Good Morning Gloucester

Field of Blood (22×28 mixed media)

There are two accounts of the death of Judas, one in Matthew, telling of his hanging, and one by Luke in Acts, talking about him falling headlong, bursting open in the middle and his bowels gushing out. Since Luke was a doctor, it is fitting that he would focus on the latter. I didn’t want to paint the bowel gushing, so I painted the hanging with accompanying clues to how the latter occurs. The little black bird on the hanging rope will peck away at it until it breaks under the dead weight of Judas, causing him to fall headlong into the sharp rocks below him, bursting him in the middle so his bowels will gush out. I don’t really believe that a little bird caused it, more likely the dead weight of Judas’ body causing the rope or tree limb to break. The vultures are circling and waiting patiently for the latter to occur to make their meal easier. A fitting end to a man whose sins included worshipping the idol of his greed, sacrificing his Lord to his love for money, and causing the shed of innocent blood. But in the end, it needed to happen to fulfill prophesy and for God’s plan for salvation of man to come into play.

Matthew 27:1-10

Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the people of Israel had set a price, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

Acts 1:16-19

“Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. “For he was counted among us, and received his portion in this ministry.” (Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood).”

E.J. Lefavour

www.hobbithousestudio.com

Left: AG Trustee Jacob Belcher hands $1000 to David Killian of the Auto Shop group.     Right: Jake with Jarrod Martin, Lexi Ciolino, Chrissy Nugent, and Isaac da Silva of the Library Renovation Team

Last night at GHS four excellent pitches were made by students hoping to make their school more awesome. The trustees of Awesome Gloucester were then faced with choosing the best. Because we were joined this month by the Gloucester Education Fund who matched our normal $1,000 dollar grant, we chose the top two ideas in the closest voting on record. Jack Porter’s Auto Shop class won for their idea to do free spring maintenance on the cars of elders and veterans. Another group of motivated students received a micro-grant to renovate the Library Commons. Congratulations to both groups, you restore our faith that the generations coming up understand the value of service and community building. Details on both projects and information on how to pitch your idea to make Gloucester more awesome can be found at the Awesome Foundation website. To date Awesome Gloucester has funded $31,000 in projects for the city.

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Don’t come-a-knockin’!  A couple summers ago I came across these two on a Cape Cod Beach while photographing a sunrise with cousin Wendy and friend Helen.   We thought wow, we’ve never seen horseshoe crabs on land and what a beautiful pattern they are making and so I began to photograph them.   We speculated a bit on what they may be doing (maybe one is hurt and it’s friend is helping it back to water?) but confirmed our suspicions after GTS’ing it (googling that sh&$) on our return.  Anyone ever witness this before?  It doesn’t matter what their little crawl of shame was…it was still a cool thing to see.   I guess I need to get out more!

Give me a spirit that on this life’s rough sea Loves t’have his sails filled with a lusty wind, Even till his sail-yards tremble, his masts crack, And his ship run on her side so low That she drinks water, and her keel plows air.
George Chapman

Mattew 26:14-16

Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

Mattew 26:47-50

While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him.” At once he came up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you are here to do.” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him.

While we cannot be absolutely certain why Judas betrayed Jesus, some things are certain. While Judas was chosen to be one of the Twelve, all scriptural evidence points to the fact that he never believed Jesus to be God. He may not even have been convinced that Jesus was the Messiah (at least as he understood it). Unlike the other disciples that called Jesus “Lord,” Judas instead called him “Rabbi,” which acknowledged Jesus as nothing more than a teacher. While other disciples at times made great professions of faith and loyalty, Judas never did so. This lack of faith in Jesus is the foundation for the other issues listed below. The same holds true for us. If we fail to recognize Jesus as God incarnate, and therefore the only One who can provide forgiveness for our sins, and the eternal salvation that comes with it, we lose in the end.

Judas not only lacked faith in Christ, but he also had little personal relationship with Him. When the synoptic gospels list the Twelve, they are always listed in the same general order, with slight variations. The general order is believed to indicate the relative closeness of their personal relationship with Jesus. Despite the variations, Peter and the brothers James and John, are always listed first, which is consistent with their relationships with Jesus. Judas is always listed last.   Additionally, the only documented dialogue between Jesus and Judas involves Judas being rebuked after his greed motivated remark to Mary (John 12:1-8), his denial of his betrayal (Matthew 26:25), and the betrayal itself (Luke 22:48).

Judas was consumed with greed to the point of betraying the trust of not only Jesus, but also his fellow disciples, as we see in John 12:5-6. Judas may have desired to follow Jesus simply because he saw an opportunity to profit from collections taken for support of the group.

Judas, like most Jews at the time, believed the Messiah was going to overthrow Roman occupation and take a position of power ruling over the nation of Israel. Judas may have followed Jesus hoping to benefit from association with Him as the new reigning political power. No doubt he expected to be among the ruling elite after the revolution. By the time of Judas’ betrayal, Jesus had made it clear that He planned to die, not start a rebellion against Rome. So Judas may have assumed, as the Pharisees did, that since He would not overthrow the Romans, He was not the Messiah they were anticipating. In the end, he played the part necessary for God’s plan of salvation for all men to come into being.  That doesn’t make what Judas did right or acceptable, because it came down to his own choice, but shows that God can take even our worst and turn it to be to his glory.

E.J. Lefavour

www.hobbithousestudio.com