Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 30th March

Message from Fr Paul for Tuesday, 30th March 2021

           The Gospel passage for Holy Tuesday comes from Chapter 13 of John, (Jn 13: 21-33, 36-38), and finds Jesus at supper with his disciples. “While at supper with his disciples, Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared, ‘I tell you most solemnly, one of you will betray me.’ The disciples looked at one another, wondering which he meant.“ These few words are laden with meaning. The thought of Jesus “troubled in spirit” touches us deeply and the fact that the disciples look at one another, when Jesus declares that one of them will betray him, reveals that anyone of them could have been guilty. The beloved disciple, believed to be John himself, is reclining, as was the custom, next to Simon Peter, who “signed to him and said, ‘Ask who it is he means’, so leaning back on Jesus’ breast he said, ‘Who is it, Lord?’” Strange how the disciples have not worked out that it’s Judas. “‘It is the one’ replied Jesus ‘to whom I give the piece of bread that I shall dip in the dish.’ He dipped the piece of bread and gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. At that instant, after Judas had taken the bread, Satan entered him. Jesus then said, ‘What you are going to do, do quickly.’” Although the high priests used Judas, they did not in fact need one of the Twelve to betray him. It appears he was tempted by the offer of thirty pieces of silver. Betrayal is the worst of sins, the betrayal of trust, the very antithesis of faith and obedience. Once it’s obvious that Jesus knows who the betrayer is and shares that knowledge with the others, Satan has his man and there’s no turning back. The other disciples still don’t understand what’s going on. “None of the others at table understood the reason he said this. Since Judas had charge of the common fund, some of them thought Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the festival’, or telling him to give something to the poor.” Are they so naïve? In John, whenever the power of darkness takes over and seems to have the upper hand, we’re told that it is night. “As soon as Judas had taken the piece of bread, he went out. Night had fallen.” Judas runs off to confirm his plans with the enemies of Jesus and the Eleven remain with Jesus in the upper room. He now begins to explain what is about to happen.       

       He says: “When he had gone Jesus said:

Now has the Son of Man been glorified,

and in him God has been glorified.

If God has been glorified in him,

God will in turn glorify him in himself,

and will glorify him very soon.

My little children,

I shall not be with you much longer.

You will look for me,

And, as I told the Jews,

where I am going, you cannot come.”

With the departure of Judas, the Passion narrative proper begins and God glorifies the Son, who in his turn glorifies the Father by his passion, death and resurrection. The disciples can’t follow what he’s saying, but Simon Peter asks, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replies, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now; you will follow me later.” Peter, rash to speak as ever, says to him, “Why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Poor Peter, can he never get anything right? Jesus predicts his denial: he is not much better than Judas, only in Peter the cause will be fear and confusion, with Judas it was avarice and the betrayal of trust. ”Lay down your life for me? I tell you most solemnly, before the cock crows you will have disowned me three times.” And so it is that Peter the Rock, on whose faith the Church would stand and withstand the gates of hell, when put to the test, will deny that he knows Jesus.

           Lord, you know us through and through, you know that we, too, can betray and deny you, as much as we follow you as disciples. Have mercy on us and forgive us. Peter repented and was forgiven: he did not lose your love. Judas did not seek forgiveness, but despaired and took his own life. Lord, we pray for his forgiveness, for he loved you too, before he was led astray. We remember the words of St Paul, ”Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.” Lord, through your Cross and Resurrection, may your grace abound all the more in the lives of all people. Amen.