For thirty pieces of silver, Judas betrayed our Lord. Thirty pieces of silver, which he promptly lost before he died.
My reflection for this Good Friday has to do with money. What would you sacrifice for “thirty pieces of silver?” Judas sacrificed grace and his very life.
What is your relationship with money?
Judas gave his life for money in the end… and to the despair that ensued. What effect does money have in your life? To what end does it lead you? To freedom and happiness, or to dishonest despair and fear?
Jesus was stripped of everything at the end, at the 3 o’clock hour today. Everything except the one thing that really mattered, his relationship with his Father, his obedience to his vocation, being true to who he was: the divine Son of God.
Money will only clothe us with good things if we see it as a means to give to others, if it becomes a vehicle through which justice is rendered and charity expressed. Money will weigh us down, like Saul’s armor did on David (of which David promptly rid himself), if it becomes anything else to us.
Good Friday is a time to be stripped of all selfishness and self-concern. It is a day to ask ourselves, What is my attitude toward money and other worldly attachments?
There is a freedom in letting go, if one does so in obedience to the truth. There is a freedom in knowing that money is to be given away in concern for the poor and to justly care for ourselves and others.
For thirty pieces of silver, Judas betrayed our Lord. What would you do with thirty pieces if offered to you today?
Look for the answer, not in the walls of power or wealth, but outside the walls of the city among those who are not among the rich and powerful. Look for the answer among those deemed unfit to enter the dwelling place of the righteous.
Judas looked to the “powerful” for his pay. Where will you look?
