Matthew 26:14-25
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.
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, "Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?" He said, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The teacher says, My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.'" The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered, and prepared the Passover.
When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, "Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me." Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, "Surely it is not I, Lord?" He said in reply, "He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born." Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, "Surely it is not I, Rabbi?" He answered, "You have said so."
Dawg's thought:
Today's prayer intention - for Richard Fettis: had complications from a surgery. He was placed in ICU on life support. He will not survive. He was taken off, he is breathing and his heart is still going, buy he will go soon. His wife and children and grand children need prayers.
Today's reflection come from http://livingscripture.wordpress.com
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Matthew records this detail so evocative of other biblical passages, thus leading us into a deeper reading of this sad episode. Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers for twenty pieces of silver. The merchandise is an intimate friend, the One who wanted to abolish every distance in order to make Himself our brother. The Psalm well expresses all the bitterness of this action, 'Even the friend in whom I trusted, with whom I shared bread, has raised his foot against me' (Psalm 41, 10). The prophet Zachariah notes that thirty pieces of silver are weighed as payment for the Good Shepherd, an image of Yahweh who takes care of His people. A bitterly ironic note emphasizes this gesture, 'Bring this grandiose sum to the foundry, the value of my person!'(11, 13). It is the price of a slave. This is how human beings sell their God!
We are not referring only to Judas but to every person of yesterday and today, including me and you. It is repugnant to admit it and maybe we rebel. And yet, every time we give room to our comforts, to what is convenient for us, to our disordered tendencies; every time we place the mammon of money, of success, of pleasure, of our ego first as our idol, we 'sell God'. We place the value of a slave on Him.
The Gospel of the Passion cannot be read in a tearful attitude in regard to Jesus and one of indignation in regard to Judas. It is I who am accused. I must question myself on what value I place on the Lord. I must convert my heart so that it may resonate with the word 'Friend!' as Jesus reaches me in the hour of Gethsemane. It is the obligatory way to trod so that the Resurrection may have meaning for me, so that I too may rise as a new creature marked by the triumph of love.
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Take care and God Bless.
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