Judas Iscariot will forever play an infamous role in the story of Jesus. He is the one who went there. He took that step. He betrayed Jesus. With a kiss he set off the events that would lead to the death of our Lord. It’s an awful truth. Today’s gospel tells us that he went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” And after receiving thirty pieces of silver, “he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.”
Are we so different? How often, when confronted by temptation? Do we internally pose the question of “what are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?”, sizing up the benefits, satisfaction, or pleasure we might receive from sin? Or, how often, after having made up our minds about a sinful act we want to engage in, do we look for the opportunity to do it and so “hand over” Jesus?
The right approach, which is so easy to miss, is to go to Jesus and hand over our weaknesses, our wounds, and our vulnerabilities, indeed, our very selves to him who is everything we could ever want. He will take care of the rest.