Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (26: 14-25) which commemorates the first part of the Last Supper, the preparation, and the betrayal.

Fr Paul says the strange pre-planned sequence of Jesus sending his disciples to encounter a seemingly random stranger in the city occurs both for Jesus’ solemn donkey ride into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and for the preparation of a room for the Last Supper. These are evidence both of Jesus’ foreknowledge and of God’s own pre-planning: it was pre-destined that these events should take place as they did.

The events of Jesus’ life, but especially those of his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, were the culmination of God’s plan, expressed from ages earlier in the scriptures. The way this is shown is by relating even details of the happenings to the scriptures. So, in the earliest tradition, quoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians (15: 3-5), Christ died and rose again, both ‘according to the scriptures’.

And again, according to the scriptures, the thirty pieces of silver paid for the betrayal of Jesus is mentioned in Exodus (21:32).

Why did Judas betray his Master? Was it simply for thirty pieces of silver? Was Judas a convinced nationalist fighter who abandoned Jesus in frustration when he perceived that Jesus was not a political liberator who would expel the Romans? We will never know.

Fr Paul invites us to reflect on todays’ Gospel Lesson: The Last supper is prepared…. Are we ready?

Over the next few days, rather than a reflection, Fr Paul will share some explanations about the ceremonies to be celebrated at Easter and he encourages and invites us all to come along to experience for yourself the ceremonies he describes.