20160322 THE BETRAYAL THAT CANNOT BE FORGIVEN
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Isaiah 49:1-6 ©
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Islands, listen to
me,
pay attention,
remotest peoples.
The Lord called me
before I was born,
from my mother’s womb
he pronounced my name.
He made my mouth a
sharp sword,
and hid me in the
shadow of his hand.
He made me into a
sharpened arrow,
and concealed me in
his quiver.
He said to me, ‘You
are my servant (Israel)
in whom I shall be
glorified’;
while I was thinking,
‘I have toiled in vain,
I have exhausted
myself for nothing’;
and all the while my
cause was with the Lord,
my reward with my
God.
I was honoured in the
eyes of the Lord,
my God was my
strength.
And now the Lord has
spoken,
he who formed me in
the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back
to him,
to gather Israel to
him:
‘It is not enough for
you to be my servant,
to restore the tribes
of Jacob and bring back the survivors of Israel;
I will make you the
light of the nations
so that my salvation
may reach to the ends of the earth.’
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm
70:1-6,15,17 ©
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My lips will tell
of your help.
In you, O Lord, I
take refuge;
let me
never be put to shame.
In your justice rescue
me, free me:
pay heed
to me and save me.
My lips will tell
of your help.
Be a rock where I can
take refuge,
a mighty
stronghold to save me;
for you
are my rock, my stronghold.
Free me from the hand
of the wicked.
My lips will tell
of your help.
It is you, O Lord,
who are my hope,
my trust,
O Lord, since my youth.
On you I have leaned
from my birth,
from my
mother’s womb you have been my help.
My lips will tell
of your help.
My lips will tell of
your justice
and day
by day of your help.
O God, you have
taught me from my youth
and I
proclaim your wonders still.
My lips will tell
of your help.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Glory and praise to
you, O Christ!
Hail to you, our
King!
Obedient to the
Father, you were led to your crucifixion
as a meek lamb is led
to the slaughter.
Glory and praise to
you, O Christ!
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Gospel
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John
13:21-33,36-38 ©
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While at supper with
his disciples, Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared, ‘I tell you most
solemnly, one of you will betray me.’ The disciples looked at one another,
wondering which he meant. The disciple Jesus loved was reclining next to Jesus;
Simon Peter signed to him and said, ‘Ask who it is he means’, so leaning back
on Jesus’ breast he said, ‘Who is it, Lord?’ ‘It is the one’ replied Jesus ‘to
whom I give the piece of bread that I shall dip in the dish.’ He dipped the
piece of bread and gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. At that instant,
after Judas had taken the bread, Satan entered him. Jesus then said, ‘What you
are going to do, do quickly.’ None of the others at table understood the reason
he said this. Since Judas had charge of the common fund, some of them thought
Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the festival’, or telling him to
give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the piece of bread he
went out. Night had fallen.
When he
had gone Jesus said:
‘Now has the Son of
Man been glorified,
and in him God has
been glorified.
If God has been
glorified in him,
God will in turn
glorify him in himself,
and will glorify him
very soon.
‘My little children,
I shall not be with
you much longer.
You will look for me,
And, as I told the
Jews,
where I am going, you
cannot come.’
Simon
Peter said, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus replied, ‘Where I am going you
cannot follow me now; you will follow me later.’ Peter said to him, ‘Why can’t
I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ ‘Lay down your life for
me?’ answered Jesus. ‘I tell you most solemnly, before the cock crows you will
have disowned me three times.’
THE
BETRAYAL THAT CANNOT BE FORGIVEN
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ ISA 49:1-6; PS
71: 1-6, 15 & 17; JN 13:21-33. 36-38 ]
Were
you troubled when you read the opening words of today’s gospel when St John
wrote, “Jesus was troubled in spirit”? For the evangelist to
describe Jesus in those words, he must have seen the normally calm Jesus
emotionally affected by the attitude of Judas and His disciples. He must
have been so deeply troubled that He needed to ventilate His frustrations and
fears to His apostles saying, “I tell you most solemnly, one of you will betray
me.”
But why
was Jesus so distressed? Of course we should be able to empathize and
sympathize with Jesus who saw through how His closest friends and disciples
would eventually betray Him, especially Judas. To suffer the betrayal of
our loved ones is the most difficult thing to accept, especially when that
person is your spouse, your best friend or someone whom you love and have
helped a lot. This explains why adultery wrecks not just a marriage but
triggers deep emotional upheaval and even depression in the one betrayed,
sometimes causing the person a total loss of confidence in love, friendship and
marriage.
As a
human, Jesus would have suffered what we go through in any betrayal. Still,
what was the real cause of the distress of Jesus as a consequence of the
betrayal? Was it the fear of a cruel death ahead of Him? Or was it
more the fear for Judas and the Eleven, that their betrayal of Him is more a
betrayal of themselves?
