Holy Thursday and Judas Iscariot

On my Facebook page this morning I posted a current picture of the site of Judas Iscariot's suicide.  I think at this time of year, especially, it is imperative that we be as close to Jesus as possible.  Since most of us cannot walk the actual roads he walked, we can at least visit them through cyperspace - thank goodness for the internet!

In Matthew 26:14-16, we read that Judas plots to hand over Jesus to the chief priests. During the last supper, Judas gets up and goes to meet with the priests.  Jesus then goes to the Garden of Gethsemane with the remaining apostles to pray.  While he is there, Judas leads the chief priests, scribes, and elders to Jesus and betrays him with the infamous kiss.  Judas had told them he would identify Jesus with a greeting of a kiss on the cheek. Immediately, Jesus was arrested and crucified the very next day.

Matthew 27: 3-10 describes how Judas feels guilty over Jesus' death sentence.  He goes back to the chief priests with the thirty pieces of silver and says "I have sinned in betraying innocent blood."  Their reply is, "What is that to us?" Basically, they couldn't have cared less.  What was done, was done. Hearing their reply, Judas throws the silver down at their feet, flees, and hangs himself.  Matthew 27: 8 states, "Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day."

Judas is sometimes an overlooked character in these final hours. We tend to look at the big picture, as we should, but he is also very important.  This morning, I saw an old clip of Fr. Benedict Groeschel from EWTN, and he really summed it up best.  You see, God asked for human help through Mary in bringing His own flesh and blood TO earth, and he asked for human help in bringing him FROM earth. He asked for Mary's hand in his birth. He also had human help in his death - not only with the priests, scribes, elders, and the myriad of others, but with one man who betrayed him.  Judas was one of the twelve. Jesus knew it would be Judas who would betray him.

Jesus answered, " It is he to whom I shall give this morsel when I have dipped it." So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Juda, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." ~ John 13: 26-27

The Field of Blood exists to this day. A Greek monastery sits on the exact site of Judas' hanging.