LOVE THY JUDAS

Good Friday, a day of fasting and prayer, a day when we remember the greatest sacrifice ever, a day when we remember that the only currency that can ever save mankind is Love. This day would not have happened if someone all those centuries ago, had not agreed to pay the price. This day also would not have happened if someone all those centuries ago, would not have wanted to extract a price – thirty pieces of silver to be exact. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, how close to our lives is it today?

So many of us stumble though life blaming our friends, spouses, bosses, lovers, the government and our children for betraying us. Yet so often we forget that for Jesus to be glorified, Judas had to exist and perform his treacherous role. If there was no Judas who succumbed to greed, there would be no arrest of Jesus, no crucifixion and no rising from the dead. Whatever your religious or spiritual beliefs, or the lack of it; even if you consider it a story surviving 2000 years, you cannot deny the learning and the lessons it provides. It’s very much like a corporate boardroom drama. There’s one group of guys(Pharisees and local priests) who have been running the company (the local populace) in the name of some far off boss (Caesar) and managing to pocket the profits. When another guy (Jesus) comes along questioning their practices and strategies and their inability to look after the company’s best interests, they plot and scheme to get him removed. They hire a weak link in his coterie (Judas), set him up with false evidence (He claims to be the King of the Jews) and get him thrown out for good(crucifixion). What they did not anticipate was that he would make a comeback – and how. They’ve been trying for a good 2000 years since then to dislodge him. However He could make that grand comeback only because He got thrown out. It was only because He died that He could rise.There was one person whose weakness led Him to be betrayed – betrayal is because of weakness on the part of the betrayer. Consider how weak the person is because he can only find his life fulfilled by hurting other people. Should we be carrying around the weight of his weakness?

Relationships are nothing if not confusing. Whether at work or in personal life, navigating the choppy waters of human interactions is filled with adventure, pain and suffering. So often I listen to clients talk about how they have lost the capacity to be compassionate, kind or to trust because they were betrayed at some point in the past. It’s even more heart-breaking when these stories come from very young adults. Someone else’s betrayal is being carried around as fragile delicate cargo and is nurtured to stay fresh in memory. The reason? A reminder to never trust ever again. Imagine in your early twenties choosing to carry the burden of someone else’s insecurity. That's when you need to fly and soar as you reach the skies of achievement, but we end up choosing to tie huge weights and burdens to ourselves. It makes take-off that much more difficult and even if you do, staying high up is tiring and you run out of steam very soon. It’s sad that instead of learning and growing, instead of looking for the opportunity to be glorious, instead of reveling in the freedom to choose forgiveness, one decides to carry the weight of someone else’s actions for the rest of our lives.

This Easter season, as you listen to the story of the Risen Christ, thank your betrayer. Bless him with your love, for his weakness leads you to your strength.