The English word "proleptic" is not common to most people’s vocabulary. Though there are several different meanings and connotations, when it is applied to the Sacred Scriptures, it means "anticipatory." In other words, it points to a future event and helps us to interpret that event. Thus, the first reading last Sunday about Abraham and Isaac pointed toward and interpreted the sacrifice of Calvary from both God the Father’s perspective as well as Jesus’.  

The first reading for today’s liturgy is also proleptic. It tells the story of how Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery to some Ishmaelites. The price they were paid was the usual price for a slave at that time in history; namely, twenty pieces of silver. The price levied for a slave who wished to buy his freedom was thirty pieces of silver.  

I am sure that you can see where I am going with this. Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, the traditional price for buying a slave’s freedom. St. Paul tells us that we were enslaved to sin before Christ’s passion, death and resurrection. Jesus paid the price for our freedom. St. Matthew records the price of his betrayal in his Gospel (Matthew 26:15).  

The Church uses the Hebrew Scriptures liberally during the Season of Lent to help us realize the great plan of salvation set in motion by God who loved us so much that he willing sacrificed his Son for our freedom, for our salvation.