Skip to main content

It Had Nothing to Do With the Money...

The Eye Witness at our Maundy Thursday Communion Service in the Agape Service offered us a different perspective on the events around the Last Supper and all that led up to it... 





he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. 21 But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table.
Luke 22:19-21 (ANIV)

I was there at the table with him… as I had been many times before… and I suppose it was me he was talking about… But  before we go any further, let’s get this clear, it had nothing to do with the money... I just had to do something. The others think the same as me, but they'd never do anything... All talk and no trousers. It’s always the same... It’s left to people like me to get blood on our hands... It was the same with the resistance. No-one likes the imperial occupiers, but it was left to people like me to do what needed to be done... Did you not know I worked for the resistance? Thought it was only Simon, the Zealot, who had served the cause? No. I did my bit.
But I was a specialist… an assassin... That's where I got my nick name... Sicarious... The knifeman... (produces a flick-knife) And you have to wield a knife sometimes... You have to cut deep... But Jesus is only scratching the surface... He needs to wake up... Well, if this doesn't force his hand nothing will... And if he does nothing... Well, we'll just have to look for someone else to lead us...
I mean, where HAS Jesus led us? I thought it was all coming together with the entrance into the city – fulfilling all the prophecies about the entrance of coming messiah - and then when he overturned the tables of those leeches in the temple... That was straight out of the prophets too; Malachi I think: "Then suddenly, the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple..."
The time was right... We could have taken back what is ours, and set up the Kingdom again. But no... He turns his back on the city and goes out to Bethany...    
And there while we were sharing that table he sits back and allows that whore to bathe his head and feet in expensive perfume...
Everyone was amazed. I said it wasn't right... "What about the poor?" I said... Three hundred silver pieces that perfume would have raised. A year’s wages.
But he said "Leave her alone. She's done a beautiful thing for me. There'll always be poor people... But you won't always have me."
I don't understand... all his talk of a new kingdom where the first will be last and the last will be first... And then he allows himself to be pampered like that... It's not right... Why should he be any different from the rest of us?
Of course the rest of them all said I was only interested in getting my cut as the treasurer. They're all jealous... They're always talking about me behind my back... Its because they're all from up north, while I'm from round here… They're always saying I'm light fingered...
If they'd wanted light fingered they should have given the job to Matthew, the tax collector... He'd have robbed them blind... Well, they'll talk about me now all right... But I don't care... History will prove me right...
300 silver coins... Its not the money... But 300 silver coins poured on his feet. He could have had all that and more when the Kingdom was established, but no, he wanted it here and now... He's not prepared to make the necessary sacrifices... Not prepared to get blood on his precious hands... or feet... He'd rather have them bathed in perfume.
So when I went to Caiaphas and he asked me my price... I told him 30 silver pieces... a tenth of what that whore's perfume would have raised... A tithe for doing God's work. We all have our price. The question now is what price is Jesus prepared to pay?

Prayer:
Lord,
In place of impatience grant us faith in your purposes;
In place of pride grant us a humble reliance upon you;
In place of cynicism grant us an openness to others;
In place of selfishness grant us generosity of spirit;.
In place of self-righteousness grant us a right relationship with you and with others.
Through Jesus Christ your Son, AMEN

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Woman of no Distinction

Don't often post other people's stuff here... But I found this so powerful that I thought I should. It's a performance poem based on John 4: 4-30, and I have attached the original YouTube video below. A word for women, and men, everywhere... "to be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known." I am a woman of no distinction of little importance. I am a women of no reputation save that which is bad. You whisper as I pass by and cast judgmental glances, Though you don’t really take the time to look at me, Or even get to know me. For to be known is to be loved, And to be loved is to be known. Otherwise what’s the point in doing either one of them in the first place? I WANT TO BE KNOWN. I want someone to look at my face And not just see two eyes, a nose, a mouth and two ears; But to see all that I am, and could be all my hopes, loves and fears. But that’s too much to hope for, to wish for, or pray for So I don’t, not anymore. Now I keep to myself And by that

Psalm for Harvest Sunday

A short responsive psalm for us as a call to worship on Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday, and given that it was pouring with rain as I headed into church this morning the first line is an important remembrance that the rain we moan about is an important component of the fruitfulness of the land we live in: You tend the land and water it And the earth produces its abundance. You crown each year with your bounty, and our storehouses overflow with your goodness. The mountain meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are filled with corn; Your people celebrate your boundless grace They shout for joy and sing. from Psalm 65

Anointed

There has been a lot of chatter on social media among some of my colleagues and others about the liturgical and socio-political niceties of Saturday's coronation and attendant festivities, especially the shielding of the anointing with the pictured spoon - the oldest and perhaps strangest of the coronation artefacts. Personally I thought that was at least an improvement on the cloth of gold canopy used in the previous coronation, but (pointless) debates are raging as to whether this is an ancient practice or was simply introduced in the previous service to shield the Queen from the TV cameras, not for purposes of sacredness, but understandable coyness, if she actually had to bare her breast bone in puritan 1950s Britain. But as any church leader knows, anything performed twice in a church becomes a tradition. All this goes to show that I did actually watch it, while doing other things - the whole shooting match from the pre-service concert with yer wumman in that lemon-