24 March 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
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“But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Hebrews 9:26
Hasha Wednesday brings us to one of the saddest sentences in the Gospel: “Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I betray him to you?’ They paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.” From very early times Christians kept Wednesday as a day of fasting, and ancient Church orders explain it as the day on which the betrayal was agreed (in substance). Notice that the betrayer is “one of the twelve,” a friend who had eaten with Jesus, heard him and been sent by him. The danger to the Lord came from within his own circle; the danger to our faith comes most often from within our own hearts. Thirty shekels was the price set in the Law for a slave (Exodus 21:32), and Zechariah had spoken of a shepherd valued at “thirty shekels of silver.” Our Lord lets himself be priced like a slave so that slaves may be set free. The Church teaches that the Passion cannot be blamed on any people as a whole: all sinners were the authors of his suffering, and we too (Catechism 597–598). The question for us is not only what Judas did, but what price I set on Jesus when he costs me something.
Ezekiel's oracle sounds like the clash of iron: “A sword, a sword! Drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning.” It is a word of judgment on the Ammonites and on everyone who lives by false visions and lies. Just before it the prophet says that the crown will be removed “until he comes whose right it is; to him I will give it,” and Christian readers have long heard in this the coming of Christ, the true King. Then comes the strange command: “Return it to its sheath!” In the garden, a few hours after Judas has made his bargain, Jesus will say to Peter: “Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?” The sword of judgment does not fall on us; the Son takes the cup instead. The Letter to the Hebrews explains what he does with that cup. Christ “entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” He does not offer himself again and again like the high priest year by year: “he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself,” and “will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” In every Holy Qurbono this one sacrifice is made present on the altar; it is not repeated, but it is truly offered for us (Catechism 1366–1367).
Tonight is the eve of Pesaha, and it helps a family to know what tomorrow holds. In the Holy Qurbono of Pesaha the Church remembers the night on which the Lord gave us his Body and Blood and instituted the priesthood. In the service of the washing of the feet the celebrant, kneeling, washes the feet of men chosen from the parish, as Jesus washed the feet of his disciples; follow the time your parish announces. At home, many St Thomas Christian families keep the Pesaha meal on Thursday night: the head of the family breaks the unleavened Pesaha bread, shares it with everyone in order of age, and the family prays together and reads the account of the Last Supper. Today, then, finish what remains: go to confession if you have not yet done so, keep the fast, help prepare the house and the Pesaha bread, and in the evening pray for Judas's opposite: a heart that, when it falls, runs back to Jesus as Peter did, and not away from him. In 2027 the Annunciation (25 March) falls on Pesaha; the Panchangam gives its readings too, so listen to how your eparchy keeps it.
Theme: “He has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
On Hasha Wednesday: the sword returned to its sheath, the friend who sold his Lord, and the one sacrifice that saves.
“He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.” Psalm 46:9
“Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Matthew 26:52
Apply: Before Pesaha, lay down one harsh word or grudge you are keeping ready.
“So they weighed out as my wages thirty shekels of silver.” Zechariah 11:12
“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.” 2 Corinthians 7:10
Apply: Go to confession before Pesaha, and if you fall again, come back at once.
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5
“And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:10
Apply: At tomorrow's Holy Qurbono, thank Christ in silence for his one sacrifice offered for you.
The Lord who was sold like a slave sets slaves free.
His one sacrifice, made present in the Holy Qurbono, is enough for every sin we bring him.
Take-home resolution: Choose Jesus over every price the world offers, and come to Pesaha reconciled and confessed.
Dear friends, today's Gospel is short and sad. Judas, one of the twelve, said to the chief priests: what will you give me if I betray him to you? They paid him thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15). The Church has long remembered this on Wednesday and kept it as a day of fasting.
Judas was not a stranger. He was a friend. The greatest danger to faith often comes from inside the heart. Peter also fell; but Peter wept and came back, while Judas lost hope. Our Lord wants every fall to end in a return.
Ezekiel speaks of a sword drawn for slaughter, and then God says: return it to its sheath (Ezekiel 21:30). In Gethsemane Jesus will tell Peter to put away his sword and will drink the cup himself (John 18:11). The judgment we deserved, he takes.
He has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself (Hebrews 9:26). That one sacrifice is made present in every Holy Qurbono. Tomorrow is Pesaha. Today let us go to confession, put away our grudges, and choose Jesus over anything the world can pay. Amen.
Children, today we hear about Judas, a friend of Jesus who sold him for thirty coins. That is very sad. But Peter also did something wrong: he said he did not know Jesus. Then Peter cried and said sorry, and Jesus forgave him. If you do something wrong, do not hide from Jesus. Run back to him like Peter! Tomorrow is Pesaha, the day Jesus gave us the Holy Qurbono.
Lord Jesus Christ, you let yourself be priced like a slave so that we might be set free. You put away the sword of judgment and drank the cup the Father gave you. Keep us from ever selling you for anything this world can pay. When we fall, give us the tears of Peter and not the despair of Judas. Through your one sacrifice, made present on our altar, remove our sins and prepare us to keep your Pesaha with pure hearts. Amen.
