I was recently told that it was pointless to struggle for justice and righteousness, since for the most part, our destinies are cast in stone and sealed. "Take poor Judas for instance"...said my friend, "the man was the ultimate fallguy if ever there was one. What choice did he have in the designs of providence?"
At first glance, Judas' predicament does seem to be somewhat unfair. But if it is true that each man accepts his own fate with no more choice in the matter than a plunging apple following the dictates of gravity, then what reasons do we have as Christians for aspiring to Godliness and salvation? Why run the race or fight the good fight if the outcome is already pre-ordained?
If such is the reality, faith and righteousness are no more acts of free will than John Calvin’s doctrine of predestination, where only the elect are chosen by God to be sealed with his mark of redemption while the rest of mankind spirals into oblivion regardless of their virtues and goodwill.
But since we know God to be Just, there must be a deeper and more authentic answer to the question of Judas, which in many ways is relevant to every human person since all of us at some point in our lives have wondered about this - whether we are just poor hostages bound by an unfeeling web of fate or do we indeed have any say in how our days unfold.
There is such an imposing amount of material existing on this subject that we get as many varied answers as we do more questions. Nevertheless in my own journey, I have found that the tragedy of Judas can surprisingly lend some very consoling insights into our personal struggles.
And as there is no better place to investigate a scriptural character than in the Bible, we look to the Gospels where it is written that Jesus would be betrayed by one of His own. In fact, Our Lord Himself had this to say about His infamous disciple, " Have not I chosen you twelve; and one of you is a devil? Now he meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray him whereas he was one of the twelve" (John 6:71-2).
The Synoptic Gospels when naming the Apostles had no qualms in calling Judas a traitor or betrayer either.(Matthew 10:4. Cf. Mark 3:19; Luke 6:16). Obviously this was not the most pleasant way to remember one of your own. But in this unflattering description, the Gospel writers were not trying to be malicious or unkind, they were merely appealing to a well-known and widely accepted notion of Judas' role in the early Church.
Peter himself in Acts I, 16-20, referred to the prophecy of David concerning Judas and the horrific end that awaited him. Indeed the Old Testament foretold a betrayal, without revealing who it would be. It was Jesus who revealed it. And the early Church under the leadership of the apostles recalled and confirmed it.
Even so, did not the eternal wisdom of God the Son handpick this man only after spending a whole night in prayer before God the Father? So what went wrong? Was there a miscommunication between The Trinity?
Of course, we don’t really know what transpired between Father, Son and Holy Spirit on that quiet night in the hills, but we do know that Jesus made a decision that evolved from much intense prayer and consideration. And yes, Judas was part of that conscious decision. All was foreseen by Divine Wisdom and all went according to Divine Providence.
In truth, nothing went wrong. There are those who say that Our Lord specifically chose Judas despite his weaknesses, to remind the Church that she will always have to bear with similar Judases throughout the ages. Others suggest that Judas was a counterpoint to Peter, that in allowing Judas to march within the ranks of His lieutenants, Jesus was also pointing to Peter and affirming his appointment as the Rock foundation of the Church. In other words, the Church will never be conquered by darkness because Peter is the key that holds us together in spite of the failures and betrayal of some of our leaders.
But Judas’ role was more than just playing black sheep to Peter’s shining knight. If a person's attitude and affections can be observed from the way they treat one another, then this is clearly evident from the way Our Lord treated His Apostle in the three years of His sacred ministry. No degree of love and affection was withheld from Judas at any time.
Even though John was known in scripture as the “beloved disciple”, there is no doubt that Jesus loved all of them dearly, including Judas.
Time and again, Our Lord reached out to Judas in a special outpouring of love and attention that you seldom find mentioned for the rest of the apostles, except maybe apart from Peter himself. It was almost like the increased devotion given to a sick and difficult child by a mother dying to restore his health. The experience can be exasperating and exhausting at times, but never a temptation to lessen her unconditional love.
As an Apostle commissioned by Jesus Christ Himself, Judas shared in all the priestly powers and prerogatives of the other eleven. Like the rest, he was called from among the multitudes to embrace a new life of grace, he was witness to the countless miracles of healing and deliverance performed by his master, he received from Christ an indomitable authority over evil spirits and different illnesses and as a prominent member in the intimate circle of Our Lord, he ate with Him, listened to Him, saw His compassion, watched Him walk on water, raise the dead, perform fantastic miracles and above all, he had every opportunity to drink endlessly from the grace and wisdom of the eternal teacher, who explained so many divine secrets to His beloved apostles that were often hidden from the crowds.
Whatever Jesus gave to His other Apostles, He gave gloriously to Judas as well. And perhaps even more! After all in John 13: 29, we hear that Judas was given charge of the money necessary for Jesus’ apostolic journeys, even though the Gospel of John was very blunt in describing his penchant for wealth: “This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it.” John 12: 6
Why this immense gesture of trust and confidence for a man who apparently had a notoriety for treachery? This is all the more striking since the Master deliberately went out of His way to show confidence in His disciple in the very thing that hangs over the poor man like a cloud of mistrust.
