Student Devotions - Thursday, February 12th

Good morning my students,

I hope everything is going well in LaSalle. It is fantastic in Mistissini, A truly beautiful and inspiring place.

Speaking of inspiring, we will not find much inspiration in this morning's reading in Matthew 27. In fact we find the opposite of inspiration; despair. We read here of Judas's demise as he takes his life into his own hands. It is a sad ending. I have never really understood how a person could do this. It would require a feeling of no hope. How could a person lose all hope for their future?

Judas had high expectations for Jesus but they were incorrect expectations. He thought Jesus would become the next great king and would drive the Romans out of Jerusalem. He just didn't get what Jesus was doing. He heard everything Jesus said without really listening. Even when he betrayed Jesus and sold him out he was trying to provoke Jesus into action. He really hoped for the best for Jesus but it was a false hope. He just did not understand the mission of Jesus.

Judas was not a good character. His fellow disciples called him a thief. He believed in violence to get what you want. He had no sense of loyalty and he certainly did not understand forgiveness. Why would Jesus have called someone like this? Because he was no different than the others. He is no different than we are. It was impossible for Jesus to call perfect people but he called people who could be redeemed from their sinful nature, just like us.

The saddest thing about Judas was not his betrayal of Jesus because we all do that all the time, in word, deed and thought. The saddest thing was his lack of understanding of God's forgiveness. If he had understood forgiveness he would have held on to some form of hope. If he had hope he would never have killed himself no matter how miserable his betrayal made him feel. He had realized his mistake. He had realized that Jesus would not rise up to take power. He realized what he had done and the guilt and dispair were overwhelming. But even so, if he had saught forgiveness he would have received it. Peter did.

The one thing that makes us an inspring people is they way we hold on to hope even in the face of impossible situations. The moment we lose hope we surrender to dispair and we lose the will to live. Jesus Christ must always remain our hope. We must always cling to him, even in the darkest moments of our lives. He must remember his promises and realize his love and desire for us. We must remind each other in songs and actions that Jesus Christ is that beacon that calls us into him in the darkness of our lives. Don't ever let go of that truth.