Wednesday in Holy Week

Scripture Readings: Is 50:4-9a;  Mt 26:14-25       

After Judas betrayed Jesus and realized he had sinned, he sinned again by choosing to despair. He would have received mercy if he had gone to Jesus and confessed his sin.

There’s a Japanese art form, called Kintsukuroi, used to restore broken pottery.  Instead of repairing the pottery with nearly invisible glue, the cracks are filled with silver or gold, making the vessels more beautiful and valuable than before they were broken.  

If we confess our sins, God will repair our failings with his love and transform us into something more beautiful than we could ever imagine.1

 

  1. Mary DeTurris Poust, Daily Reflections for Lent, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN, 90.

 

                                

 

Wednesday in Holy Week

Scripture Readings: Is 50:4-9a;  Mt 26:14-25                                       

“Surely it is not I, Rabbi.”  Denial is the art of not facing the hard truth about ourselves. Had he confessed his sinfulness Judas could have become a saint by saying, “Truly it is I, Lord.  Have mercy on me a sinner!”

After Judas betrayed Jesus and realized what he had done, he made a second mistake, by denying the mercy of Jesus and choosing despair.  What a glorious page would have been written in the Gospels if Judas had gone to the foot of the cross and wept over Jesus’ feet like the woman who was a sinner.  His own sins would have been washed away by the cleansing blood pouring from those wounds. 

Judas could have been the great apostle of the Lord’s forgiveness. Churches would have built to honor St. Judas the Apostle of undeserved mercy.   A good beginning does not always guarantee a good ending.  But humility does!