Thinking of the recent Passion Week I was imagining how the disciples would
have felt when Jesus identified the traitor on that last supper together. The
Scriptures says: Being deeply grieved, they each one began to say to him,
“Surely not I, Lord?”(Matthew 26.22)
Evidently, nobody, in a close group as theirs where they experienced
many things together and shared a conviction which surpasses all understanding;
and learned much wisdom straight from Jesus’ lips; would want to be a
traitor. They were a family, and the
family should not be betrayed unless you are being assaulted by a foreign power
which could be a bad influence, but it could also be a good one to be blessed.
In the case of Judas Iscariot the influence came from his sick love of
money and we can see it when he bargained with the opposition: “What
are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” (Matthew 26.14) So his love of money was more
powerful than the “love” he meant to show being part of that group.
Others in the group probably had shown signs of weakness which some have
translated as treason for its
negative tendency, like for instance, the denial of Peter predicted by Jesus: “Truly
I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny me
three times.” (Mathew 26.34) Later on, he cried for his error and paid
for it, but most all of the disciples faltered too. Actually, all of them
abandoned Him in His time of trouble and fled as it says on verse 56.
Sometimes it takes a “weak” moment in which we can hesitate before
something that does not seem proper, or right, according to what we have
learned from experiences of other people’s or our own in order to realize we
could make a mistake doing something or not. [like it happened to someone
who was hesitating in front of the
bridge that fell in Miami when a desperate one in the back managed to pass to
never be seen again] If we do not think it over, we are all traitors. We are traitors
of goodness, when we proceed incited by the wrong feeling evoked by a wrong
situation. For instance, Love is a
great feeling, but loving “money” like in the case of Judas is wrong and it
could take anyone to the point of “no return” like it happened to him who felt
so bad that could not take it and hung himself.
Could the grace of God be so great as to have forgiven him? I think so,
if he wouldn’t have rushed into sinning again by taking his own life and
humbled himself to ask for forgiveness and truly lived to show it. The GRACE of GOD is given free to change our
sinful ways, not to justify them. When Jesus forgave the prostitute, He said
“Go, and sin no more” He did not say keep on sinning and don’t worry ‘cause the
grace will save you anyway.
Let us not betray ourselves into living a Godless eternity. Let us think
if we are wrong, ask for forgiveness, and live a wise life, loving and helping
everyone, but respecting the will of God:
For
the Grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men, INSTRUCTING US to
deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and
godly in the present age. (Titus 2.11,12)
