Judas

Today's Gospel (John 12:1-11) mentions the figure of Judas, a name bandied about gleefully in these days by the mainstream media and agenda-driven cultural elites who trumpet a so-called "Gospel of Judas." This gnostic "gospel" was written decades (if not centuries) after the canonical Gospels, provides virtually no solid historical information about the real Judas Iscariot, and represents views of Christ, humanity and the universe that are truly bizarre.

Our focus, of course, should not be Judas, but our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Moreover, by focusing too much on what Judas did, we forget our own role in the betrayal and death of Christ, for he died to take away our sins.

Yes, Judas betrayed him, but Christ ultimately died because of us and because of our sins.

By our sin, we hand over Christ to be crucified – often for much less than the value of thirty pieces of silver.

By our sin, we betray Christ. Some of us even try to “kiss up” to Christ by putting great efforts into the exercise of prayer, public worship, and even social justice, while leaving our personal moral failures and lack of true penitence unchecked.

In a real sense, we are Judas.

But we do not have to be.

Christ calls us to repentance – no matter what we have done – and he extends to us his infinite love and mercy.

We do not have to be like Judas: by the grace of Christ we can turn away from sin and find forgiveness.

As we celebrate again the events of this Holy Week, in which Christ suffered betrayal, pain, and death for our sin – your sin and my sin – we have a great opportunity to experience in a deeper way the grace of repentance and forgiveness won for us by the loving suffering of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.