Betrayal

Homily for Tuesday of Holy Week

Betrayal. Denial. Abandonment. Each of these words strikes at the heart. Each of them leaves behind a wound which then becomes a scar. At the same time, it must be said that one cannot be betrayed by an acquaintance. One cannot be denied by someone who has only a passing knowledge of who you are. One cannot be abandoned by someone other than a close friend or member of the family. It is the fracture of a relationship which wounds and scars.

In speaking to Israel, God’s chosen one, God discloses the close relationship that exists between them. “It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel…” The covenant relationship that exists between God and Israel is as close as that of a husband and wife. Consequently, when Israel speaks of the Lord, he speaks of the one “who formed me as his servant from the womb.” It is only when we consider the relationship between God and of the chosen people that we can understand how God feels when the people reject him.

It is the same with Jesus. The people that he holds closest to his heart, his disciples, are the ones who run away and hide when he is arrested and tried for blasphemy. We look back to the very first encounter with Jesus in the Gospels and recall that the evangelist tells us that they left everything to follow him. However, in his hour of need, they leave everything behind in order to get away from him and the danger that envelops him. We can almost feel the heart of Jesus breaking as he says those terrible words: “"Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times."

Let us remember today that we too have said that we are leaving everything to follow Jesus. At the same time, we realize that like the apostles we have also betrayed, denied, and abandoned Jesus through our sins. Yet Jesus does not abandon us, nor does he betray or deny us. God does not disdain to be our God despite the wickedness that can sometimes be found in our hearts.