Gospel Reading Today Mathew 26:14-25
"The Chief Priests paid Judas thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over." Mathew 26:5-16
The reflection I read today from Not By Bread Alone is so powerful. I want to share it with you today.
"Thirty pieces of silver. It is one of the coldest phrases in the gospel. That Judas, one of Jesus' most trusted friends, would sell him into death for thirty pieces of silver sickens us. Such greed, such callousness, such evil numbs us.
Thirty pieces of silver- the price for doing away with Jesus. But in our own lives, we do away with Jesus for even lesser amounts. We sell off God and the things of God for far less.
We sell time with our families for a few extra dollars in overtime, for a promotion, for professional affirmation.
We sell those marked as "just a stay at home mom" and "a weird homeschool mom" into abuse and ridicule in order to protect our own false superiority.
We sell the poor into an eternal prison of poverty rather than part with a few pieces of our own silver.
We sell of our relationship with God for anything that is more profitable or more fun.
True, we're nowhere near as evil or as callous as Judas- but we have, at some time, collected our thirty pieces of silver."
NOT BY BREAD ALONE 2010
I replaced "nerds" and "geeks" with "just a stay at home mom" or "a weird homeschool mom". I believe in today's society, moms who devote their lives to their children are such an easy target. Mainly because deep down inside, other moms and dads want to give their time, talents and treasures as much as they can to their children but sell their time to a career or other worldly standards to obtain self worth and materialistic gain. I have many precious friends who balance both career and family. I have many friends who devote their lives solely to their family. I have many friends, my sister being one, who homeschool. They are all beautiful women of the Lord. My opinion is just this: when the career is solely to help climb a worldly ladder of nice clothes, fancy cars and big homes or because motherhood is just too hard, this is wrong. They leave their children at the feet of Jesus, toss the coins to the caregiver and head out to conquer their identity of worldly gain and success. Instead of sitting with Jesus in the precense of their children, they turn to the beauty of the almighty dollar and ego. This makes Jesus sad I am sure. Just as Judas made him sad when he chose money over Him. We are all human and all fail in pleasing God from time to time. This is just one example of our how we can let money overtake our lives and our hearts.
Meditation from Bread Alone: Who or what have you sold for the sake of your own saftey, self-preservation, or gain?
Prayer: Loving God, open our hearts to let go of the silver we stubbornly and greedily cling to. In this season of Easter transformation, refocus our vision in order to see you in every moment of our lives; re-center our spirits in your love that we may treasure the love of family and friends before all else and look forward to bringing your love into the lives of the poor, the lost, the innocent and helpless children and the hopeless among us. AMEN.
Blessings to you this Wednesday!
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