Betrayal and Judas ...
One of the
Twelve, who
was called Judas
Iscariot, went
to the chief
priests and
said, 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 ...
(St. Mat. 26.14-25)
Paradigm and Inflection
We
betray others and sell
ourselves so often for such
a paltry return, for some trifling
personal gain or some fleeting
temporal recompense.
More often than not we betray
others for profoundly selfish
reasons, as a means of extricating
ourselves from blame, as an
act of subtle or less than subtle
revenge, for emolument ... in
one way or another we are all
guilty of betraying the love
and confidence of others, of
something which has been entrusted
to us.
The very word itself is fraught
with withering darkness. Betrayal
means calculated disloyalty
to another, the breaking of
innocence in the breaking of
trust; it is to lead, with purpose,
another astray or into error.
It has a rich and varied parlance:
to sell down the river, to mislead,
to stab in the back, to misguide,
and all of us have known of
its bitter, bitter fruit.
Until we ourselves are the victims,
we do not fully comprehend the
compromising of trust as a tremendously
and intrinsically destructive
breach between individuals,
the effects of which can be
far reaching beyond our anticipation,
and long lasting, perhaps even
irreparable.
Judas betrayed Christ. His name
has become synonymous with betrayal,
infamy. Bt none of us
may stand in judgment of
Judas. His weakness is within
us all. However reluctant
we are to concede the weakness,
it intrinsic to our fallen human
nature from which none of us
can prescind. It is just one
deleterious aspect of a deep
moral fissure resulting from
the Original Sin we inherited
from Adam and Eve.
The heart of Christ was one
of perfect love and forgiveness.
Judas knew this. He saw it day
in and day out as he walked
beside Jesus. He saw it in everything
Christ did. Judas' betrayal
is, in the face of this, a great
mystery, something the Father
allowed for His purpose but
Judas's greatest sin was not
his betrayal of Christ, but
his despairing of God's forgiveness.
Both Peter and Judas betrayed
Christ. The paramount difference,
as most know, is that Judas
despaired ... while
Peter repented.
We have all betrayed
Christ ...
What is very important to understand
is that while Judas is the paradigm
of betrayal, each of us has
been, at one time or another,
an inflection of it. Yes, Judas
betrayed Christ. But so did
I. So did you. Our betrayal
has simply been less publicized,
but so often no less notorious.
For this reason, the consequences
of betrayal and the endemic
nature of betrayal through sin,
should be kept in our minds
and hearts. It is a necessary
remembrance, for it will assist
us in resisting sin which
is always a betrayal. resist
the terrible sin of breaking
the trust of another human being,
and at the same time, what one
is really doing is breaking
a child's trust, for we are
all, each of us, despite the
masks and pretences that we
wear, we are each children,
vulnerable and fragile.
Trust, to be trusted, to be
found trustworthy, is not simply
conducive to love, but enhances
love, enabling it to grow beyond
all the uncertainties that would
would otherwise impede it, constrain
it ... it is the nurturing of
a beautiful bond between persons.
This point is well illustrated
in the story of the father who
placed his young son on a table
and urged him to jump into his
arms. While apprehensive of
the height, the trusting child
nevertheless flung himself toward
his father who let the
child fall painfully to the
floor. Let that be a lesson,
son. Trust no one. It is very
likely that the child never
did. We must never be that parent,
that spouse, that friend. For
everyone who leaps in trust
to our arms ... is a child.
Broken trust can be
healed through the renewal of
trust. It is possible. All things
are possible with God. But if
the breach has been deep, the
journey to renewal may be long
and arduous and that is all
the more reason why we should
reflect well upon our words
before we speak and give thought
to any act in anyway that may
damage that innocence implicit
in trust.
If truly you can find no occasion
within yourself in your dealing
with men, know that you
do with God. How often we betray
God. All of us. Every time we
sin. How often! ... and how
are we requited? We encounter
His great love and mercy ...
His forgiveness.
Having been dealt with mercifully,
can we do less to those who
have betrayed us? Whatever
their purpose,
our purpose is Christ
in Whose love, by Whose love,
we are bound to requite them
as Christ requited Peter ...
and you ... and me ...
A Poor Clare Colettine Nun
Printable PDF Version
Comments? Write us:
editor@boston-catholic-journal.com
Totally
Faithful to the Sacred
Deposit of Faith entrusted
to the Holy See in Rome
Scio
opera tua ... quia modicum habes
virtutem, et servasti verbum
Meum, nec non negasti Nomen
Meum
I
know your works ... that you
have but little power, and yet
you have kept My word, and have
not denied My Name.
(Apocalypse 3.8)
Copyright ©
2004 - 2024 Boston Catholic
Journal. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise stated, permission
is granted by the Boston Catholic
Journal for the copying and
distribution of the articles
and audio files under the following
conditions: No additions,
deletions, or changes are to
be made to the text or audio
files in any way, and the copies
may not be sold for a profit.
In the reproduction, in any
format of any image, graphic,
text, or audio file, attribution
must be given to the Boston
Catholic Journal.