4-13-22 - Wednesday in Holy Week: Judas

Each day this week we will use the gospel appointed for the day, and hear from one of the main characters in the story, as I imagine they might speak. I hope this will help engage your own imagination as you walk this story with Jesus. You can listen to this reflection here.

Judas Iscariot: I know, I’m the bad guy in all this. “How could you?” they all ask. And he asked, “With a kiss? Did you have to betray me with a symbol of love and friendship?”

But what did he want? He as good as made me do it. He said, at dinner, “What you have to do, do it quickly.” He knew. I’m just a pawn in all this. But no one’s going to understand that, are they? I’m the bad guy. The one.

You’re wondering how I could betray him, why I would betray someone who showed me so much love and acceptance. What you have to understand is, it wasn’t about him. It couldn’t be about him in the end – it had to be about the work, right? The revolution. Feeding the poor, empowering the weak, kicking out the Romans. Justice. Freedom.

“The Kingdom of God is coming,” he said. Bring it on! We had that parade into Jerusalem and the crowd was all worked up, shouting hosanna. That must have given the Romans something to think about. And then he kicked butt up at the temple, giving it to those accomodationist Jewish leaders, collaborators … it was great.

But then he slowed down again – he’d tell these weird stories that hardly made sense. We were wasting so much time. And there was the thing at that dinner in Bethany, where Lazarus' sister Mary emptied like a whole bottle of really expensive perfumed oil on his feet. We could have fed a whole village for a month with what that cost! But he defended her. “She’s preparing me for death,” he said, like that was supposed to make sense. All this death stuff all the time, and he wasn’t even fighting it.

All of a sudden he thought he was more important than the poor? He was completely out of touch. What was I supposed to do, sit back and watch the whole thing unravel? We need a revolution. We need justice. I couldn’t just turn my back on…

But I don’t expect you to understand. And you should know – I gave the money back!

So, who is Judas? Traitor? Zeolot? Freedom fighter? God’s patsy? Can you relate to him on any level?

Today, let’s pray for the Judases in our lives, and in ourselves. If we have free will, so do they… and wholeness must be possible for them too.

For a beautiful take on Judas that emphasizes the enormity of God’s grace, listen to U2’s “Until the End of the World,” which imagines a conversation between Jesus and Judas. Concert version; Official video (clearer lyrics, dumber visuals…)

You are welcome to join me tonight at 7 pm EDT for an online service for Wednesday in Holy Week - link is here. Our Holy Week schedule of services, most of which can be accessed online, is here.

Our schedule of Holy Week services, most of which can be accessed online, is here.

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