GOSPEL POWER I APRIL 12, 2022

Tuesday of Holy Week

Gospel: Jn 13:21-33, 36-38 

21After saying this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared, “Very  truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” 22The disciples looked  at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. 23One of his  disciples – the one whom Jesus loved – was reclining next to him;  24Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he  was speaking. 25So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord,  who is it?” 26Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this piece  of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” So when he had dipped  the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. 27After  he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to  him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” 28Now no one at the  table knew why he said this to him. 29Some thought that, because  Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we  need for the festival”; or, that he should give something to the poor.  30So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And  it was night. 31When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has  been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32If God has been  glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify  him at once. 33Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You  will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where  I am going, you cannot come.’” …36Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?”  Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but  you will follow afterward.” 37Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not  follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38Jesus answered,  “Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the  cock crows, you will have denied me three times.”  

The deep trouble that Jesus experiences is the grief of  frustrated love on account of the treachery of Judas. The  disciple has chosen darkness, and none of Jesus’ attempts  to draw him back to the light could reverse his decision. But Jesus  does not exclude Judas from the circle of his intimate friends and  will also love him “to the end” (Jn 13:1) together with the other  disciples. Though Judas exteriorly submits to the loving gesture of  foot-washing and accepts from Jesus the morsel of food that signifies  affection, interiorly he rejects their meaning. We are faced here with  the fundamental mystery of God’s respect for the gift of human  freedom, which he does not take back even when it is used to make  tragic choices and decisions. Judas is NOT an unfortunate character  chosen from all eternity to play the role of villain in a divinely written  script. Rather, with his freedom, Judas wrote the script of his own  life, and God integrated and fitted that script into the big picture of  his saving plan. Any speculation about Judas’ eternal fate should take  into consideration the fact that Jesus never withdrew his love from  him. 

Lord Jesus, help us to trust the mystery of your love and mercy which we can never fully fathom. Amen