Preparing for Holy Week Part 2

 

Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver.  And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.  Matthew 26:14-16

 

Then one of the 12, one who had traveled with Jesus, wept with Jesus, laughed with, learned from, and loved Jesus betrayed him.

 

This is so painful because it didn’t just happen, it is happening.  It happens to you.  You had that moment when you confided in a friend who turned around and gossiped to another.  You had that boss who took credit for all your long hours.  You have that family member who blocked you on social and never sends you a card.  You have that person right now who pushes all your buttons and sets the tiny vein in your neck pulsating with loathing.  To be sure, rarely does someone betray us to death, but these betrayals can feel like a thousand paper cuts to our souls – causing a different kind of death.  There is an ache that can turn to an anger that we feed and fuel each day by reminding ourselves of how that person wronged us.  We can continually wish that person ill will.  As the saying goes, such a way of life is the same as you drinking rat poison and expecting the rat to die.  While anger is an emotion ~ an energy that stirs within us ~ often this arises because a value has been violented.  I know I am angry that beloved children of God are being discriminated against because of who God created each to be.  I believe God loves diversity and longs for equity no matter the color of their skin, who they love, or how they decide to present to the world.  I know I am angry that food rots in garbage cans or warehouses or fields while children starve.  I know I am angry that every day I get another email in BOLD letters telling me “they” are the problem.  Fear is a narrative we seem to never tire of, even though it is not the gospel medicine of a gracious God (see meditations from March 17).  1 John 4:18 says, “there is no fear in love, but perfect (whole) love drives out fear”.  To be sure, I am human size loved by God with all my boneheaded, broken, betrayed/betraying and beautiful self (see Buechner quote from yesterday).  Where is there a Judas size ache in your life that needs the balm of a “Hosanna”?  Where have you worn Judas’ sandals and betrayed another, even though you clung to the thought that you were doing the right thing?  Continue to pray “Hosanna” as we move deeper into the holiest story of our faith.  Amen.