This Easter is a time of mistrust. It is hard to escape the prevailing economic gloom, the impression that our future has been handed over to those who have proved themselves venal and untrustworthy in managing our past, and the signs that the world our children will inherit is being despoiled so that we can live on undisturbed.
If trust is the one thing that is required, it is also the one thing that we give most grudgingly. And if it is not given, cynicism and apathy rule.
Mistrust is not a great spirit in which to celebrate Easter. Easter is about new beginnings, dawn, clarity and trust. Mistrust is corrosive of all that. So this Easter it might be worth looking at the more sinister players in the drama Easter, especially Judas and the chief priests. Their story is one of how mistrust is bred by greed and locked in by power.
Judas' personal story has always fascinated readers of the Gospels. But Matthew's Gospel, which provides the most dramatic picture of Judas, is more interested in its public significance. He tells us of the 30 pieces of silver Judas receives for his betrayal, his remorse, his rejected attempt to return the money, his hanging, and the use of his money to fund a graveyard for foreigners.
Matthew's account is a fireworks display of symbols and allusions to Old Testament stories, mostly about dodgy transactions. In particular he draws on a parable of Zecchariah which presents the leaders of Israel as exploiting the people and finally selling them out for 30 silver pieces. This was the price of a slave.
Judas then is a pawn in the plot of the chief priests. He certainly sold Jesus out, but he was himself sold short by the chief priests. Although they were scrupulous in accounting for monies received, they had no scruple in paying money to procure betrayal and a killing. They professed to protect the temple, the centre of Israel, but they spent its resources for the benefit of foreigners.
In this story greed corrupts Judas and money is used corruptly by the chief priests to kill Jesus and so protect their power. Their dealings, like Judas' betrayal of Jesus, were built on mistrust, which finally destroys Judas when he realises what he has done and what kind of people he has been dealing with.
Matthew contrasts Jesus with the chief priests in