Holy Wednesday
The Lord Jesus really fights for Judas to the end. Yesterday we read about two of His attempts to save Judas. During the Last Supper, the Lord Jesus gives him a piece of bread. In this culture, it was a sign of distinction, a message: "I especially care about friendship with you." However, Judas is a weak man, and even such a situation will not bring him to consciousness. He takes the sign of friendship, but still thinks of betrayal without hesitating.
Then the Lord Jesus tries to shock him, making him understand that he knows his intentions. " What you are about to do, do quickly" he tells him. Judas, however, is so hardened in his decision that even such words do not impress him. Today's Gospel shows that Judas had so much audacity that in the face of the words of the Lord Jesus: "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me," he dared to ask him, " Surely it is not I, Rabbi?" The Lord Jesus then replied to him: " You have said so". However, even these words did not cause him to convert.
The last time the Savior tries to save His lost disciple in the Garden of Olives, when Judas has already come to hand Him over to those who were about to kill Him. "My friend," Jesus tells him, "you betray the Son of man with a kiss." Yet the measure of human iniquity is incomprehensible, and even these words did not move the unfortunate disciple.
Some people are concerned about the following question: would Judas have to betray, since the Passion of the Lord Jesus, and even the fact that a friend would betray him, was foretold in prophecy? Well, let us throw away the idea that God could program anyone into sin. God's prophecies come true for only two reasons: first, because God scrupulously keeps his good promises; secondly, because they reveal some dark determinisms hidden in our sinfulness.
Judas not only could not have betrayed the Lord Jesus but should not have betrayed Him. He freely surrendered himself to those dark determinisms that are moved by our social sinfulness. For where people have distanced themselves from God, some people must fall apart, and there must be thefts and other injustices, there must be discord, even murder, there must be betrayal, including betrayal of friends. At the same time, none of these sins had to happen. Moreover, none of these sins should have happened.
In short, the mystery of human iniquity is unfathomable.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george