“THE HOUR HAS ARRIVED”
Saint Matthew 26. 17-46
Midweek Lenten Homily I: 16 February Anno Domini 2005
Fr Watson
Palm Sunday was past, the week called Holy drew to its bloody conclusion. Your current lives, this very week is holy for you, that is, you have been made holy in the Father's eyes because of what the Son did; and does.
From Tuesday through Wednesday of Holy Week Jesus remained in Bethany. Our Gospel thrusts us into the events of Maundy Thursday. It was the First Day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread (Passover). Every fourteenth of Nisan the lambs were slain. On this fateful Pascha, the Lamb of God Himself would be butchered.
More than ceremony, more than tradition, the Disciples drew strength and Grace from that fateful meal. The Lord Himself had longed for that day to come when He would eat, and give Himself to be eaten, in the presence of His flock. You were at that same meal three days ago; you'll be at it again in four more days. The Lamb Who is a Shepherd, goes on feeding you.
You feast here at Faith Village Chapel; they feasted in an upper room. Jesus withholds the name of the man in whose house the Passover was celebrated. Peter and John were sent, and presumably, they alone knew its location.
The Lord kept the man's name and the location secret so that the "traitor" would not know; would not be able to find out. Jesus keeps Judas hopelessly guessing.
Sin is hopeless against the Lord.
Our place of meeting and eating & drinking is not secret. Are all the disciples here who the Lord desires present? May the Spirit grant us the faithfulness to find all the other lost sheep for inclusion in our green meadow.
But their anonymity guaranteed that Jesus would celebrate His last Passover, His Passover, in perfect security, right in the heart of Jerusalem itself.
"My special time is near" the Lord spoke. He meant His bitter Passion and Death; the time above all times. This was "the time" which now gives you not mere chronological notice, but cosmic eternal significance and glory. Your time is now un-ending, world without end.
It was Thursday evening; the beginning of the Jewish Friday when the first stars in the night sky appeared. "While they were eating" refers to a special part of the Pascha, for this special meal followed a fixed order. God is a God of order and peace. There were some seven steps which had already taken place before the exposure of Judas. It came near the end for at any previous point it would have spoiled the completion of the ceremonial meal.
The emotion was palpable. Jesus did not just forthrightly expose Judas, but first revealed the act or betrayal and its effects upon the traitor himself. The Lord did this because He is Love. He did this to bring the most powerful pressure to bear upon Judas in order to lead him to repudiate his act, even then, at that late stage, and to fall at Jesus' feet in repentance. Jesus desired to pardon this tragic man.
The Lord wishes none of you to ever remain in your sins, even your little chronic sins. He yearns for your repentance. He lives, yea, He suffered His Passion and Died, for your repentance and absolution.
Under the pressure of the Lord's treatment at table, Judas proceeded to boldly expose himself. All Christ did at the first was to solemnly state that "one of you shall betray Me." Even as this must have resounded among the twelve like a "bombshell," Judas' first thought must have been, "He's on to me, He must know all about it." He had to sit there and hear all eleven frightened, but innocent, voices ask in dismay "Is it I" knowing full well he could not likewise ask in any honesty or innocence.
Unbelief doesn't recognize the true God. Unbelievers don't really know Who this Nazarene is, regardless of what they protest about His "goodness." Note well that the eleven all address Jesus as "Kurie," Lord, which at this final juncture of their catechesis must have meant "Divine Lord." Only Judas addresses Him as merely "Rabbi," Teacher. Unbelief is only capable of accepting knowledge, facts, and things. Faith is the hand that receives forgiveness and life.
Yes, tares are among the wheat. Schismatics, heretics, and wolves in sheep clothing are among us as well in the Church today. It hurts doubly hard when they are found among our friends or family. The real designation "he that dipped his hand together with me in the bowl" characterizes Judas as the second "Ahitophel;" the advisor friend of King David who betrayed him, and later hanged himself. The rejection could not have been deeper or more profound. To have dipped his hand in the same bowl with the Son of God; what an honor supreme. You are graced with an equal gift every Mass. Oh how we should repent our daily sins against Jesus, even after He feeds us Himself every Sunday.