With a reputation like that, it’s not hard to be the most unpopular guy on the ship. And whether justified or not, the Apostles were still humans with prejudices and personal judgements. If they did not question the wisdom of Jesus in choosing this man openly, they surely pondered it in their hearts. And anyone who has ever been made to feel unaccepted will tell you that it’s traumatic to be kept at bay and ostracized, even if that discrimination should be restricted to wary looks and whispered mumblings.
Our Lord who could read the hearts of men probably sympathized with Judas more than His troubled disciple ever knew. Indeed, Jesus loved and surrounded him with every encouragement and sign of His friendship than would have been necessary for anyone else in the group. Not only did the Divine Master entrust Him with the apostolic funds as an act of faith and confidence, He also washed the feet of Judas and bestowed the lifeblood of His divine love upon him at the Last Supper, when the Son of God offered His Body and Blood to be broken and shed for the salvation of the world.
Did Jesus not know that Judas would spurn His love and sacrifice for him? Of course He did. Right after His discourse on the Eucharist which offended and scandalized so many of His disciples in John 6, Jesus said in Vs 64: “'But there are some of you that do not believe.' For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him.”
Still our Lord so persevered in hope and charity that at the Last Supper, He once again offered His own sacrifice for the salvation of His wayward Apostle, whom He loved and treasured as the Good Shepherd would the lost sheep.
The Eucharist is the ultimate sign of communion for the entire Church, and in not denying Judas this privilege and invitation to belong as one, even at this late point of his deterioration, was truly an enormous act of Godly mercy and love for the prodigal son. Towards the very end, Jesus would not give up on the wretched man even though Judas had already chosen to give up on his Lord.
Some scholars say that the final catalyst for Judas’ impatience with Jesus was the scandal of the Eucharist; all this hogwash about eating His Body and drinking His Blood was hardly the image of a triumphant King who will fulfill Judas' vision of the worldly messiah. From that moment on, disappointment and cynicism unleashed their final seduction of evil over his captive heart and conquered.
Even then, Our Lord kept this cruel desertion hidden from the other disciples (quite possibly not to further embarrass Judas) since it was obvious they had no idea who the traitor was. But He also gave Judas to know that as God, He was aware of the stirrings of his rebellion. Perhaps this was a last attempt to shock his muddled conscience and turn the traitor from his intended treachery.
John the evangelist described all this with moving detail in his Gospel. (John 13: 21-28)
The crucial question is, since Jesus knew to what end Judas was headed (John 13: 18 “I am not speaking of you all; I know whom I have chosen; it is that the scripture may be fulfilled, He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.”) how could the Apostle avoid what seemed to be inevitable?
Elsewhere in John's Gospel, Our Lord called Judas the "son of perdition", which has led some to conclude that Judas' fate was truly sealed. (Incidentally, "Son of Perdition" in reality sounds less fatalistic than our modern ears are accustomed to. It is a Hebrew phrase that simply means "He who would have lost himself", and not "He who is destined to be lost". Big difference.)
Now, why would the Lord take so much trouble to deflect Judas from his path of perdition if there was no avoiding it? Is destiny truly an unbending weight pressing upon our free wills? The answer to that is twofold.
In some ways...yes.
Falling objects as discovered by Newton are destined to fall in obedience to the law of gravity. Mankind was not fated to breathe under water or we would have been granted gills. An atom has no choice but to bow to the laws of physics. And humanity since the fall of Adam is destined to die a mortal death.
And yet in other ways...not at all! We’re not ruled obsessively by the clenched fists of fatalistic karma.
Gravity despite being a reality can still be challenged by rockets and turbine engines mounted on titanium wings, underwater life can be experienced with some nifty scuba gear, an atom can be spliced and reassembled by harnessing the very physical laws that govern its nature. And since the dawn of Calvary, humanity can vanquish and overcome death through the resurrection of Christ.
As human beings made in the image and likeness of God, we're given a power and dominion over most other things in creation. It wasn't just over the animals, birds and plants. With the gift of inspired intellect and wisdom, we share in the creative powers of our maker who grants us the ability to subject and tame the very laws of nature for our own good, even though that process of discovery comes with trial and error. That is a God-given talent that separates us from animals and allows us to be masters of our own destinies, while at the same time accepting that we live in a world of realities that although limiting our free will in some things, cannot take away our power of choice in everything.
Spiritually, we have an even greater advantage in supernatural grace. Knowing how to use this noble gift will empower us to influence our present and our future, regardless of the errors of our past. No one is a slave to an unchanging destiny. After all, every person who believes in Christ is destined for eternal life. But that doesn’t mean that everyone will automatically find themselves at the pearly gates. Salvation depends on their personal cooperation with grace in this life. Since every saint has a past, every sinner can look forward to a potentially glorious future.
