goodies and baddies


A Pilgrimage to the Cross

Walking through Lent with Jesus

Friday 15th April

In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!” They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.

                                             Luke 22: 20-23

We are so familiar with this story, that I wonder if we stereotype all the characters into good and bad? Judas, of course, comes top of the bad list- his name has become a byword for a traitor, and no-one would name their new baby ‘Judas’. Pilate, Herod, the Pharisees….we dismiss all of them as evil characters. Meanwhile, Jesus and all of the other disciples are the goodies in the story.

Why was it then, that when Jesus said someone would betray him, the disciples didn’t all glare at Judas? They began to question among themselves…..were they aware that each of them was not quite as good as we might like to imagine? Each of them, when he examined his own heart, knew that he had moments of wanting passionately to serve Jesus with his whole heart, and times when his own fears, pride, envy, confusion got the better of him.

But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”
 Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”

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