2004-03-28 Lent 5C - The Judas Trap New.lwp - Page 3 of 3
“Yo, Judas! No hurry! Plenty of time left for that! Let loose, dude. Check this out. Just a few
more days and I will wash your feet and you will see what I mean, man. Stay with me.”
Judas didn’t get it. He was stuck in the trap of getting his own needs met.
But Judas is gone, and we are here.
The other night I told someone I knew how I would connect the message to the Requiem we
are about to hear. I thought I did then, but I already used it at the beginning. So I want to end with
noting these two models of discipleship. One was Judas, the other Mary.
Mary got the message - she had learned from the time she spent with Jesus. And when she
washes his feet, she does the kind of thing that Jesus has been doing and teaching.
Even Jesus, always the good teacher, did what good teachers do - he learned from his students
- and in a few days he will take a towel and get down to wash his disciples feet and he will tell them to
wash each other’s feet. But even then, Judas doesn’t get it.
But we are here. We still have time.
In the end, we will all die. Like the Baptist preacher at the funeral in Newark said: “There’s only
two ways we won’t end up the same way. One is not to be born in the first place; the other is to be here
when Jesus returns - and we have to get ready for that anyway.”
Giving like Mary did, giving like Jesus did - requires a lot of trust, trust that God will always be
with us and take care of us, no matter what.
Some requiems have these words: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.” May that be so
for us. And may we hear these words Gabriel Faure set so beautifully to the music we will listen to now:
May the angels lead you to paradise,
may the martyrs receive you in your coming,
and may they guide you into the holy city, Jerusalem.
May the chorus of angels receive you
and with Lazarus once poor
may you have eternal rest.
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