Just about everyone, believer and non-believer alike, identifies Judas with betrayal. Wednesday of Holy Week is called Spy Wednesday because on this day at mass we hear the story of Judas’ traitorous scheming:
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 evening of the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Jesus 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.”
Below, you’ll find Rufus Wainwright’s contemporary setting of the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God). The opening sounds here drill into our hearts, our souls, to precisely the place where the Lord’s mercy meets us: in our sins and betrayals of God’s love for us our betrayal of others — precisely where we most need his healing love and peace. Wainwright’s music might help us image Judas plotting against Jesus and help us look more honestly at our own betrayals – but the wrenching sounds don’t abandon us to Judas’ despair or our own remorse. Rather, it moves us beyond to the consolation of the One who takes our sins away, finally resolving in great peace: dona nobis pacem…
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world:
have mercy on us.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: miserere nobis.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world:
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: dona nobis pacem.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world:
grant us peace.
PAUSE for PRAYER…
With the light of your truth, Lord, open my heart
at work, at school, in my parish, in my community…
with my greedy and wasteful ways…
With the light of your truth, Lord, open my heart
the person you made me to be…
by choosing the cheap and tawdry…
With the light of your truth, Lord, open my heart
in selfishness and presumption,
and in my vain, self-serving efforts
to win the praise of others…
Forgive me my betrayals, Lord,
Help me stand in the light of your truth, Lord,
Amen.
performed by King’s College Choir
