The early Church was well aware that Jesus was betrayed to His enemies by one of His closest associates. Even though this was a very uncomfortable truth for the early Church, there was no attempt to gloss over the disturbing fact that, according to Matthew 26, 14-25, Jesus was betrayed by someone who dipped his hand into the dish with Jesus, someone who was an intimate friend. The Gospel declares that when Jesus announced that one of those sharing table with Him would betray Him, everyone present was “greatly distressed.”
Despite all of this betrayal and subsequent distress, Holy Week reminds us that God had the last word by raising His Son, out of love for us, from the dead. God brought good out of the evil of betrayal – and the many other evils that Jesus endured. God can also bring good out of the negativity that we sometimes have to endure from others or that we inflict on others. These days invite us to trust that God can work in life-giving ways, even in those dark experiences that are contrary to what God desires for us.
Let us pray. “Merciful God, you showed your glory to us by sending your Son to confound the powers of death. Call us forth from sin’s dark tomb. Break the bonds which hold us, that we may believe and proclaim Christ, who has won for us our freedom and who is the source of our life, who lives and reigns with you forever and ever. Amen.”
