On Holy Wednesday our Gospel takes us to that epic scene of Judas' last supper with Jesus - and this disciple's turn to 'the dark side' - as St. John puts it: 'after receiving the piece of bread from Jesus, Satan entered Judas.'
It is downright scary to imagine Satan entering anyone. Was Judas predestined to be the Christ betrayer? Does God choose certain people to be really bad? Does God abandon people like serial killers, to their own twisted desires and intentions? And how does this square with a God of 'love?'
Yes, a popular answer is to make all evil God's responsibility - after all, God's in charge, right? Therefore, God is responsible for creating us this way, God is responsible for indoctrinating us in this way, and God is responsible for bringing about the circumstances for our temptation toward evil so that we can, nice and neatly, avoid culpability. Hmm...
Yet we suspect it's not that easy.
We know that to love is to grant freedom. In God's great love for the world God allows us determination in our own destinies. We can make choices. We can bless and we can curse. The extremes lead to unbelievably loving words and deeds, and unspeakable horrors and atrocities. We suspect there is always a human element involved in rendering great good and great evil.
However, lest we expend all of our limited resources parsing these questions of theodicy, Holy Wednesday also calls us to identify - for you and I are also Judas. We have our moments of betrayal. We have turned our backs on Christ. Sometimes I wonder if the only difference between me and Judas is that he gets better press.
Yes, Holy Wednesday asks us to ponder the Judas in each of us, which is not intended to breed guilt and condemnation, rather humility and understanding for those around us when they act a bit too Judas-y. How might we better understand those hurting us as not alone in their ability to wreak havoc on others - for we can do the same thing?
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