Wednesday of Holy Week
Matthew 26:14-25
“But woe to that man by whom the Son of man will be betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”
Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the leaders of the priests, and he said to them, “What are you willing to give me, if I hand him over to you?” So they appointed thirty pieces of silver for him. And from then on, he sought an opportunity to betray him.
Then, on the first day of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus, saying, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
So Jesus said, “Go into the city, to a certain one, and say to him: ‘The Teacher said: My time is near. I am observing the Passover with you, along with my disciples.’ ”
And the disciples did just as Jesus appointed to them. And they prepared the Passover.
Then, when evening arrived, he sat at table with his twelve disciples. And while they were eating, he said: “Amen I say to you, that one of you is about to betray me.”
And being greatly saddened, each one of them began to say, “Surely, it is not I, Lord?” But he responded by saying: “He who dips his hand with me into the dish, the same will betray me.
Indeed, the Son of man goes, just as it has been written about him. But woe to that man by whom the Son of man will be betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”
Then Judas, who betrayed him, responded by saying, “Surely, it is not I, Master?” He said to him, “You have said it.”
What do the Fathers say?
St JEROME. The first day of unleavened bread is the fourteenth day of the first month, when the lamb is killed, the moon is full, and the leaven is put away.
The Lord had foretold His Passion, He now foretells who is to be the traitor; thus giving him an opportunity for repentance, when he could see that his thoughts and the secret designs of his heart were known.
O wonderful endurance of the Lord, He had said before, One of you shall betray me. The traitor perseveres in his wickedness; He designates him more particularly, yet not by name. For Judas, while the rest were sorrowful, and withdrew their hands, and bid away the food from their mouths, with the same hardihood and recklessness which led him to betray Him, reached forth his hand into the dish with his Master, passing off his audacity as a good conscience.
Judas, not withheld by either the first or second warning, perseveres in his treachery; the Lord’s long-suffering nourishes his audacity. Now then his punishment is foretold, that denunciations of wrath may correct where good feeling has no power.
Pope St LEO the Great. Our Lord shows that the conscience of His betrayer was known to Him, but does not meet his wickedness with a harsh and open rebuke, so that penitence might find a readier way to one who had not been disgraced by public dismissal.