God respects our free will. The very nature of love itself is dependent upon choice and freedom. Love cannot be imposed nor elicited by force. And as every Christian child knows, God is Love.
How then do we explain Our Lord's knowledge concerning Judas' impending treachery?
Even from a human perspective, (and Jesus was infinitely more than just a man) it is amazing what you can see when standing from a vantage point. When a bowler sends his ball speeding down the alley, he can tell by the momentum of the ball what its final contact will be if it continues rolling down the same path.
When an air-traffic controller scrutinizes the flight path of any airplane, he does this with a judgment and predictability that is denied to individual pilots. Why? Because he has the advantage of a more powerful radar that helps him guide pilots away from destructive routes that only he alone can see.
In the same way, just as it is easy for someone with an unobstructed view to predict the final destination of a ball rolling down a straight line, it is easy for Jesus to see how Judas would end up if he persevered in an attitude of sin and rebellion, granted that Our Lord had the benefit of Divine insight and saw more into the hearts of men than anyone else ever could.
This is not difficult to understand since we too share in this gift in a limited way. We know with some precision that a child who shirks his studies and plays excessively to the detriment of his schoolwork will inevitably fail his exams if he perseveres in that attitude. That’s not destiny, that’s common sense.
Now in order that a projectile be deflected from its path of motion, something stronger and more forceful than itself must intercept its course and either stop or push it in another direction.
For instance, if you want a ball to stop rolling in a certain direction, you can either kick it or throw something else at it to break its moving pattern. The rolling ball itself cannot effect this result, trapped as it were by the force of its own momentum.
Our human lives are much the same way in practice, trapped as we are by the force of our own egos and selfishness. Unless a greater force than ourselves intervenes through the power of grace and directs us to a new beginning away from sin and disaster, we shall continue to be trapped in the motions of our bad habits. There have been countless examples of immoral personalities whose lives changed for the better because of the friendship, faith and sacrifice of a virtuous friend or family member. Somewhere, somehow, someone believed in them and it made all the difference. John of the Cross certainly subscribed to this philosophy when he said, "Where there is no love, put in love and you will find love."
The key to unlocking this power for change and redemption of course is in acceptance and cooperation. So although the wisdom of God knew that at the first fall of Eden, it would require something as scandalous and yet marvelous as the sacrifice of Calvary to redeem mankind, and although He knew that the betrayal of the messiah was inevitable, given the weaknesses of our human nature, Judas’ "fate" was not cast in stone as was evident in the loving and hopeful attitude of Jesus towards him.
In other words, even if Judas had not been the one to betray our Lord, some other human individual or community would likewise be responsible for the betrayal of Jesus in the designs of providence. This does not mean that Providence simply waited around for the most convenient scapegoat to pick, but rather, the weaknesses and fallen nature of human beings almost always guarantees that there will be some who will reject and betray the message of the Gospels. Not all who listen to the voice of Christ will accept the movements of grace. Isn't that how it has always been and always will be?
Otherwise, the whole world would be converted by now. Yet we see that even in Jesus' own ministry, the multitude of unbelievers and those seeking to oppose Him outnumber His believers. We should remember that the Old Testament simply hinted that the betrayer would come from among His own people, not necessarily from among His apostles.
But as it happened, Judas chose to reject Jesus despite Christ’s many attempts to reach out to him. And perhaps because he was an Apostle, the powers of darkness knew that he had greater access and opportunity to betray the Master by virtue of his friendship with the Lord. After all, what can be more treacherous and painful that the cruel kiss of a traitor whom you consider a beloved friend? Without question, Satan understood this and used Judas' special position and privilege to humiliate Christ more cruelly.
But lest we forget, to all who are tempted by the spirit of darkness, even more grace is offered to overcome the enemy. The Lord does not leave His sheep to the mercy of the wolf, even if some of us deliberately seek out such dangers. “For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!" (Mk 14:21) This very warning implies a choice, despite the frightening prospect it paints for the one who chooses wrongly.
If Judas had indeed trusted in Our Lord and accepted the immense grace that was being offered to him everyday, who knows what great sanctity he would be remembered for today, for if Satan cannot be overcome and withstood by those who are tempted, then what is the basis of Our faith in a God who leaves us completely vulnerable?
Truly, it can be said of Judas that never was one man given so much, and yet bore so little fruit. And the same is said for many other Judases throughout history and within the ranks of the Church today. Again, were not all the disciples equally poor? Did they not all depend on the mercy of God to supplement their weaknesses? And did they not all doubted and failed at one point or another?
Even Peter the Rock was not spared - "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren." (Lk 22, 31-32)
Contrary to popular belief, treachery was not the great sin of Judas since all the apostles could be considered traitors for abandoning their Lord at a time when He needed them most. Peter blatantly denied knowing Jesus three times! If that isn’t disloyalty and treachery I don’t know what is.
