they began to say to him one after another,
“Surely it is not I, Lord?”
Jesus, we see this same weakness in ourselves. We are all to capable of betraying you. In fact, we do it all the time, although not to the degree that Judas does. All of the little opportunities you give us to witness to you when we instead choose to say the thing that is less awkward are just some examples. Someone asks us why we were busy. We were spending time in prayer with you but we don't tell them that. All we say is that we were taking care of some obligations or something like that. We betray you every time we let lust, greed, anger, jealously, envy, gluttony, and wrath get the better of us, even if the sins themselves are venial.
This distresses us because we begin to realize that we follow you with the same sort of calculated and mercenary approach with which Judas Iscariot himself follows you. We stick with you because of the benefits to ourselves. We follow you from a motivation that is still largely selfish. But when the enemy can make a better offer we are all to ready to take it.
“What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?”
They paid him thirty pieces of silver,
and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.
Of course the offer is not actually better. But our math is bad. We prefer the short term gains. Even though, in all likelihood, we won't even enjoy them briefly when they are ill gotten in this way. Judas does not find joy in spending his silver pieces. Neither do we find joy in using our freedom illicitly.
The good news is that you endure these betrayals and never cease to offer us mercy.
Morning after morning
he opens my ear that I may hear;
And I have not rebelled,
have not turned back.
I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
My face I did not shield
from buffets and spitting.
By your example you show us how to walk in love and not in selfishness. You teach us to serve and not be served and to lay down our lives for others.
The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
We trust in you not because of what we can get for ourselves in isolation. We trust in you knowing that your love never fails. We trust that you never abandon or forsake us. The temptation of the thirty pieces of silver loses its appeal when we see the greater promise of your love and fidelity. Now when people treat us in the same way, partially loving us, partially using us for their own ends, we become patient and generous. We treat them with love and mercy.
You remind us that we do betray you. And it is good that we are distressed. Yet you only reveal this because you want to give us things than those for which we betray. You want to teach us to be consumed with zeal for the father's house and bear the insults of those who blaspheme you. You teach us not to be afraid to talk about you and to live for you. It may be hard in the short term, but the promise of your love more than makes up for it.
I will praise the name of God in song,
and I will glorify him with thanksgiving:
“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.”
No comments:
Post a Comment