Today is April 16, Wednesday of Holy Week.
In today’s Gospel, we hear, “Jesus said in reply, ‘He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.’ Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, ‘Surely it is not I, Rabbi?’ He answered, ‘You have said so'” (Mt 26:23-25).
The old name for today was Spy Wednesday, which speaks to where we are at as we watch the preliminary drama of Jesus’s passion unfold. Judas already has the 30 pieces of silver in his pocket. He has sold Jesus. All Judas needs is the right moment to hand Jesus over to his buyers. Judas is at the Last Supper a spy with evil intentions in his heart.
Approaching Easter with love
It is better to not have life at all than to give your life to such evil. To have Jesus, to be numbered among his disciples, and then to betray him for a measly price — we should rather die than allow this to happen in our own lives.
As we approach the paschal festivities, we do not want to approach with treacherous hearts. Many of us have a silver prize tempting us to give up on Jesus. Maybe it is fame and recognition, money and power or simply just wanting to be seen in a certain way or live a different kind of life apart from Jesus. We ask in these final days of Lent for God to purge all of this from our hearts so that we can approach the Easter feast with minds and spirits purified by grace and in love with Jesus Christ, our risen savior.
Let us pray,
O God, who willed your Son to submit for our sake to the yoke of the Cross, so that you might drive from us the power of the enemy, grant us, your servants, to attain the grace of the resurrection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