Some might argue that their fear of the Jews was a mitigating factor. Nevertheless, these men had spent three amazing years with Him, oftentimes boasting of their unquestionable loyalty and allegiance to His Lordship even under the threat of death. And yet at the crucial moment, they rescinded every oath they ever made to serve Him in order to save their lives.
History is full of men who have been shot for being traitors whilst attempting to abandon their posts under infinitely lesser leaders. And here we have the crème de la crème of Jesus' disciples who could hardly do any better.
No, Judas sealed his fate not because he betrayed Jesus, but because he refused to submit his pride to the mercy of God. His pure arrogance and self-worship was his ultimate undoing. Alas for human respect which has a greater hold on our frail egos than the goodness of God.
It takes a certain humility to not just ask for forgiveness, but also to gratefully accept that God’s love and mercy is greater than our gravest sins. Peter and the rest of the apostles found redemption because their faith and love for Jesus prepared them to also accept His healing forgiveness. To do that, one has to relinquish any obsessive hold on our egos and go humbly on our knees before The Almighty and admit that we cannot even aspire to the least good without Him.
This reality is tenderly portrayed in the beautiful scene of forgiveness and redemption that we read in John 21: 15-17, where Peter is not only forgiven for his treachery, he is restored to wholeness and granted a greater glory and prominence in the Church, which is to take the place of Jesus as chief shepherd and to crown that high calling with the glory of martyrdom.
But the tragedy of Judas is that he could not help refusing the Lordship of Jesus even in his sorrow. Anyone who has ever wallowed in self-pity and depression knows that the focus of our being in such a mental state is often our own bloated self-image.
Ironically, this has caused some people to stubbornly cling to their self-pity by inventing a world where their personal tragedies take on Shakespearean proportions and importance. Nothing else matters in reality, only the great sorrow of their lives take centre stage in some kind of melodramatic encore. Indeed, the magnification of their troubles and tragedies, whether real or imagined, can give some individuals a demented sense of self-importance.
“If I cannot be the best, at least no one can take away from me the distinction of being the worst”, which is what some people in this life feel when they refuse to crawl out of their self-pity because misery can feel so comfortable.
The reward for such extreme self-obsession is despair, which is nothing but the lack of faith, hope and charity. If Judas had only sought the Lord's pardon, Jesus would have only been too happy to restore him to his princely dignity. After all, isn’t there more joy among the angels in heaven over the conversion of one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine who need no repenting?
But this particular Apostle did not, could not, would not concede his pride! He had convinced himself that his betrayal was even greater than the compassion of Christ, and who knows, perhaps in some twisted delusion of grandeur takes concealed pride that at least in this, he stood out from the rest of the Apostles.
In so choosing, he lost not only a chance at becoming a great saint…but ultimately…his life.
At the height of the sexual scandal in the American Church, I once noticed someone wearing a t-shirt that read ‘Don’t abandon Peter because of Judas’. I couldn’t agree more. Especially since each one of us has the capacity to choose Peter over Judas in our own struggles. So that when the enemy of mankind seduces our minds and exaggerates our failures and treacheries, we may confidently count on Jesus to help us choose faith over despair, grace over sin and life over death.
It's all about making the right choices.
I often come across good people in the church who despite having clear signs of a religious or priestly vocation, would nevertheless say that they have no choice in the matter because they already have a boyfriend or girlfriend in their lives...as if no priest or religious in the history of the Church has had to make that difficult choice. There are also those who are afraid to choose righteousness at the risk of jeopardising an imminent promotion at work. Or witness to their faith at the expense of losing influence with friends and peers.
Yet in each of these circumstances, we have indeed exercised our choices, albeit cowardly. And no matter how much we excuse ourselves in our weaknesses, we can never silence the memory of the martyrs who were forced to choose between their faith in Jesus or the fires of execution, between the will of the Father or the heavy blade of the executioner, between the teachings of the Church or the firing squad of her enemies.
Did they have an easier choice when the only other alternative was death at the hands of men? Yet with the grace of God, choose they did. Not just for themselves but also for us, since it is by the blood of the martyrs that the seeds of faith are planted and grown.
For most of us, we are asked far less in the way of sacrifice than the martyrs. Even then, we continue to squirm and try to respond to what God asks of us grudgingly, looking for the easiest way to live our Christian calling with minimal sacrifice, trying to answer God's invitation without actually having to answer it, and then convince our muddled consciences that we have done our best in that situation.
Unless we are committed to following the Gospel imperative to die to ourselves each day, how can we live in Him who so respects our free will that He will not dethrone our egos despite His rightful place in our lives as Lord and King?
In the end, it is always easy to choose that which we love. If we do not choose God, perhaps we do not love Him quite as dearly as we imagine. God on the other hand loves us! His infinite mercy overwhelms us and there is nothing so precious as the generous gift of free will that He bestows on us.
