04/12/2017
Spy Wednesday is one of my favourite Holy days. Judas and the 30 pieces of silver is a complicated story. Is Judas truly wicked? Is he a devil's hand tool? Is he just human like you and me?
I think Judas makes most sense as that last one. He wants what he understands God's desire for the world to happen, and he wants it right now. So he makes a choice that he thinks will move that process forward. We all do this from time to time, we make choices that we think are the best/correct ones in the moment in hopes that we are doing God's will and that we are playing our part correctly.
The thing is that for Judas, as for us from time to time, when it becomes clear that the choice made was not correct, we face consequences, guilt, pain, and possible hummiliation, and that does not include the actual effect our choice has on others. This is where I see the picture attached coming into play. Judas has to realize not only did he send the man who he thought was going to lead him physically to freedom (or whatever he thought exactly) to death, but he has also betrayed a community that had accepted him as he was and placed all of them in danger. His choice was never about what he got out of it, but in this moment those 30 pieces of silver represent the faces and names of those who he knows he has harmed.
But at this moment in Matthew's version of the story there is an important phrase: "Judas Repented..." Judas saw the error of his ways, and turns from them. He tries to turn back the clock with the religious leaders, but failing that, he again has to make a choice. We can debate if his choice is logical or reasonable, but as one who has repented, we must believe that once again he is trying to make the best choice, now with the community (at least partially) in mind.
So much of the art of Judas shows him manipulative, angry, jealous, guilt ridden, or even as something less than human. Yet in reality he is each and every one of us, not at our worst, but as we are, and occasionally even at our best. He tries to do what is right, and instead finds himself far from the God he was following. In the world today where claims to God come from polar extremes, where we often claim to act WITH God, while claiming others are manipulating God's message, it is important to learn from the story of Spy Wednesday. It is important to remember isolating those who see betraying God's message, making them Judas, means that they still have no where to go when they see the error of their ways. It is important to remember that even the Judas, who sent God to die, is allowed to repent.
As we travel this path to the conquering of death, to resurrection life, it is important to realize this is not some fantasy tale full of larger than life creatures. No, it is a human tale, full of those made in God's image, fully able to create and choose. Martin Luther reminds us of what it means to be human and have to choose when he said "Sin Boldly" but I prefer Steven Sondheim's take: "The choice may have been mistaken, but the choosing was not." We have to choose and create in the world, and sometimes those choices will not be the best ones, sometimes they will hurt others, but that's where the end of Luther's quote comes in: "rejoice in Christ even more boldly." The God of Grace and Mercy reminds us we are forgiven, and we are to forgive ourselves and each other. This is not easy, sadly the story of Judas shows us that much too clearly, but we can learn from this story and make new choices today. For as David LaMotte likes to remind us: "You are changing the world whether you like it or not . . . so what change will you make today?" Amen.