Today's readings hold a sword and a purse. Ezekiel sees a sword drawn over a people who trusted in false visions. In Matthew, one of the twelve walks to the chief priests and asks what he will be paid. Between them stands the Epistle (Hebrews 9:23–28), which says that Christ “has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself”. Tomorrow is Pesaha: this is the last evening before the Supper. The key words are judgment, price and handing over.
Setting.
Ezekiel preached among the exiles in Babylon before and after the fall of Jerusalem (587/586 BC). Chapter 21 is the chapter of the sword. A little earlier, the king of Babylon stands at a fork in the road, casting lots whether to march on Rabbah of the Ammonites or on Jerusalem, and the lot falls on Jerusalem (21:18–23). This reading is the sequel. Ammon, east of the Jordan, may think that it has escaped, and it mocks Judah in her disaster (compare 25:3). The word comes: the sword has not forgotten you.
The Hebrew here is hard, and translators differ. Chapter 21 in English Bibles is numbered differently in the Hebrew, where these verses are 21:33–37. In the NRSV, “Return it to its sheath!” begins v. 30, while the Malayalam POC closes v. 29 with it and reads v. 29 as the sword falling on the false seers. Scholars also differ on whose sword is meant to be sheathed, Ammon's or that of Babylon, and so on who is addressed in the verses that follow.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“A sword, a sword! Drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning.” (21:28)
The poem is frightening on purpose. Before there is a lesson, there is the plain terror of what war does.
“Offering false visions for you, divining lies for you,” (21:29)
Ammon had seers who told it what it wished to hear. The danger is an old one. A comforting lie is the most costly thing that a people can buy.
“Return it to its sheath! In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.” (21:30)
God's judgment reaches a person at home. There is no road on which one can leave oneself behind. A Christian reader in Hasha Week may also hear another voice here, though this is not a quotation: on Thursday night Jesus will say to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath” (John 18:11), and he will drink the cup himself.
“you shall be remembered no more, for I the Lord have spoken.” (21:32)
The hardest line. Jeremiah 49:6 gives the larger view of God's plan: “But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites.”
How the Church reads it.
The language of wrath in the prophets is the Bible's way of saying that God is not indifferent to evil, and that he hears the cry of those who are mocked and destroyed. It is not a human temper. The New Testament does not soften the seriousness of sin, but it shows how far God goes to deal with it: he “did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us” (Romans 8:32). In her reading of the Cross, the Church holds that Jesus, in an act of love, atones for our faults and makes satisfaction for our sins to the Father (CCC 615–616). The sword of this chapter is thus read in Hasha Week with the eyes turned to the Cross.
Setting.
These three short verses are set between two meals. Just before them, a woman at Bethany pours a very costly ointment over Jesus' head, and he calls it preparation for his burial (26:6–13). Just after, the disciples prepare the Passover (26:17–19). The contrast is plain: she gives away what is costly, and he asks what he can get. At the start of the chapter the chief priests and elders have decided to arrest Jesus by stealth, but not during the festival (26:3–5). Judas offers them the opportunity they lacked.
Matthew's word “then” joins the scene to the anointing, but neither he nor the other Gospels fully explain why Judas did this. John 12:6 says that he kept the common purse and stole from it. Later theories of disappointed political hopes are only guesses.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests” (26:14)
“One of the twelve”: all four Gospels keep this painful phrase or something like it. The Church did not hide it. Betrayal came from the inner circle, from one who had been called, sent out, and had eaten with the Lord (compare Psalm 41:9).
“What will you give me if I betray him to you?” (26:15)
The first words of Judas in Matthew's account. He is the one who names the transaction. A note on the wording: the NRSV says that they “paid him”, while the Malayalam POC says they promised (വാഗ്ദാനം ചെയ്തു). The Greek verb can mean to weigh out, and Matthew may be echoing Zechariah's “weighed out”. Mark and Luke speak of a promise of money.
“And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.” (26:16)
Sin is often less a single act than a slow keeping of watch. Judas will sit at the Supper with this already in his heart.
How the Church reads it.
St John Chrysostom, preaching on this passage, dwells on the love of money that led one of the twelve so far, and warns his hearers against it (in substance). Hebrews gives the same warning against the love of money, and in the same breath promises, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (13:5). An ancient Christian custom, recorded in the Apostolic Constitutions (7.23, in substance), kept Wednesday as a fast because of this betrayal. The Syriac Churches have long kept Wednesday and Friday as days of fasting.
If the betrayal was foretold, was Judas forced to do it? Is he in hell?
God's knowing beforehand does not force anyone. The Catechism teaches that God's plan takes in each person's response, and that he permitted the acts that flowed from their blindness in order to bring about salvation (CCC 600). Judas acted of his own will. Jesus speaks of him with great gravity (26:24). Yet the Church, which declares that certain persons are saints, has never declared that any named person is damned, and she teaches that God predestines no one to go to hell (CCC 1037). We leave Judas to God's judgment, and we ask what price we ourselves have put on Christ.
Tomorrow is Pesaha, and in 2027 the date of the Annunciation (25 March) falls on the same day. The Panchangam gives readings for the Annunciation as well, and asks us to follow the direction of our eparchy.