In humble gratitude, we can only ask Our Lord for the grace to choose wisely in all that pertains to this life. So that having made our choices to live for Him...we may win the grace to live with Him for all eternity.
At first glance, Judas' predicament does seem to be somewhat unfair. But if it is true that each man accepts his own fate with no more choice in the matter than a plunging apple following the dictates of gravity, then what reasons do we have as Christians for aspiring to Godliness and salvation? Why run the race or fight the good fight if the outcome is already pre-ordained?
If such is the reality, faith and righteousness are no more acts of free will than John Calvin’s doctrine of predestination, where only the elect are chosen by God to be sealed with his mark of redemption while the rest of mankind spirals into oblivion regardless of their virtues and goodwill.
But since we know God to be Just, there must be a deeper and more authentic answer to the question of Judas, which in many ways is relevant to every human person since all of us at some point in our lives have wondered about this - whether we are just poor hostages bound by an unfeeling web of fate or do we indeed have any say in how our days unfold.
There is such an imposing amount of material existing on this subject that we get as many varied answers as we do more questions. Nevertheless in my own journey, I have found that the tragedy of Judas can surprisingly lend some very consoling insights into our personal struggles.
And as there is no better place to investigate a scriptural character than in the Bible, we look to the Gospels where it is written that Jesus would be betrayed by one of His own. In fact, Our Lord Himself had this to say about His infamous disciple, " Have not I chosen you twelve; and one of you is a devil? Now he meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray him whereas he was one of the twelve" (John 6:71-2).
The Synoptic Gospels when naming the Apostles had no qualms in calling Judas a traitor or betrayer either.(Matthew 10:4. Cf. Mark 3:19; Luke 6:16). Obviously this was not the most pleasant way to remember one of your own. But in this unflattering description, the Gospel writers were not trying to be malicious or unkind, they were merely appealing to a well-known and widely accepted notion of Judas' role in the early Church.
Peter himself in Acts I, 16-20, referred to the prophecy of David concerning Judas and the horrific end that awaited him. Indeed the Old Testament foretold a betrayal, without revealing who it would be. It was Jesus who revealed it. And the early Church under the leadership of the apostles recalled and confirmed it.
Even so, did not the eternal wisdom of God the Son handpick this man only after spending a whole night in prayer before God the Father? So what went wrong? Was there a miscommunication between The Trinity?
Of course, we don’t really know what transpired between Father, Son and Holy Spirit on that quiet night in the hills, but we do know that Jesus made a decision that evolved from much intense prayer and consideration. And yes, Judas was part of that conscious decision. All was foreseen by Divine Wisdom and all went according to Divine Providence.
In truth, nothing went wrong. There are those who say that Our Lord specifically chose Judas despite his weaknesses, to remind the Church that she will always have to bear with similar Judases throughout the ages. Others suggest that Judas was a counterpoint to Peter, that in allowing Judas to march within the ranks of His lieutenants, Jesus was also pointing to Peter and affirming his appointment as the Rock foundation of the Church. In other words, the Church will never be conquered by darkness because Peter is the key that holds us together in spite of the failures and betrayal of some of our leaders.
But Judas’ role was more than just playing black sheep to Peter’s shining knight. If a person's attitude and affections can be observed from the way they treat one another, then this is clearly evident from the way Our Lord treated His Apostle in the three years of His sacred ministry. No degree of love and affection was withheld from Judas at any time.
Even though John was known in scripture as the “beloved disciple”, there is no doubt that Jesus loved all of them dearly, including Judas.
Time and again, Our Lord reached out to Judas in a special outpouring of love and attention that you seldom find mentioned for the rest of the apostles, except maybe apart from Peter himself. It was almost like the increased devotion given to a sick and difficult child by a mother dying to restore his health. The experience can be exasperating and exhausting at times, but never a temptation to lessen her unconditional love.
As an Apostle commissioned by Jesus Christ Himself, Judas shared in all the priestly powers and prerogatives of the other eleven. Like the rest, he was called from among the multitudes to embrace a new life of grace, he was witness to the countless miracles of healing and deliverance performed by his master, he received from Christ an indomitable authority over evil spirits and different illnesses and as a prominent member in the intimate circle of Our Lord, he ate with Him, listened to Him, saw His compassion, watched Him walk on water, raise the dead, perform fantastic miracles and above all, he had every opportunity to drink endlessly from the grace and wisdom of the eternal teacher, who explained so many divine secrets to His beloved apostles that were often hidden from the crowds.
Whatever Jesus gave to His other Apostles, He gave gloriously to Judas as well. And perhaps even more! After all in John 13: 29, we hear that Judas was given charge of the money necessary for Jesus’ apostolic journeys, even though the Gospel of John was very blunt in describing his penchant for wealth: “This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it.” John 12: 6
Why this immense gesture of trust and confidence for a man who apparently had a notoriety for treachery? This is all the more striking since the Master deliberately went out of His way to show confidence in His disciple in the very thing that hangs over the poor man like a cloud of mistrust.
