Judas

Giotto, Kiss of Judas

Palm Sunday
Today’s Readings: Mk. 11:1-10; Isa. 50:4-7; Ps. 22; Phil. 2:6-11; Mk. 14:1 – 15:47

Today we celebrate Palm Sunday. This is the day of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. People are lined up on both sides of the road, waving palm branches, cheering and shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

It doesn’t take long for Our Lord’s triumph to take a 180° turn. Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week that takes us through the anguish and depths of Christ’s passion, crucifixion and death… and ultimately to the blessing of the holiest day of the year—Easter—which we’ll celebrate one week from today.

As we do every year, we just listened to the Passion. It’s funny. As I get to the point in the story where Judas comes into the garden, I keep wishing that it could have been different—although, of course, I know that without the horror of Good Friday we could never have experienced the turning point of Easter.

Yet still, I wonder: how could Judas have done such a despicable deed?

Maybe Judas was a jealous man. We’ve all met jealous people who do cruel things to try to get even. Maybe Judas was jealous because Jesus favored John, “the beloved disciple,” over him. About ten years ago, there was an extremely popular and beautiful singer in Mexico named Selena. Another woman, Yolanda Saldivar, was her personal assistant and the president of Selena’s fan club. But Selena decided to hire someone else. Yolanda was so hurt and angered and jealous, that she shot and killed Selena.

Maybe Jesus was going to ask John to handle the money, and that set off a storm of rage and fury within Judas. You probably remember the story when Jesus was having lunch with Mary and Martha, and Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with ointment. The scripture says that the ointment was very costly and the house was filled with its fragrance. Then Mary dried Jesus’ feet with her hair. Judas complained: “Why wasn’t this ointment sold and the money given to the poor?” Right there you see the sign of a troubled man. Why did he resent such a generous and loving gesture on Mary’s part? Maybe he was in love with Mary and was jealous. Maybe he was in love with Jesus and was jealous. Who knows? But Mary’s show of affection to Jesus upset him.

Perhaps Judas didn’t love anybody and was just following Jesus to boost his own ego or to try to hitch his wagon to a rising star. Then when the authorities turned against Jesus with such determination, he panicked, thinking he was on the wrong side and he might get arrested too.

Or just maybe Judas was a good and decent person and something—we know not what—was driving him crazy and pushed him over the edge. He saw that Jesus was doing dangerous things like throwing over the tables of the money-changers in the temple. Maybe to his warped way of thinking he thought that getting Jesus thrown in jail might prevent him from doing something worse and getting the whole lot of them executed as revolutionaries.

Whatever the real reason, Jesus Christ—true man but also true God—knew what it was. Jesus didn’t stop Judas from exercising his absolute human freedom, but he gave him every chance to repent of his choice. In fact, one of the most bitter ironies of the whole passion is that even after his betrayal, Judas could have been forgiven—just like Peter was. We could be celebrating a St. Judas day in the Church…

The story of the passion and “what could have been” offers us one of the most powerful lessons of Christianity and God’s unwavering love: no matter how bleak life may seem, Christ always offers hope—and not just a glimmer of hope, but a guaranteed way out. The saints knew this, and that’s why they happily could become “fools for Christ” and throw their lot in with him even in life’s darkest moments.

If we could take the same lesson to heart, then truly, the power of Christ’s love within us would be unstoppable—and this could be the start of a Holy Week without equal.