On Wednesday of this most holy week, I was asked to give the homily for an evening prayer service. It was my first time in the role. Here is what I offered, complete with opening and closing prayers.
O
Lord, open our eyes
To
behold your presence.
Open
our ears
To
hear your voice.
Open
our hearts
To
receive your love.
That our mouths may proclaim
your praise. Amen.
I’m going to focus on the gospel passage (John 13:21-32),
and so we’re going to talk a little bit about who Judas was and how Jesus
related to him, and then we’ll dive into the drama that unfolds in the reading.
It is a dark story, in a dark week, which finally erupts into
a great light.
So what do we know about Judas?
He was chosen as one of the original 12 apostles, and keeper
of the purse. He did at least some
good works, like feeding the poor. He was given the authority to cast out
demons and heal the sick. He went out to proclaim the good news.
In other words, he was an apostle like all the others. But, he was a thief.
And what do we know about Jesus’ relationship with Judas?
First, that Jesus wanted him from the beginning.
He
went up the mountain and called to him
those whom he wanted, and they came to him. (Mark 3:13)
Jesus knew the reality of who Judas was; he wasn’t
hoodwinked.
For
Jesus knew from the first … the one that would betray him. (John 6:64)
But Jesus sorrows over this knowledge. John tells us that Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared,
“Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” He uses the same
phrasing when talking about the death of his good friend Lazarus, so he must
have been troubled indeed.
Matthew tells us that Jesus calls Judas friend at the very
moment of his final betrayal, standing in the garden of Gethsemane, saying:
“Friend,
do what you are here to do.” (Matt 26:50)
But Jesus never stopped loving Judas.
Having
loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (John 13:1)
The betrayal begins to unfold during the last supper.
Maundy Thursday is one of the highest holy days in the
church calendar because out of it came the institution of both the priesthood
and the Eucharist. Jesus orchestrated the celebration, and
acted as the Passover feast’s host. In the tradition of the time, the host had
certain duties and privileges. On that Thursday, Jesus stripped down and washed
the apostles’ feet, which was the action of a servant, not of a host.
He then offers up the first Eucharist, presenting his own flesh
and blood for the first time in the form of bread and wine.
He’d positioned Judas close by, in a place of honor, where
they might eat together from the same bowl. In our gospel passage Jesus says:
“It is
the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.”
So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon
Iscariot. (John 13: 26)
In an Eastern custom that is still in practice, a “sop” is
offered to the most honored guest. The sop is the tastiest morsel of food
tucked into a bit of bread, or a piece of bread dipped in the most delicious
pool of lamb juices in the communal bowl.
I imagine him
dipping the bread into the cup of his blood, the wine.
Jesus followed this tradition, and offered the “sop” to Judas.
Singling HIM out as the most honored
guest.
Isn’t that amazing, knowing what he did?
In this same tradition, the sop is offered before anyone
else begins to eat. It is sometimes delivered directly to the guest’s mouth.
And so if we put together all the various gospel accounts
along with an understanding of this practice, we discover that Jesus offered up
his body and blood, for the first time ever, to Judas.
Judas, who he chose and who he loves and for whom he
willingly suffers all that is to come.
Judas: the first recipient of the first Eucharist.
Jesus then tells him to go quickly, and do what he has to
do. So Judas immediately gets up from Jesus’ side, and leaves.
The story ends with the phrase:
And
it was night.
A dark night indeed.
Matthew tells us when Judas hears that Jesus was condemned,
he repents. He returns the 30 pieces of silver and is overcome with guilt and
remorse.
Mark tells us that Jesus had tried to warn him, saying
“… woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!” (Mark 14:21)
And what is “woe”?
Great heartache. Sorrow. Despair.
Judas surely did receive the full force of that woe. He
experienced it so completely that he committed suicide.
It is said that Jesus is the bearer of all our sins. The
last thing I want to be is heretical, but in a way, isn’t that really what Judas did? He took all our sinful tendencies
into his own hands and brought about the worst imaginable sin; the killing of
God?
Poor Judas bore the weight of all the betrayals that have
taken place since Adam's, and all those we'll continue to inflict until the end
of time. And aren’t we really both of these scapegoat characters?
Admit it; we would bite that irresistible apple if a snake
told us to, just like Adam did. And like Judas we turn our backs on Jesus in
our own lives. Perhaps not as spectacularly, but possibly more frequently.
At least, I think I
do.
We deny him as Peter did, and leave him alone as the rest of
the disciples did, and we take the bread that Jesus dips and kiss him while
offering him up to our own selfishness.
Haven’t we all been betrayers? Jesus tells us that what we
do to the least of his children, we do to him. Haven’t we all done things to
his children for which we feel remorse and sorrow? Sometimes even to the point
of wishing we were dead?
I know I have. I pray that I never will again, but it’s possible that
smaller betrayals are part of my future.
The story of Judas is difficult. But thankfully the news,
though sad, is good. Because in describing his relationship with Judas, Jesus
tells us he knew US from the
beginning. He knows all the evil we’ve done in the past, and all our
temptations in the future.
And yet he washes our feet.
And he feeds us spiritual food, lifting his own hand to our
mouths.
And he calls us friend at the very moment we disown him.
And he waits for us to repent, and then pulls us into the
circle of the heavenly kingdom where we will join the twelve in the perpetual
wedding feast of the lamb.
Let’s Pray.
Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for the fathomless depths of
your love. Have mercy on the soul of the one who betrayed you then, and on those
of us who continue to betray you now.
In your name we pray. Amen.
