Woe to him who betrays the Son of Man!

Whoever has experienced disappointment and betrayal in his life knows that it is a painful matter. Then a man may not feel the pain of the body, and he feels the pain of the soul, which is much heavier than the pain of the body. The betrayal of a friend, the betrayal of parents, a life partner, the betrayal of Christ, one’s faith, and one’s religion. Man commits treason that will never make him happy. We see this in the case of Judas. He goes from the Upper Room to the chief priests and says: “What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?” (Mt. 26:15).
His feet are perhaps not yet correctly dry, which Christ washed for him at the beginning of the supper like a servant; he still smells the paschal lamb and the bitter cabbage in his mouth, Christ’s words still ring in his ears: “I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” (Jn 13:15) and Judas comes to betray his Master. “Woe to the man who betrays the Son of Man.” (Mt. 26:24) is terrible. We understand their explanation, given by Christ Himself: it would have been better for such a man if he had not been born. Judas had no cause to complain about Jesus. Jesus had chosen him as His disciple, and He knew even then that Judas would betray Him. Jesus, however, leaves Judas with reason and free will. Jesus goes to Judas to make up his mind. And Judas, unable to control himself, takes on what was to be the end of Jesus’ mission and the fulfillment of his purpose here on earth, that Christ would die for our sins, thus redeeming us. But Judas does this, intoxicated by evil.

Jesus chose us to be his disciples too. He has called us friends. He often shows us his love. We see his actions and hear his words. Everything is full of love. But Christ does not pull us to him by force. He has also endowed us with reason and free will. Christ also knows about us and how we decide. But this decision is in our hands. We are left with freedom and sense. This will determine our eternal life or our damnation. As a solemn warning, the Gospel tells us: “Woe to the man who betrays the Son of Man!” (Mt. 26:24.) Profound words that must not let us sleep in our sin. For Judas, it was money that decided these words of Jesus; for us, it can also be money, status, career, comfort, selfishness, and so on.

But we must hear the word “woe”; we must recover, turn back, leave, take a different path, another way of life because otherwise, it will only end to our detriment. Let us realize that betrayal hurts a lot. And the more robust the love, the more the betrayal of love hurts. After all, Jesus loved us above all else.

When we equate Peter with Judas and seek the right path for ourselves because we are all weak, we are to adopt the attitude of Peter, who repented of his sin. Peter returns to Jesus and asks for forgiveness. Judas turns away from the mercy of Christ, despises Jesus, and wants to be alone even with his sin. That is despair, and we don’t want that. We need to realize the power of evil. This means that we must not be alone with our sin; we must go with it to Jesus and join with His mercy. Remember the repentant thief on the cross. This is an excellent testimony of the love of the Lord Jesus for us sinners at this time when we remember the passion and death of the Lord Jesus.

Yes, disappointments can be many and in many relationships. The worst and most dangerous can be our disappointment in Christ when, after sinning, we want to avoid finding our way back to His mercy.