In the
final analysis, when we betray someone, we betray ourselves, our
values, our dignity and our integrity. This was what happened to
Judas and Peter. Judas ended up committing suicide as he could not
forgive himself for being so foolish as to hand over his master to his
enemies. He lost confidence in himself and despised not just his
action but his very being. Peter too, in some ways was also
representative of the other apostles when he denied his association with
Jesus. Peter out-rightly denied he knew Jesus whilst the others fled and
abandoned Jesus at the hour when He most needed them. Peter was so
remorseful for what he did that the moment he became conscious of his act, he
wept. But thanks to the grace of God, he was humble enough to repent and
he received forgiveness and healing from the Lord.
There
is a fundamental difference between the two betrayals. The first betrayal was grounded in
pride, ambition and greed. Judas betrayed Jesus with malice and full
consent. His act was cold and calculated. It was premeditated,
for Jesus told Judas, “What you are going to do, do quickly”. Where Judas
deliberately betrayed his Master, Peter however, in a moment of weakness,
denied him with an oath. He was ruled by cowardice and weakness.
Peter, like the rest of the apostles, was sincere in loving and defending Jesus
but was too timid in the face of threats against his own life. He
hoped that he would never be the one who would betray Jesus and hence he nudged
John to ask Jesus who would be the one. A further indication that there
was no intention whatsoever of Peter abandoning Jesus was his self-assured
confidence when he said, “Why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life
for you.” But Jesus who knew Peter so well, cautioned him, “I tell you
most solemnly, before the cock crows you will have disowned me three times.” So
it was out of cowardice and weakness that he denied Jesus, to his great
disappointment. That was how the others, other than Judas, also felt as
they in bewilderment “looked at one another, wondering which he meant.”
In their hearts, none of them ever thought that they would also betray their
master.
Even the
effects of the betrayal were different. Judas, a man so proud and
insistent on his will, could not accept Jesus’ unconditional forgiveness.
He fell into the snare of the devil, which made him believe that his sinful
action could never be forgiven by Jesus and definitely not by his fellow
apostles. So he never asked for forgiveness. Instead, so disgusted was he
with himself that in despair he was led into believing that by taking his own
life, he would win Jesus’ forgiveness. He could not appreciate that Jesus
loved him unconditionally. The cure for his self-rejection was not
suicide but repentance.
Peter,
on the other hand, was taken over by love, for when he saw Jesus who looked at him, he went out and
wept bitterly. He was truly contrite and remorseful for his
weakness. His tears were tears of sorrow and contrition, unlike
that of Judas’, which were tears of despair. In Peter’s deep regret
for what he did, he must have remembered Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness and so
he found the courage to meet Jesus again when He rose from the
dead. And the tears washed away his guilt and sin.
By
resolving to turn to the Lord, he eventually became an apostle of love to
the world, fulfilling the vocation that was given to the suffering servant.
We too are called to be that apostle of the Good News of God’s love and mercy.
Like Peter and the apostles, we are weak and unworthy to proclaim Jesus to the
world. But what is to be underscored is that God is our strength.
But
will we betray him?
The answer is “yes” because of our human weakness. But we have the
sacrament of reconciliation and the assurance of God’s forgiveness given to us
through the one eternal sacrifice of Christ, which means that He always
forgives us. We are all sinners and will always remain so. At
some time or another, we will fail the Lord and betray Him by our words and
actions. What is asked of us is our sincerity and humility to turn to
Jesus for forgiveness and for healing. God knows us better than we know
ourselves; that we will fail, notwithstanding our good intentions. We will
falter but we will not be crushed by our sins and failures. God will
continue to supply us the grace we need. All we need to do is to return
to the Lord. We must imitate Peter in repentance. We must weep
tears of sorrow. He knew that the Lord would never reject him.
This is
what the Psalmist wants to remind us, that salvation is the work of God in
us, not our strength. Together with the psalmist we must pray, “In
you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. In your justice
rescue me, and deliver me; incline your ear to me, and save me. Be my rock of
refuge, a stronghold to give me safety, for you are my rock and my fortress. O
my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked. For you are my hope, O Lord; my
trust, O God, from my youth. On you I depend from birth; from my mother’s womb
you are my strength.”
Of
course we must also be on guard against the subtle temptations of the Evil
One. Just as he managed to disarm Judas, so too, we must be on the
alert! We must turn to the Lord and beg for His grace and mercy to walk
in the path He has shown to us. We must ask for the grace to feel horror
for our sins and the tears to wipe out our guilt.
And
having been forgiven ourselves, we must also celebrate this forgiveness we
have received by forgiving those who have betrayed us as well. Like
Peter, those who betrayed us also did it mostly out of cowardice, ignorance and
fear. Just as Jesus loves us and chooses to heal us of our lack of
integrity and self-respect through forgiveness, we too must release those who have
hurt us by forgiving them so that they can forgive themselves as well. In
so doing we identify ourselves with Jesus and become the channels of God’s
healing grace through our innocent suffering. Yes, let us pray for
healing and reconciliation in our estranged relationships so that when Easter
comes, we will all be made a new creation and become participants of the new
life of freedom and joy in the Risen Lord.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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