the way out of what ails us. But Judas does not begin that process. He does not return to the group or turn to the Father in prayer. To remain in guilt - condemned - is something quite different from repentance. He does not seek reconciliation where he needs to. His faith is in his guilt at this point.

But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood." And they consulted together and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced, "and gave them for the potter's field, as the LORD directed me." The chief priests, on the other hand, know the law and justify themselves in accordance with it. Technically, they reason, it is Judas who has committed the betrayal. Their problem is simply what to do with the blood money. And, as Matthew's gospel notes, this is in fact another fulfillment of the scriptures. For reference see both Jeremiah 32:6-9 and Zechariah 11:12-13.

For me, the significance in this story is what it teaches us about the process of repentance, of change, and of guilt. We get this great contrast between Peter and Judas in this sense. There seem to be differing versions of Judas' death, and scholarly controversy regarding ancient documents and theories. But I think this story teaches us something far more important than debating historical fact. It teaches us about the vast difference between forgiveness of sins and guilt under the law. How are we justified? How are we reconciled? Where does grace come into any of this, and the possibility of change and transformation? Jesus, we are told, will die a death that will be the ransom for sins. How is this possible? Is it a mere technical fact, a kind of prisoner exchange? Or is it, in fact, opening up a spiritual door of liberation - something that gives us hope, a change, a redemption far beyond worldly laws of exchange? Is that "ransom" about creating a relationship with us which we turn to, with which we live? Consider the difference, then, between Judas and Peter. Peter will return to the apostles. His loyalty and relationship is to them and Christ. But Judas does not. He does not take heart in that relationship. He wants the temple leadership to redeem his guilt, to take it away by taking back the price he has been paid. But their interest is neither in justice nor mercy. By this act, Judas betrays the fact that his faith was not in Christ - for Jesus' preaching condemned the manipulation of the law for the purposes of gain and greed, allowing heart to remain far from God. And that, if you ask me, is the crux of this story and why it is here for all of us. Peter will become a leader of the apostles, a great orator, an exemplary servant and martyr. But Judas had taken it upon himself to be justified, upon himself to be condemned, upon himself to return the silver to the temple authorities. He must go to a different authority, which he does not acknowledge - for mercy and not sacrifices. We recall Judas' condemnation of the woman who anointed Jesus with oil, and the lack of understanding of mercy there (see Why do you trouble the woman?). It is a betrayal of a harsh character, penurious, that follows the law and "the rules" but does not understand mercy. Let us understand, then, that a morbid or malignant guilt is not what our Lord asks of us - and that it can be as problematic and self-centered as any form of arrogance. "The process of repentance, confession, forgiveness, reconciliation and renewal" is what our Lord asks of us, a relationship of the heart, wherein we are loved. We must accept his mercy, and receive the understanding of mercy. Let this be our example and our understanding, and not the way of perdition, guilt, and death.