Responsorial Psalm
Lord, in your great love, answer me
Gospel
One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,
went to the chief priests and said,
“What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?”
They paid him thirty pieces of silver,
and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
the disciples approached Jesus and said,
“Where do you want us to prepare
for you to eat the Passover?”
He said,
“Go into the city to a certain man and tell him,
‘The teacher says, “My appointed time draws near;
in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘“
The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered,
and prepared the Passover.
When it was evening,
he reclined at table with the Twelve.
And while they were eating, he said,
“Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
Deeply distressed at this,
they began to say to him one after another,
“Surely it is not I, Lord?”
He said in reply,
“He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me
is the one who will betray me.
The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him,
but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”
Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply,
“Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”
He answered, “You have said so.”
We live in a time and world where the word love is misused, commandeered for advertisements, proclaimed when drama as it is being invoked and easily slides off the tongue of those who love very little love at all. I won’t rehash the differences in other languages compared to our own as that is a well-worn path, but I would like us to consider for a moment God’s love for us. His love is a concentrated, all encompassing, light that spreads across every pore and cell in our body, every moment in our life, every doubt and every fear and it is a love we cannot really apprehend. If we did see and comprehend his love for us, it would send us to our knees in tears.
For most people walk around in various stages of believing in their own loveability. In fact, many people struggle to love others and be charitable because they do not love themselves. This is a common state of men and women in a broken world. So it would be good for us to read Matthew’s recounting of the last supper by also starting with our responsorial psalm, where we hear the pleading, “Lord in your great love, answer me.”
For his love is greater than we can imagine. More glorious love for you specifically than you will understand until you see him face to face. For God is love. Real love that shatters all preconceptions and burns away any doubt or fear and makes everyone and everything around us seem secondary and nothing to cause us anxiety.
And it is because of this great love that Jesus came to be with us, and it is because of this great love that he spoke to them at the last supper in that Passover meal and said he would be betrayed. He would be crucified in this human body still fully divine for his great love for you.
If we take nothing else away this Easter we must take away that we are loved completely and without reservation. And we are called to share that love.
Where are we this Holy Week?
Are we focused on the love God has for us and spending time meditating on what that mean for us? His children.
God loves us and wants the best for us. Choose his way and say yes to that love. Your answer is coming.
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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