At last, we reach the climax of our Lenten journey, the last days before we begin the Triduum. They have a special quality, days full of anticipation as we await the unfolding of the Paschal Mystery.
It is well worth spending time with the Mass readings, especially the Gospels for these days as they each highlight something of the Lord’s saving action. They speak of the incredible love that he has for us, the only motivation for his Passion.
On Holy Monday we see in the Gospel of John12:1-11, the extravagance of Mary compared with the cold and spiteful scheming of Judas.
Mary loves while Judas calculates. Mary the epitome of extravagant, wasteful, unreasonable love, she surely foreshadows Jesus’ greatest act of love. She anoints the feet of the one who will wash the feet of his disciples. She pours herself out on the one who will offer himself for the entire world. Jesus’ love will cost everything he has. He holds nothing in reserve.
“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”
It is hard to accept that Judas asks a reasonable question, because we know his motives are not pure. A pound of perfume worth three hundred denarii, that is a year’s worth of work and wages. How many people could that money have helped? The hungry, the sick, the homeless. To pour it all out at one time on one person does not make sense. It is neither reasonable not prudent. Love never is.
Perhaps take time over these days to reflect on how and why we can hold back from loving in this way. Past hurts can make us cautious, afraid even, as love comes with its own risks. The temptation is to keep ‘safe’ and never fully give ourselves or genuinely love at all.
This priceless love makes us vulnerable and we see Jesus demonstrate this in the Gospels of Holy Tuesday and Wednesday, (Jn 13:21-33, 36-38, Matt. 26:14-25) different versions of the Passover.
His faithful love remains constant in the face of a double betrayal. He simply cannot withhold his love and the gift of himself even in the face of being betrayed by those closest to him.
By the time of the Passover, Judas has already decided he will betray Jesus, and the fact that Jesus makes it known that this will be the case does not bring about a change of heart.
‘So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.’
The darkness that pervades the heart of Judas sets in motion the actions that lead to the Lord’s Passion and therefore his Resurrection. So, in the face of betrayal Jesus can say,
‘Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.’
Sin and death will not triumph. The treachery of Judas, stepping out into the night to betray the Lord, will provide the opportunity for love to conquer, though not before the horrors that await on Calvary.
We may have never ‘sold our friends’ but I imagine each one of us has had the experience of making a promise we have not kept, of betraying a trust.
Peter, well-meaning but weak, swears that he will go all the way with Jesus, even to death. His is the second betrayal, not an act of treachery and not an absence of love, but one of weakness and fear. This is perhaps the most painful and disappointing as the presence of love makes us more likely to trust and therefore perhaps be willing to be vulnerable, more easily hurt. At least Judas made no wild promises.
We too have betrayed Jesus and let down those around us so many times. We have broken bread with Jesus in the Eucharist and then turned our back on him by the way we treat those around us.
Let us pray that we, like Peter, may weep and repent for all the wrongs we have done and all the good we have left undone and ask the Lord to fill us with courage teaching us to love as he loves. Surely the same love St Benedict describes at the end the Prologue to his Rule.
‘…hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love…we shall through patience share in the sufferings of Christ that we may deserve also to share in his kingdom.’
(RB Prologue vv.49,50)