On betrayal
When we think of betrayal, we usually think of Judas Iscariot and his betrayal of the Lord Christ around 20 centuries ago. It makes sense of course, but Judas was far from unique. Betrayal is one of the evils that lurk in men’s hearts and women, too, I suppose; that is unfortunate, but it is a fact.
What is far more interesting is the lengths to which men will go to justify themselves. The most egregious sinners are the first ones in line to stone their neighbors. The difference between a “riot” and a “peaceful protest” is often just a matter of which side of the political divide one is on.
The more disturbing quality of betrayal as a part of the human condition — the thing that makes it different from other sins such as theft or drunkenness — is that it is the one most engaged in by the most self-righteous of both men and women. Even worse, they either deny or rationalize to the point of no conscience.
Priests and pastors, politicians and generals, we find the disciples of Judas in the most trusted of places. The House speaker prosecuting the president for adultery while the same speaker is shacked up with a mistress in a Capitol Hill apartment at public expense — all the while claiming to be a disciple of the man who said, “Judge not.”
In this example, we find betrayal of both decency and truthfulness, as well as the people’s trust — the latter, probably irrelevant, as scripture tell us the people tend to prefer Barabbas to Jesus, unfortunately — hence, the reason we face the situations we do in the political arena.
Another example might be the priest who rails against the evils of teen pregnancy and premarital sex all while molesting the altar boys in his care, betraying all that is sacred and honorable. The parents, on the other hand, more often than not, are more willing to trust the priest than their own children and, in so doing, taking their own turn at betrayal.
We need not look too far to plenty of other, sometimes less obvious, examples of betrayal, both of persons and of principles. The current difficulties of the Boy Scouts come to mind.
Native American tribes and tribal organizations who attempt to destroy other tribes and tribal organizations for no other concern than money. These also are among those following the path of Judas. One could also include in this list the U.S. Capitol police officers who betrayed their oath by giving aid and comfort to the insurrectionists breaching the very edifice those officers were sworn to protect. No doubt those individuals justified themselves on ideological grounds, but it was betrayal none the less.
Betrayal, sometimes known as treason or treachery, is without question one of the most insidious of sins. There are so many ways to rationalize it. Rationalization of betrayal is the one place where the uncommon bedfellows of religion and politics, ideology and greed can all be found in the same room drinking the wine of delusion and untruth. A circumstance of the human condition that good men and good women must constantly guard against with the strength of good character and the clarity of a solid sense of honor.
We face temptation daily, from peers, from politicians, from the crotchety armchair expert we all know at least one of. That is the guy who does nothing useful but always claims to know a guy in Homeland Security who told him about whatever the conspiracy of the day is. We know better, of course, but we are too polite to tell this guy that he is an idiot. Perhaps we should not be so polite.
Perdition, evil talk, is not without consequence. Evil talk leads to evil action. They call that conspiracy. We see this when protests turn to vandalism and assault, and the evil ones are not disciplined by the majority. This is the danger of evil talk. This is the danger of mob psychosis. The sin of betrayal always begins with evil talk. Long before Judas committed the ultimate sin, he already started down an evil road.
“Happy is he that condemns not himself in the thing which he allows”, so says St. Paul in his letter to the Romans. Obviously, many modern-day Romans have not listened to that advice. Is not merely an academic issue, the treachery and hypocrisy being bandied about these days have real consequences both for individuals and communities.
Judas walked with the Lord Christ; Judas knew the truth. He chose evil anyway. Long before Judas betrayed Christ, he first betrayed himself.
Let us all learn from his sin. Let us not commit that sin ourselves.