Gospel     Matthew 26:14-25

14 Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests ¹⁵and said, ‘What will you give me if I betray him to you?’ They paid him thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.17 On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ ¹⁸He said, ‘Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, “The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.” ’ ¹⁹So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal. 20 When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve; ²¹and while they were eating, he said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ ²²And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, ‘Surely not I, Lord?’ ²³He answered, ‘The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.’ ²⁵Judas, who betrayed him, said, ‘Surely not I, Rabbi?’ He replied, ‘You have said so.’

‘Surely not I, Lord?’ You can almost hear the insincerity and smarmy-ness in those words of Judas. Words used to cover his guilt. A guilt that would continue to grow until it overwhelmed him and destroyed him. Betrayal is often wrought by those closest to us. Someone we thought we knew well does something that destroys a relationship. Often, we cannot for the life of us, work out why they did it and I wonder if at times the betrayer also wonders what came over them that led them into betrayal. Betrayal is so often a sad story and one in which neither side benefits from the act.

So it is in this story - a betrayal that led two men to their deaths. In a previous Edinburgh Passion Play this betrayal was explored from the point of view of two mothers. An encounter occurred between Mary and the mother of Judas, after Good Friday. Neither mother was able to fathom why their son was dead.

Why betrayal happens is sometimes never known but in this story the betrayal had to happen in order for Jesus to save us from ourselves and to give us hope in his resurrection. Only in hindsight, though is this apparent. At the time Judas’ betrayal was raw and self-seeking and all destructive of whom it touched. Yet without it we would have no Easter message of hope and a life without hope is no life to contemplate. For our salvation the price was a betrayal and a death on the Cross!