With a reputation like that, it’s not hard to be the most unpopular guy on the ship. And whether justified or not, the Apostles were still humans with prejudices and personal judgements. If they did not question the wisdom of Jesus in choosing this man openly, they surely pondered it in their hearts. And anyone who has ever been made to feel unaccepted will tell you that it’s traumatic to be kept at bay and ostracized, even if that discrimination should be restricted to wary looks and whispered mumblings.
Our Lord who could read the hearts of men probably sympathized with Judas more than His troubled disciple ever knew. Indeed, Jesus loved and surrounded him with every encouragement and sign of His friendship than would have been necessary for anyone else in the group. Not only did the Divine Master entrust Him with the apostolic funds as an act of faith and confidence, He also washed the feet of Judas and bestowed the lifeblood of His divine love upon him at the Last Supper, when the Son of God offered His Body and Blood to be broken and shed for the salvation of the world.
Did Jesus not know that Judas would spurn His love and sacrifice for him? Of course He did. Right after His discourse on the Eucharist which offended and scandalized so many of His disciples in John 6, Jesus said in Vs 64: “'But there are some of you that do not believe.' For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him.”
Still our Lord so persevered in hope and charity that at the Last Supper, He once again offered His own sacrifice for the salvation of His wayward Apostle, whom He loved and treasured as the Good Shepherd would the lost sheep.
The Eucharist is the ultimate sign of communion for the entire Church, and in not denying Judas this privilege and invitation to belong as one, even at this late point of his deterioration, was truly an enormous act of Godly mercy and love for the prodigal son. Towards the very end, Jesus would not give up on the wretched man even though Judas had already chosen to give up on his Lord.
Some scholars say that the final catalyst for Judas’ impatience with Jesus was the scandal of the Eucharist; all this hogwash about eating His Body and drinking His Blood was hardly the image of a triumphant King who will fulfill Judas' vision of the worldly messiah. From that moment on, disappointment and cynicism unleashed their final seduction of evil over his captive heart and conquered.
Even then, Our Lord kept this cruel desertion hidden from the other disciples (quite possibly not to further embarrass Judas) since it was obvious they had no idea who the traitor was. But He also gave Judas to know that as God, He was aware of the stirrings of his rebellion. Perhaps this was a last attempt to shock his muddled conscience and turn the traitor from his intended treachery.
John the evangelist described all this with moving detail in his Gospel. (John 13: 21-28)
The crucial question is, since Jesus knew to what end Judas was headed (John 13: 18 “I am not speaking of you all; I know whom I have chosen; it is that the scripture may be fulfilled, He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.”) how could the Apostle avoid what seemed to be inevitable?
Elsewhere in John's Gospel, Our Lord called Judas the "son of perdition", which has led some to conclude that Judas' fate was truly sealed. (Incidentally, "Son of Perdition" in reality sounds less fatalistic than our modern ears are accustomed to. It is a Hebrew phrase that simply means "He who would have lost himself", and not "He who is destined to be lost". Big difference.)
Now, why would the Lord take so much trouble to deflect Judas from his path of perdition if there was no avoiding it? Is destiny truly an unbending weight pressing upon our free wills? The answer to that is twofold.
In some ways...yes.
Falling objects as discovered by Newton are destined to fall in obedience to the law of gravity. Mankind was not fated to breathe under water or we would have been granted gills. An atom has no choice but to bow to the laws of physics. And humanity since the fall of Adam is destined to die a mortal death.
And yet in other ways...not at all! We’re not ruled obsessively by the clenched fists of fatalistic karma.
Gravity despite being a reality can still be challenged by rockets and turbine engines mounted on titanium wings, underwater life can be experienced with some nifty scuba gear, an atom can be spliced and reassembled by harnessing the very physical laws that govern its nature. And since the dawn of Calvary, humanity can vanquish and overcome death through the resurrection of Christ.
As human beings made in the image and likeness of God, we're given a power and dominion over most other things in creation. It wasn't just over the animals, birds and plants. With the gift of inspired intellect and wisdom, we share in the creative powers of our maker who grants us the ability to subject and tame the very laws of nature for our own good, even though that process of discovery comes with trial and error. That is a God-given talent that separates us from animals and allows us to be masters of our own destinies, while at the same time accepting that we live in a world of realities that although limiting our free will in some things, cannot take away our power of choice in everything.
Spiritually, we have an even greater advantage in supernatural grace. Knowing how to use this noble gift will empower us to influence our present and our future, regardless of the errors of our past. No one is a slave to an unchanging destiny. After all, every person who believes in Christ is destined for eternal life. But that doesn’t mean that everyone will automatically find themselves at the pearly gates. Salvation depends on their personal cooperation with grace in this life. Since every saint has a past, every sinner can look forward to a potentially glorious future.
