betrayal with a smile

Holy Wednesday thoughts,

Photo taken at a church somewhere in S. Texas in 2009.

Jesus entered the great city on a Sunday with palms laid in his honor before him and by Wednesday his friend plots against him with his political enemies.

As Jesus was sharing and teaching a huge crowd on the Mount of Olives one of The Apostles was plotting against him. Was it greed, ambition, jealousy?  how could a trusted apostle turn on his own Rabbi. The world never found out because his final act of selfishness ended in suicide.

Picture in your mind the boasting name-droppers of our day, the hangers-on, the stupid ones blinded by ego. Here we find our Judas. Betrayal with a smile.  We should look to ourselves, when have we betrayed a friend in small ways? shared in gossip just to fit in or worse, just to boost our own human ego. True this example pales in comparison to taking part in murder of an innocent friend, but these small cuts cry out to the universe just the same. Death by 1,000 cuts is still a death.

Matthew 26:14-16 (New International Version, ©2011)

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

 ¹⁴ Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests ¹⁵ and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶ From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.