Sunday, February 26 - First Sunday in Lent

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to 

betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and promised 

to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand Him 

over.   (Mark 14: 10-11) 

“Jesus was born to die.”  

I recalled this opening line of a Christmas morning sermon many 

years ago as I started this meditation over the past Christmas 

weekend.  

Indeed, Mark reports that Jesus told His disciples He would be killed 

(Mk 8:31) and that the Son of Man would be betrayed and handed 

over to the people…and be killed. (Mk 9:31) Jesus knew the 

instrument of this betrayal was Judas Iscariot. (Mk 14:18-21) It is 

apparent that Judas was destined to be the bad actor in the divine 

plan of self-sacrifice. As the injustice of the crucifixion hit home to 

Judas, Matthew reports that he attempted to return his reward and 

thereafter hung himself.  My home study course on Augustine, whose 

influence on orthodox Christian Doctrine is manifest, summarizes 

Augustine’s concept of predestination as God’s deciding what shall 

happen in His plan to give grace to some and not others. If Judas was 

predestined to do what he did, does he deserve the opprobrium his 

name invokes? I can hear Judas say: “Why me God? and “It’s not 

fair.”   

But is fairness a concept applicable or relevant to an understanding of 

God’s choices? Does it make sense to say that God makes choices as 

we humans like to think we make?  

These questions are unanswerable. I don’t think one can “understand” 
God. Perhaps we shouldn’t be so hard on Judas.   Faith in the teaching
of Jesus is the only option regardless of whether one is predestined to
receive God’s grace or not. Let’s forgive Judas. 

Ron DeVeau