God respects our free will. The very nature of love itself is dependent upon choice and freedom. Love cannot be imposed nor elicited by force. And as every Christian child knows, God is Love.
How then do we explain Our Lord's knowledge concerning Judas' impending treachery?
Even from a human perspective, (and Jesus was infinitely more than just a man) it is amazing what you can see when standing from a vantage point. When a bowler sends his ball speeding down the alley, he can tell by the momentum of the ball what its final contact will be if it continues rolling down the same path.
When an air-traffic controller scrutinizes the flight path of any airplane, he does this with a judgment and predictability that is denied to individual pilots. Why? Because he has the advantage of a more powerful radar that helps him guide pilots away from destructive routes that only he alone can see.
In the same way, just as it is easy for someone with an unobstructed view to predict the final destination of a ball rolling down a straight line, it is easy for Jesus to see how Judas would end up if he persevered in an attitude of sin and rebellion, granted that Our Lord had the benefit of Divine insight and saw more into the hearts of men than anyone else ever could.
This is not difficult to understand since we too share in this gift in a limited way. We know with some precision that a child who shirks his studies and plays excessively to the detriment of his schoolwork will inevitably fail his exams if he perseveres in that attitude. That’s not destiny, that’s common sense.
Now in order that a projectile be deflected from its path of motion, something stronger and more forceful than itself must intercept its course and either stop or push it in another direction.
For instance, if you want a ball to stop rolling in a certain direction, you can either kick it or throw something else at it to break its moving pattern. The rolling ball itself cannot effect this result, trapped as it were by the force of its own momentum.
Our human lives are much the same way in practice, trapped as we are by the force of our own egos and selfishness. Unless a greater force than ourselves intervenes through the power of grace and directs us to a new beginning away from sin and disaster, we shall continue to be trapped in the motions of our bad habits. There have been countless examples of immoral personalities whose lives changed for the better because of the friendship, faith and sacrifice of a virtuous friend or family member. Somewhere, somehow, someone believed in them and it made all the difference. John of the Cross certainly subscribed to this philosophy when he said, "Where there is no love, put in love and you will find love."
The key to unlocking this power for change and redemption of course is in acceptance and cooperation. So although the wisdom of God knew that at the first fall of Eden, it would require something as scandalous and yet marvelous as the sacrifice of Calvary to redeem mankind, and although He knew that the betrayal of the messiah was inevitable, given the weaknesses of our human nature, Judas’ "fate" was not cast in stone as was evident in the loving and hopeful attitude of Jesus towards him.
In other words, even if Judas had not been the one to betray our Lord, some other human individual or community would likewise be responsible for the betrayal of Jesus in the designs of providence. This does not mean that Providence simply waited around for the most convenient scapegoat to pick, but rather, the weaknesses and fallen nature of human beings almost always guarantees that there will be some who will reject and betray the message of the Gospels. Not all who listen to the voice of Christ will accept the movements of grace. Isn't that how it has always been and always will be?
Otherwise, the whole world would be converted by now. Yet we see that even in Jesus' own ministry, the multitude of unbelievers and those seeking to oppose Him outnumber His believers. We should remember that the Old Testament simply hinted that the betrayer would come from among His own people, not necessarily from among His apostles.
But as it happened, Judas chose to reject Jesus despite Christ’s many attempts to reach out to him. And perhaps because he was an Apostle, the powers of darkness knew that he had greater access and opportunity to betray the Master by virtue of his friendship with the Lord. After all, what can be more treacherous and painful that the cruel kiss of a traitor whom you consider a beloved friend? Without question, Satan understood this and used Judas' special position and privilege to humiliate Christ more cruelly.
But lest we forget, to all who are tempted by the spirit of darkness, even more grace is offered to overcome the enemy. The Lord does not leave His sheep to the mercy of the wolf, even if some of us deliberately seek out such dangers. “For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!" (Mk 14:21) This very warning implies a choice, despite the frightening prospect it paints for the one who chooses wrongly.
If Judas had indeed trusted in Our Lord and accepted the immense grace that was being offered to him everyday, who knows what great sanctity he would be remembered for today, for if Satan cannot be overcome and withstood by those who are tempted, then what is the basis of Our faith in a God who leaves us completely vulnerable?
Truly, it can be said of Judas that never was one man given so much, and yet bore so little fruit. And the same is said for many other Judases throughout history and within the ranks of the Church today. Again, were not all the disciples equally poor? Did they not all depend on the mercy of God to supplement their weaknesses? And did they not all doubted and failed at one point or another?
Even Peter the Rock was not spared - "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren." (Lk 22, 31-32)
Contrary to popular belief, treachery was not the great sin of Judas since all the apostles could be considered traitors for abandoning their Lord at a time when He needed them most. Peter blatantly denied knowing Jesus three times! If that isn’t disloyalty and treachery I don’t know what is.
