Palm Sunday, April 14th, 2019

Palm Sunday, April 14th, 2019

Without a doubt, in my humble opinion,  I would dare say that Judas is certainly one of the most negative figures though-out all of human history.  It is understandable given the fact that he betrayed Our Blessed Lord.  And yet when we begin to read the Gospel appointed for Palm Sunday, coming to us from St. Matthew's Gospel (Chapter 27) we read the following verse:  "Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood . . ." (St. Matthew 27:3-4)  It is at that point that the priests and elders whom Judas sought turned down his proposal completely by saying:  "What is that to us?" (v. 4)  And Judas then threw down the blood money, the thirty pieces of silver he was given, the price for betraying Our Blessed Saviour.  St. Matthew tells us that after this Judas went and "hanged himself." (v. 5)  Very often we find ourselves in the same position as Judas.  What I mean is that we find ourselves committing a wrong and then regretting it deeply.  And like Judas we wish that could undo the wrong we have done.  And, again, similar to Judas we find that undoing a wrong that we have committed is not such a simple thing.  It is obvious that Judas regretted what he had done.  Why would he have approached the elders and the chief priests to return the thirty pieces of silver if he did not have regret?  As we read previously, St Matthew himself writes that when Judas saw Our Lord was condemned he "repented himself." (v. 3)  And yet the deed was already done.  Judas' act of betrayal could not be undone . .  . no matter how much remorse he had at that point.  So, too, with us.  When we come to the realization that we have done a great wrong . . .  to others . . .  to ourselves . . .  to God Himself . . . it is too late to "undo" the act or correct the wrong we have committed.  In this regard Judas does serve to teach all of us a valuable lesson:  Let us do our best not betray God in the first place.  Do we not betray God when we wrong others out of selfishness and greed?  Judas was willing to betray Our Saviour for thirty pieces of silver.  Do we not betray God when we only think of only ourselves and ignore others around us and how they feel?  Judas was thinking of himself when he made plans to betray Our Lord, wasn't he?  And like Judas, do we sometimes regret what we have done when we come to our senses only to realize that it is too late to take back our words . .  . too late to undo our actions . . . just too late?  How about the times that we do not even care enough to regret the sins we have committed.  Rather, we seek to justify and explain away the wrongs we have done.   Our Heavenly Father realizes that we are imperfect.  He realizes that we sin when we ought to know better.  He knows that we frequently turn our backs on Him.  This is the reason why God sent His Only Begotten Son into the world to save us from our sins.  God knew that we could never achieve this end by ourselves.  Our Blessed Lord freely chose to carry His Cross to Calvary so that we can be forgiven.  In addition to the Cross, Our Lord carried our transgressions to that hill at Calvary.  In that sense, we should always make a point to remember that it was our sins which Our Blessed Lord carried to to Cross.  It was our sins which caused Our Saviour to be nailed to that Cross.  It was our sins which caused Our Blessed Saviour to die on that Cross.  Let us think of these things before we sin again.

St. Margaret Church celebrates Mass each and every Sunday at 9:30 AM.  Mass is celebrated at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located as 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.

Join us for Mass as we listen to the Word of God found in the King James Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Join us as we hear God speaking to us in His Word.  Our Lord also offers to each one of us His Most Precious Body and Blood at Communion time.  Receive the Precious Body and Blood to strengthen and nourish you for your daily journey.  And afterward, please join us for our Coffee Hour to have some delicious goodies and good fellowship.