Wednesday, 1 April 2015

20150401 FORGIVING OUR BETRAYERS

20150401 FORGIVING OUR BETRAYERS                   
                                               
4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him that is weary. Morning by morning he wakens, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. 5 The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward. 6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting. 7 For the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been confounded; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; 8 he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. 9 Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.
14 Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.
17 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the passover?” 18 He said, “Go into the city to a certain one, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at your house with my disciples.’” 19 And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the passover.
20 When it was evening, he sat at table with the twelve disciples; 21 and as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 And they were very sorrowful, and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” 23 He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me, will betray me. 24 The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” 25 Judas, who betrayed him, said, “Is it I, Master?” He said to him, “You have said so.”
FORGIVING OUR BETRAYERS
01 April 2015, Wednesday of Holy Week

SCRIPTURE READINGS:   ISAIAH 50:4-9; MATTHEW 26:14 – 25

When Jesus prophesied that “The Son of Man is going to his fate, as the scriptures say he will, but alas for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! Better for that man if he had never been born!” was He also saying that Judas would go to hell, as some have suggested?  Well, one thing is certain, and that is that although the Church has canonized many saints, she has never declared that anyone is in hell, even though the doctrine of hell is an article of faith.  This is because we never know the depth of God’s mercy and forgiveness.  The final judgment is left to God alone.  So we must not pass sentence on Judas as if we know the mind of God.  That would be too presumptuous of us!