The man who resisted the impact of our Lord's words, Judas, was beyond hope; another Pharaoh hardened in the stone of sin. But our Lord was not at the mercy of that vile wretch. The Son of Man was committed to go the way, even as it had been written concerning Him. His Divine plan would be carried out.
Christ appeals for no sympathy, He was in harmony with the Word.
Judas left the upper chamber without receiving the Supper. Judas damned himself.
Those who were kept were given heaven.
Before the final act of eating, wherein the Father would consume the last piece of lamb, something remarkable, unexpected, and never before seen or imagined happened. Jesus started something even better than a memorial Passover remembrance. They received what you receive: the Body and Blood of Christ. We refuse to answer the question in regard to the how, because the Lord has withheld the answer. It is simply Grace beyond all mortal comprehension. The Lord declares the fact: "This is My Body" and we take Him at His word. Faith means having "faith" even when so-called "reason" has troubles. The meal is not just another spectacular miracle, to be sure a muted and sublime one, but rather another way for Christ to love His own. The supper is the most intimate way the Big Brother can embrace His siblings. Its purpose is several, but chiefly it is what He said it was: "poured out for the remission of sins." All this passion of God....to forgive you, you.
After closing their Sacramental Meal with the singing of Psalms 113 to 118, they went out into the dark headed towards Olivet and a garden. Because of what was once done in a garden by your parents, and now done by you, the Lord would continue His great Passion amongst the created order of nature itself.
"I will strike the shepherd...and the eleven... will be trapped" spoke Jesus quoting His Old Testament saying. The Father would strike His own blameless perfect and holy Son instead of you. The striking should have been yours. The Greek literally says that those sheep with the Shepherd would be trapped. So quickly would the arrest come, so suddenly would sin jump that the disciples would feel as if they were small animals caught in the jaws of a steel trap. And though they would quickly scattered in terror, to preserve life and limb, they did not stay dispersed for too long. The Lord had one last time given them the end of the story: "But after I am raised." This was the blessed assurance that the great Light of Life would once again be living.
They entered Gethsemane, which likely means "oil-press." It is thought to have been a large secluded grove of olive trees. The Lord again took His three special witnesses, though they wouldn't be any more attendant this time than on the Mount. The Lord's agitation became visible as all His power seemed to be gone. He fell to His knees, crushed by the weight of the hour. He fell to His face on the ground, beaten down by the burden now beginning in earnest. Christ's only recourse in this time of grief and weariness, was, prayer to His loving Father. Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus. All comfort was denied Him as His friends slept. Jesus' first battle in this war for you was fought alone.
The imagination faints. Who can imagine all this abominable sin, all this damnable curse, all caused by us, and the Holy Son of God plunging into it.
From Hebrews 5.7 we learn that Jesus' words of prayer were uttered with strong crying and tears, and were certainly heard by the three if they were still awake.
The Savior, on the ground like a worm, was from first to last submitting to the will of His heavenly Father.
The agony suffered in Gethsemane will always bear an element of mystery for all of us because this sacred event involved the union of Christ's two natures and we, have trouble praying more than an abridged table prayer daily.
Peter, who said He would die rather than forsake His Master cannot even keep his eyes open. We ponder our own solemn confirmation vows, wherein we promised to suffer all, even death, than to fall away from the Faith, from the Lord. What man-made false-front edifices keep us from being true to the real Tabernacle of God?
The sweat mingled with blood (oh how the ground must have been sweet and greener than green the next morning) subsided. The beginning agonies temporarily went into remission. The angel strengthened Him in His Father's Word. Jesus stood again and spoke to His disciples in a different tone: "Lo, the Hour has arrived...the Son of Man is being betrayed into sinner's hands." Our hands too betray Him, as do our lips, hearts and tongues. Lord have Mercy. His pierced hands will never do anything other than hold you tenderly, wipe away your tears, and feed you.
Oh the dramatic excitement of that tragic night in the garden. The lights, the noise, the rattling of the weapons,
"The Hour has arrived."