Judas and Me

Once upon a time on a retreat many years ago, I was meditating on the passion and the Holy Spirit moved me to take the part of Judas Iscariot. Since that time Judas and I have often been Lenten partners. Of course Judas had some serious character flaws that led him to treason and despair, the Gospels seriously argue greed but I think that greed was based on something with which we can all identify. Judas wanted to retire.

It wasn’t that Judas didn’t love Jesus. He just didn’t love Him enough. That’s why he is an important Lenten companion. Most of us love Jesus. We have seen Him heal the sick, restore the sinner, raise the dead, feed the hungry, calm the storm in our own lives and others. We just don’t have Jesus’ moral energy! We just don’t have His spiritual drive.

When Mary wastes all that nard on anointing… a what? A king? He runs away from being king, and we are no less close to the kingdom of God than we were three years ago. A priest? He has contempt for the priests and what they have turned the temple into. A prophet? Yes and a great one. But prophets die and what happens to their followers. Am I just to go from one fanatic to the next? It won’t be long before they catch up to him. They would arrest him, but he is surrounded by followers by day and at night he goes to the Mount of Olives to pray or is it to hide out?

Think what we could have spent that money for? Think how many poor we could have fed!

Why, I could buy a nice plot of land for that. That would be a fresh start – a bit of land with a small house. No more travelling. No more arguments about who is the greatest. No more wrong answers. No more struggling to see the big picture. No more putting the other guy first. No more lepers or sick people or uppity women. No more sea sickness! It is high time I think about me first.

Oh well, no use crying over spilt nard. The chance for that much money won’t come again in a long time. That is the problem with taking care of the poor all the time. The occasional centurion or synagogue official, I can only skim so much without the others getting suspicious. If only I could get him to charge a small sum per healing? He never listens to me. He takes us for granted. Someday He will realize have valuable we are to Him. He needs disciples. The rest come and go but we stick with Him through the thick and the thin of it. We know Him, his teachings, His favorite foods, His favorite people, His favorite places, His movements….There is an idea.

Since last Easter, what part of following Christ have we grown tired or sick of?