Some might argue that their fear of the Jews was a mitigating factor. Nevertheless, these men had spent three amazing years with Him, oftentimes boasting of their unquestionable loyalty and allegiance to His Lordship even under the threat of death. And yet at the crucial moment, they rescinded every oath they ever made to serve Him in order to save their lives.
History is full of men who have been shot for being traitors whilst attempting to abandon their posts under infinitely lesser leaders. And here we have the crème de la crème of Jesus' disciples who could hardly do any better.
No, Judas sealed his fate not because he betrayed Jesus, but because he refused to submit his pride to the mercy of God. His pure arrogance and self-worship was his ultimate undoing. Alas for human respect which has a greater hold on our frail egos than the goodness of God.
It takes a certain humility to not just ask for forgiveness, but also to gratefully accept that God’s love and mercy is greater than our gravest sins. Peter and the rest of the apostles found redemption because their faith and love for Jesus prepared them to also accept His healing forgiveness. To do that, one has to relinquish any obsessive hold on our egos and go humbly on our knees before The Almighty and admit that we cannot even aspire to the least good without Him.
This reality is tenderly portrayed in the beautiful scene of forgiveness and redemption that we read in John 21: 15-17, where Peter is not only forgiven for his treachery, he is restored to wholeness and granted a greater glory and prominence in the Church, which is to take the place of Jesus as chief shepherd and to crown that high calling with the glory of martyrdom.
But the tragedy of Judas is that he could not help refusing the Lordship of Jesus even in his sorrow. Anyone who has ever wallowed in self-pity and depression knows that the focus of our being in such a mental state is often our own bloated self-image.
Ironically, this has caused some people to stubbornly cling to their self-pity by inventing a world where their personal tragedies take on Shakespearean proportions and importance. Nothing else matters in reality, only the great sorrow of their lives take centre stage in some kind of melodramatic encore. Indeed, the magnification of their troubles and tragedies, whether real or imagined, can give some individuals a demented sense of self-importance.
“If I cannot be the best, at least no one can take away from me the distinction of being the worst”, which is what some people in this life feel when they refuse to crawl out of their self-pity because misery can feel so comfortable.
The reward for such extreme self-obsession is despair, which is nothing but the lack of faith, hope and charity. If Judas had only sought the Lord's pardon, Jesus would have only been too happy to restore him to his princely dignity. After all, isn’t there more joy among the angels in heaven over the conversion of one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine who need no repenting?
But this particular Apostle did not, could not, would not concede his pride! He had convinced himself that his betrayal was even greater than the compassion of Christ, and who knows, perhaps in some twisted delusion of grandeur takes concealed pride that at least in this, he stood out from the rest of the Apostles.
In so choosing, he lost not only a chance at becoming a great saint…but ultimately…his life.
At the height of the sexual scandal in the American Church, I once noticed someone wearing a t-shirt that read ‘Don’t abandon Peter because of Judas’. I couldn’t agree more. Especially since each one of us has the capacity to choose Peter over Judas in our own struggles. So that when the enemy of mankind seduces our minds and exaggerates our failures and treacheries, we may confidently count on Jesus to help us choose faith over despair, grace over sin and life over death.
It's all about making the right choices.
I often come across good people in the church who despite having clear signs of a religious or priestly vocation, would nevertheless say that they have no choice in the matter because they already have a boyfriend or girlfriend in their lives...as if no priest or religious in the history of the Church has had to make that difficult choice. There are also those who are afraid to choose righteousness at the risk of jeopardising an imminent promotion at work. Or witness to their faith at the expense of losing influence with friends and peers.
Yet in each of these circumstances, we have indeed exercised our choices, albeit cowardly. And no matter how much we excuse ourselves in our weaknesses, we can never silence the memory of the martyrs who were forced to choose between their faith in Jesus or the fires of execution, between the will of the Father or the heavy blade of the executioner, between the teachings of the Church or the firing squad of her enemies.
Did they have an easier choice when the only other alternative was death at the hands of men? Yet with the grace of God, choose they did. Not just for themselves but also for us, since it is by the blood of the martyrs that the seeds of faith are planted and grown.
For most of us, we are asked far less in the way of sacrifice than the martyrs. Even then, we continue to squirm and try to respond to what God asks of us grudgingly, looking for the easiest way to live our Christian calling with minimal sacrifice, trying to answer God's invitation without actually having to answer it, and then convince our muddled consciences that we have done our best in that situation.
Unless we are committed to following the Gospel imperative to die to ourselves each day, how can we live in Him who so respects our free will that He will not dethrone our egos despite His rightful place in our lives as Lord and King?
In the end, it is always easy to choose that which we love. If we do not choose God, perhaps we do not love Him quite as dearly as we imagine. God on the other hand loves us! His infinite mercy overwhelms us and there is nothing so precious as the generous gift of free will that He bestows on us.
In humble gratitude, we can only ask Our Lord for the grace to choose wisely in all that pertains to this life. So that having made our choices to live for Him...we may win the grace to live with Him for all eternity.
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