Wednesday of Holy Week

Today's Gospel reading opens with Judas planning his act of betrayal, seeking his payment from the chief priests; and it ends with a head-on confrontation between Jesus and his betrayer.

Thus the passage is a kind of antecedent to the drama which is about to be played out, in which Judas does the betraying and the events which unfold reach their culmination in a direct confrontation between good and evil.  Jesus, the Son of God, and the embodiment of the goodness of God, is judged, flogged, and crucified at the hands of the wicked.

The betrayal of Judas itself is an antecedent to the betrayal of all the other members of the band of Jesus' disciples.  Yes, they had travelled around with him, listened to his teaching and witnessed his healing encounters with all sorts of people.  They had wondered who he was, and grown in their apprehension of his true identity.  Peter, indeed, had answered Jesus' question, 'Who do you say I am?' by saying: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God'; and Jesus had attributed this insight to a revelation from God.  And yet, following Jesus' arrest, Peter - as Jesus had predicted - denied him three times.  The rest fared no better.  After following Peter in their protestations of loyalty, St Matthew tells us that, before Peter's denials, that 'all the disciples ran away'.

During Holy Week, Catholic Christians re-enact, in a sacramental way, the events of our Redemption.  We read the passages which lead up to the Passion and Death and then, on Holy Thursday, we celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper, followed as it is by the Transfer of the Holy Eucharist to the Altar of Repose and the keeping of a watch of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.  On Good Friday, we celebrate the ancient liturgy of the Lord's Passion and Death, before waiting at the tomb and preparing for the Easter Vigil.  And we re-enact these events, not purely as a dramatic re-presentation, but so that we might actually participate in them. Through this participation, we find ourselves challenged: how would we have coped as one of the Twelve?  Might we even be Judas?  Can we enter into the heart of Mary as her Son suffered and died?  Might we have joined in with the mocking of the crucified Jesus, just going with the flow?

Human nature is basically good, but flawed and easily deceived.  It has always been so.  A faithful participation in the events of Holy Week teaches us profound truths about the human condition and the nature we all share, and even more profound truths about the grace of God which, as St Thomas Aquinas famously stated, 'perfects' nature.  Whenever we turn to God, seeking his grace, he will always infuse us afresh so that we can begin again to be the disciples of the Lord Jesus.