Then one of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Jesus over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over. 

The movie "Mud" portrays people who are trying to work out what love means in their lives. It shows the principal difficulty that blocks our understanding of love, namely, our human nature which has a tendency to search out what feels good rather than a good foundation for love. Young teenager Ellis wants to feel the love of his parents, but his parents are "flawed" human beings who will no longer compromise. Ellis' own teenage love feelings are "flawed" simply because he is only learning how to love in a romantic way for the first time. Mud and Juniper have had a long love relationship that has been "on and off" throughout their complicated lives, and what makes it "on and off" are their own "flawed" understanding of the love they are seeking. We are indeed flawed human beings, and the only way we will be able to understand the love that we seek will be to understand and control the natural faults that our human natures put into the calculus of love.

Judas Iscariot is an obvious choice of a "flawed human being" as one studies Scripture. His actions at the end of his association with Jesus clearly relate the conclusions of human thinking led by misguided principles. What is not so obvious is why Judas did what he did. He had believed in Jesus, no doubt had even performed miracles in his name, and had been a trusted friend whom Jesus relied on.

Perhaps the answer to the question of why Judas was the way he was lies in the fact that he was seeking love with a flawed human nature. He certainly had loved Jesus at one time, wanting to be loved by him in return. But Jesus had not gone the direction that Judas felt he should go. In Judas' mind, Jesus was the leader who could lead him and his friends the way Judas felt they should go. When it became evident that Jesus was not going to do what Judas thought he should, he betrayed his friend, which led him later to despair.

Human natures carry with them the possibility of error because we tend to follow our own way of seeking some direction. The movie "Mud," gives us a portrayal of mistakes which revolved around an inability to understand love completely, thus destroying relationships that could have been healthy.

The application comes easy: human natures need help when it comes to love. Because we are flawed for whatever reason, we must have someone or some thing that can direct us. Perhaps it is a study of what love should be before we make any choice. Perhaps it is the strict imitation of someone who knows how to love. Perhaps it is some healing that must occur before we begin to love.

Whatever it is, we begin with the belief that all of us can love in a better way than we are right now, and then proceed from there.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, we make mistakes. Our free wills get us into trouble so often. Thank you for giving us your Son to show us how to love, and may we learn from him the way to improve our human natures. Be with us, we pray. 

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©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America