Over the next few days in this Holy Week, we would like to offer our Readers a few meditations focussing on the Betrayal of Our Lord Jesus and His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. These are a synthesis of the commentary of Cornelius à Lapide' (1567 - 1637) on the Passion of Our Lord from St. Matthew's Gospel and were compiled by a priest and friend of Rorate Caeli.
The Horrible Atrocity of Judas
One of the twelve (Matt. 26 v14). An Apostle, not one
even of Christ’s seventy disciples, or He might the better have borne it, but
one of the twelve Apostles, and of His own most intimate friends, whom He had
elevated to that lofty rank. So this was the dark ingratitude and wickedness of
Judas, which pierced the heart of Christ, so that He said, “If mine enemy had
spoken evil of Me, I would have borne it,” &c. “But thou, the man united to
me, my guide and my familiar friend! We took sweet counsel together, and walked
in the house of God by consent” ….
He went away. Satan having entered into him, as Mark
has, not that Satan insinuated himself into the soul of Judas, and so inclined
his will and intellect to betray Christ. For God alone is able to glide into
the soul, …Neither was it that Satan took bodily possession of Judas, in the
same way that he possesses energumens, but that he presented
reasons suited to his imagination, which induced him to betray Christ, as S.
John shows, xiii. 2. The same Evangelist says in the 27th verse, that after
supper, when Judas had received the morsel from Christ, Satan entered into him,
in order that he might accomplish in act the treachery which he had already
purposed in his mind. This expression shows also the horrible atrocity of
Judas’ wickedness, as though a man were not sufficient for its
perpetration, but there were need of the help and instigation of the devil.
And he said unto them, What will ye give me, &c. “Unhappy
Judas,” says S. Jerome, “wishes to recompense himself for the loss which he
deemed he had sustained by the pouring forth of the oil, by selling his Master.
Nor does he even demand a certain sum, so that his treachery might at least seem
profitable, but as though he were disposing of a worthless slave, he left the
price to the option of the buyers.”
So S. Jerome, who thinks that Judas did not stipulate for any fixed sum,
but left it to be determined by the rulers, as though he had said, “Give me
what you will.” But others, with greater probability, say that Judas bargained
with the rulers thus, “I will sell Christ to you, but for so great a person,
and for one whom you hate so much, I demand a suitable price. How much will ye
give me?”
Thirty pieces of silver. See the vileness of
Judas in valuing Christ, the Saviour of the world, his Master and his Lord, for
such a miserable sum. This vileness afflicted Christ with great sorrow.
Wherefore S. Ambrose says (lib. de Spirit. Sanct. c. 18) “0 Judas,
the traitor, thou valuest the ointment of His Passion at 300 denarii, and
His Passion itself at thirty…
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You will ask how could “the potter’s field” be bought for such a sum as
this? I answer, that the Heb. שדה, sade, and the Syr. חקל, chakel,
i.e., a field, is put for any piece of land, however sandy,
stony, or barren, such as sand-pits, which this “field” probably was. It seems
to have been useless for agricultural purposes, and of very small value, like
the Jewish cemeteries outside the cities of Germany. It is also possible that
the rulers may have supplemented the thirty pieces of silver by a grant from
the corbana, or treasury.
Observe: Joseph being sold by his brethren was a type of this selling of
Christ. But Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver, for it was not
fitting, says S. Jerome, that the servant should be sold for as much as his
Master.
…..because Christ was sold at so vile a price, therefore He deserved to
become the price of the whole world, and of all sinners.
......because of these thirty
pieces of silver, with which Judas and the Jews trafficked for Christ, God
smites them with thirty curses in the 109th Psalm. The first is, “Set Thou an
ungodly man to be ruler over him.” The second, “Let the devil stand at his right
hand.” The third, “When he is judged, let him be condemned.” The fourth, “Let
his prayer be turned into sin.” The fifth, “Let his days be few.” The sixth,
“His bishopric let another take,” and so on. Lastly, ….
Sought opportunity—and found it the following day, being Thursday, which was the first day of unleavened bread. Hear Origen: “Such an opportunity as he sought, Luke explains by saying, he sought . . . in the absence of the multitude, that is to say, when the people were not about Him; but He was in private with His disciples. This also he did, betraying Him at night after supper, in the garden of Gethsemane, whither He had retired.”……
