Wednesday of Holy Week – Gospel
14Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15and said, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.
17On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?” 18He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’ ” 19So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal.
20When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve disciples, 21and while they were eating he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” 22And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, “Surely not I, Lord?” 23He answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.” 25Judas, who betrayed him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” He replied, “You have said so.”
Commentary on Matthew 26:14-25
The stage is being set for the final drama of Jesus’ mission. Judas has gone to the chief priests to make a deal for handing Jesus over to them—to betray him. The term, ‘betray’ (or in the Greek, ‘hand over’), is like a refrain all through the Gospels and reaches a climax here. John the Baptist was handed over. Now, we see Jesus being handed over—the term ‘betray’ occurs six times in today’s passage alone. Later, the followers of Jesus will also be handed over, betrayed into the hands of those who want to put an end to their mission.
Judas sells his master, betrays him, for 30 pieces of silver. Only Matthew mentions the actual sum given to Judas. The sum derives from a passage in Zechariah (11:11-13), where it is the wages paid to the shepherd (Zechariah himself) rejected by the people. He is then told by God to throw the money into the Temple treasury as a sign of God’s rejecting those who reject him. Judas, too, will throw back the money to the priests after realising what he has done.
What people will do for money! Judas is not alone. What he did is happening every day. Perhaps I, too, have betrayed and handed over Jesus more than once.
On the first day of the Feasts of Unleavened Bread, Jesus’ disciples ask him where he wants to celebrate the Passover. Little do they know the significance of this Passover for Jesus—and for them.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover are closely linked, but there is a distinction between them. The Passover was the commemoration of the Israelites being liberated from slavery in Egypt, their escape through the Red Sea (perhaps the Sea of Reeds?), and the beginning of their long trek to the Promised Land. The feast began at sunset after the Passover lamb had been sacrificed in the Temple, on the afternoon of the 14th day of the month Nisan.
Associated with this, on the same evening, was the eating of unleavened bread—the bread that Jesus would use when he said over it: “This is my Body”. The eating of this bread continued for a whole week (to Nisan 21) as a reminder of the sufferings the Israelites underwent, and the hastiness of their departure. It was a celebration of thanks to God for the past, and of hope for the future.
Jesus tells the disciples they are to contact a man who will provide all that they need for a Passover meal.
During the meal Jesus drops the bombshell:
One of you is about to betray me [Greek, ‘hand me over’].
It is revealing that none of them points a finger at someone else. They ask, “Is it I, Lord?” Each one realises that he is a potential betrayer of Jesus. And, in fact, in the midst of the crisis, they will all abandon him.
Nor is it one of his many enemies who will betray Jesus. No, it is one of the Twelve; it is someone who has dipped his hand into the same dish with Jesus, a sign of friendship and solidarity.
All of this has been foretold in the Scriptures, but how sad it is for the person who has to take this role, even though it is a role he has deliberately chosen. There is a certain cynicism when Judas asks with an air of injured innocence:
Surely not I, Rabbi?
Jesus’ brief reply to him is:
You have said so.
The whole approaching drama is now set in motion.
Let us watch it carefully during the coming three days, not just as spectators, but as participants. We too have so often betrayed Jesus, we too have so often broken bread with Jesus and perhaps have sold him for money, out of ambition, out of greed, out of anger, hatred, revenge or even violence for our own personal gain. We can, like Judas, either abandon him in despair or, like Peter, come back to him with tears of repentance.
