Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Wednesday of the Holy Week, April 1st, 2026

Delivered by Gabriela Natani from the Parish of Good Shepherd in the Diocese of Surabaya, Indonesia. Isaiah 50: 4-9a; Rs psalm 69: 8-10.21bcd-22.31.33-34; Matthew 26: 14-25.THE CHALLENGES FROM JUDAS ISCARIOT  The theme for our meditation today is: The Challengesfrom Judas Iscariot. Judas was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus who died earlierthan the rest eleven, and that was a very shameful death with very badreputation. We say this in order to distinguish it with the tragic deathsexperienced by almost all the other apostles who in the following decades diedtragically as martyrs of the Church. The tragic death of Judas was a veryundignified death. This story happened more than 2000 years ago,precisely when the death sentence was handed down to Jesus through an unjusttrial under the Judaism law. We who remember this event especially in everyyear around the holy week season, see it as a lesson rich with values to learnfrom. All of these are the challenges from Judas Iscariot that we need to faceand benefit them for our growth of faith in Jesus Christ. The most important challenge from Judas for us todayis the love for money or other material richness. A lifestyle that relies onlyon money, or a life is only measured by material richness of the world, iscommonly known as materialism. From this lifestyle arises various other crimessuch as theft, corruption, discrimination, violence and war. We, as goodfollowers of Christ, certainly do not want to suffer the same fate as Judas,just because we strive only for money or material things, that will lead us toa final emptiness and undignified death. The challenge of politicizing religion for us isanother important element to ponder upon. Both Judas and the other apostles andalso the Jewish leaders did have their common political interest. They wantedto have a Messiah, the great political figure for their nation and people. Withthe help of that Messiah, they imagined to have freedom from the Romancolonials. But they misunderstood and were fooled. Jesus was not for them. Inthe social life of our country, we are challenged to completely avoid the politicizationof religion. There must be no political influence in it, nor should a life offaith impose any political ways to simply divide the community of believers. Another challenge that we can learn from this event iswhat played by Judas, namely hypocrisy. The strategy was to hug Jesus, kissHim, then send a message to the executioners and the Jews to arrest Jesus. Whata play of hypocrisy can be made by anyone of us here, who deceive friends,families, relatives, neighbors, town, religion, nation and homeland only for apersonal gain! Whatever motivation for this act, it is always verymaterialistic and worldly. One can intentionally and easily deny who and whathe or she is supposed to protect and respect. We must fight and overcome allthese challenges in our lives today. Let'spray. In the name of the Father ... O Jesus Christ, put in us courage and goodwill that we may avoid the attitudes of Judas in us so that we can live a holylife like You. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit ... Inthe name of the Father  ...