I am Judas…
I stood in back on ash wednesday,
refusing the ashes…
embarrassed to walk around
- a black cross on my forehead.
neither did I go up to be anointed
at the healing service they had this lent,
I didn’t want to be counted
amongst the old and sick and disabled.
I even stayed in my pew
rather than walk in procession on palm sunday…
I didn’t do much this lent…
except, I criticized what others did.
I made distinctions between the good guys
and the bad guys too.
I can always tell you what is right for you -
I can tell you what anyone should do…
“Why wasn’t this given to the poor?”
I judge and object and protest because
I’m a thief and a liar -
despite my denial: “Surely it is not I Lord!”
and false devotion, “Hail, Rabbi!”
I understand now
that “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.”
I am Judas…
not Peter or the Magdalen -
but the betrayer.
Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God,
have mercy upon me a sinner!
March 17th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Is there any way Judas was saved?…….I feel so sorry for him, to be eternally damned, and he seemed distraught when he threw the money back—wasn’t he sorry? Why did he kill himself? Could he still be saved?
March 17th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Powerful post, Terry. Thank you.
March 17th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
sf, I’ve wondered that myself. We don’t know; with God all things are possible…
March 17th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Powerful!
March 17th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Nicely worded. Very appropriate for the season.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
I have heard the Judas saved debate before, too, but as I understand it, Judas damned himself (God never damns us) by committing the sin of despair.
Peter, the anti-Judas, was treacherous to Jesus yet repented and took his lumps.
Judas had no faith in God. He was consumed by despair.
But it is a very interesting conversation, for sure. We don’t know how stuff works “over there.”
(Dante put him in one of Satan’s three mouths, of course, beside Brutus and Cassius. Nice trio.)
March 18th, 2008 at 7:58 am
The damnation of Judas is far from certain. The question raises numerous paradoxes, all of which have been debated in the Church for two thousand years. All that we know for certain is that the Church is able to proclaim some few who have entered into eternal glory with Christ. But it is unable to name anyone in hell