Tuesday of Holy Week
(Isaiah 49:1-6; John 12:21-33;36-38)
The gospel today invites us to compare and contrast Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial of Jesus. Preachers sometimes say that the two offenses amount to the same sin of infidelity. That opinion, however, seems mistaken. It would be like equating setting a house on fire and failing to call the fire department when we see the blazes. “First, do no harm,” wrote the primordial physician-philosopher Hippocrates.
Preachers may also condemn Judas’ treachery of handing Jesus over to his enemies but dismiss Peter’s failure to stand up for Jesus out of fear. This way of thinking also seems misguided. There is no evidence that Peter suffered clinical anxiety. Indeed, he appears as a head-strong man. Doing good almost always involves some negative factors. Peter’s failure to act righteously when forced to declare himself about Jesus indicates that he considers his losses in standing up for Jesus as greater than his benefits. Although his repeated denials comprise lies, Peter’s principal sin is one of omission.
Nor can Judas’ treason be defended by saying that the devil makes him do it. Although the passage states, “Satan entered him,” a bit later when Judas leaves the supper it adds, “...it was night.” This reference is not to give the time of day but to indicate that Judas deliberately chooses the darkness of evil to the light of Christ. We are wise to consider that we too are susceptible to the same tragic mistake.
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