The remark of Jesus that it would better for Judas not to have been born must be seen in perspective.  Jesus said it because of the consequences that Judas’ pride, impatience and perhaps greed would lead him to.  We are not certain why Judas betrayed Jesus.  Greed, perhaps, could have been a motive, since he was paid for the information he gave to the Jewish religious leaders. The evangelists all recorded in different ways that Judas did ask for a price of thirty silver pieces to betray his master.  But some theologians also hypothesized that it could be because of Judas’ ambition for a political revolution against the Roman conquerors and his impatience with Jesus for not taking more radical steps to overthrow the Romans.
But I think the biggest cause of Judas’ downfall was his pride.  He wanted to have things done his way.  He could not wait for Jesus to establish the kingdom of God but wanted to agitate Him to take action.   He was too proud even to acknowledge his evil intention when confronted with Jesus’ last appeal to repent of his evil plan.  Instead, without batting an eyelid, he joined the rest in responding to Jesus’ statement that “one of you is about to betray me” with “Not I, Rabbi, surely?”  The counter-response of Jesus “They are your own words” was not one of judgment but a call to sincere examination of his words.  So proud was Judas that even after betraying Jesus and stricken by his conscience for what he did, he was not humble enough to even ask for forgiveness.  Instead, so ashamed was he that he sold out his master that he took his own life.  Judas indeed died a tragic death, not just physically but most of all in his soul.  Jesus’ remark that it would be better that Judas not be born was thus perhaps uttered in realization of the tragedy that would eventually befall the latter.
What about us, how do we react to those who betray us?  Of course we cannot but feel hurt, especially when those who betrayed us are closest to us, such as our spouse, family members, friends and associates in the workplace or partners in business. The thought of the pain and suffering they caused us make it so difficult to forgive them and to forget.  Such betrayals are many.  Most of the time traitors are tempted by influence, power and money.  Instead of reacting with anger, vindictiveness or curses, we should come to realize that the betrayers who cheat us will, in the final analysis, cheat themselves most.  Those who do evil will eventually be like Judas, destroyed by their treachery.  So they are more to be pitied than to be condemned.  By sinning against us, they will only cause greater harm to themselves, especially when we have loved them and sacrificed so much for them.  Their greed and pride will overwhelm them and their conscience will condemn them for their deceitful ways.  They will have no peace, joy or true freedom of heart.  This is true for all those who betray their spouse or their friends.  Truer still for those who do not live a life of integrity because their conscience is being hurt and it will take its revenge subtly by manifesting itself in anger, agitation, restlessness, fear and anxiety.  Their conscience will condemn them and the consequences of their guilt will bear themselves out in daily life events and a repetition of history.
Indeed, because their sins will punish them already, we are called to show compassion as Jesus did to Judas and His enemies.  Rather than taking things into our own hands, we are invited to be like the Suffering Servant in the first reading.  We read how the Suffering Servant dealt with his adversaries.  He said, “For my part, I made no resistance, neither did I turn away. I offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who tore at my beard; I did not cover my face against insult and spittle.”  By not retaliating, he showed himself to be stronger than his opponents.  But how can anyone of us take injustices done to us lying down?
Well, in the first place, we must recognize that we too have, many times in our lives, betrayed the people we love, our friends, colleagues and our superiors and most of all, God Himself.   How many times have we cheated on our friends?  How many times have we broken our promises?  How many times have we betrayed the trust given to us, whether it is with regard to confidential matters or responsibilities? Even if one thinks that he or she has been faithful, surely, we cannot say that it is true when it comes to fidelity to Christ and to our faith!  By the evil and sinful actions and words in our lives, we have betrayed Jesus again and again, more than what Peter and Judas did.  By failing to live up to the faith we profess, we are counter witnesses to Christ and therefore in a real sense, we too have betrayed the Lord, for because of us, He is not believed and loved less.  So let us not pretend to be innocent of betrayal!  In fact, we have hurt Jesus so deeply a thousand times more than anyone else who has betrayed us.  We deserve a more severe punishment than anyone else, but the Lord did not retaliate.  Instead, He accepts our “insult and spittle.”
Secondly, if people have betrayed us, let us commend them and our sufferings to the Lord, as the Suffering Servant did and as Jesus did on the cross.  The former said, “The Lord comes to my help, so that I am untouched by the insults.  So, too, I set my face like flint; I know I shall not be shamed. My vindicator is here at hand. Does anyone start proceedings against me? Then let us go to court together.  Who thinks he has a case against me? Let him approach me.  The Lord is coming to my help, who will dare to condemn me? They shall all go to pieces like a garment devoured by moths.” So long as we are faithful to God and to our conscience, the Lord will avenge us.  We need not take such matters into our own hands.  Let the Lord vindicate us and He will do so in His own time. Our enemies, detractors and traitors will have to answer for their sins.  So there is no need to take revenge.  At any rate, the punishments that come from their sins are already too heavy for them.
Thirdly, when we suffer, let us remember that we do not suffer for ourselves alone.  That would be self-defeating.  If the sufferings can purify us, make us stronger and more compassionate, then that suffering is not carried in vain.  But beyond suffering for our own sanctification, let us suffer for the sinners and those who hurt us, so that through our redemptive suffering they might be converted.  For this reason, we are called to suffer for Jesus and with Jesus for the salvation of the world.  Like the psalmist, we share in His spirit saying, “It is for you that I suffer taunts, that shame covers my face, that I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother’s sons.  I burn with zeal for your house and taunts against you fall on me.” (Ps 69: 7-9)
Yes, those who trust in the Lord more than themselves will always find help and strength from the Lord.  Like the psalmist, we can then pray, 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.”  God will be on our side.  The death and resurrection of Christ shows us that truth and justice have the last word, not falsehood and evil.  In the final analysis, good will triumph over evil, life over death.  Prayer and faith in God is the way to transcend those who hurt us.
Finally, let us also pray that in such difficult and painful moments in our lives, we will respond correctly and not cause the situation to become worse, especially by falling prey to their traps.  When we are angry, resentful and revengeful, we are simply perpetuating, or rather, accentuating, the wrongs others have already done to us.  Let the past be past.  Instead, let us live in the present and make the most of the situation as a learning curve and means for our purification in life. For that to happen, we must always bring our problems to the Lord like the way the Suffering Servant did.  “The Lord has given me a disciple’s tongue, so that I may know how to reply to the wearied.  He provides me with speech.  Each morning he wakes me to hear, to listen like a disciple. The Lord has opened my ear.”  Truly, listen to the voice of the Lord and obey Him and we will find peace in our soul.


Written by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore

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