Judas' Betrayal, Middle English, and the Last Supper

Sheer Thursday was a common Middle English alternative name for Maundy Thursday. The word derives from the Middle English word "sheer," a loan word from Old Norse that means "innocent, pure, bright, and cleansed from sin." The name was used interchangeably with Maundy Thursday because, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it, "the name appears to have been applied to Maundy Thursday with allusion to the purification of the soul by confession, and perhaps also to the practice of washing the altars on that day."

At the end of the thirteenth century, this day and its meaning provided the opportunity for an anonymous author to write a poem for Sheer Thursday about Judas' betrayal of Jesus. In this telling, which blends the biblical account with the author's imagining, Judas, rather than betraying Jesus for purely selfish reasons, needed to recover money stolen from him. 

After Jesus sent out Judas with thirty pieces of silver to procure meat for the Passover meal, he encounters his sister. She scolds her brother for following a false prophet. Her haranguing goes on for so long that he falls asleep, and when he awakens, his sister is gone along with the silver. 

Wandering the city, searching earnestly for his sister, he ends up before Pilate, who offers to pay him to betray Jesus. Judas agrees to do so in exchange for thirty pieces of silver. The poem then jumps forward in time to Jesus and the disciples, where Christ announces that one of them has betrayed him. Judas vigorously denies it was him (as does Peter, whom Jesus tells, "Peter, I know you well. You will forsake me three times before the cock crows"). But it is too late. Jesus says in the poem, "Why sit you, apostles, and why won't you eat? I am bought and sold today for our meat."

In Middle English, "meat" not only means food, but flesh, revealing a double meaning to Jesus' pronouncement. As Christ speaks of being sold, the layers of meaning unfold. Christ has been sold to buy meat, but he is also saying that he has been sold to become our meat since this is the Last Supper when he institutes the Eucharist. 

Jesus' proclamation during the Last Supper intertwines the earthly and the heavenly, transforming the act of eating the ancient Passover feast into a new, heaven-heralded sacrament of redemption.

This poem highlights that at the root of Judas' act of betrayal lies an exchange of currency for the divine. Such sacrilege reduces the Savior to a commodity which is a human attitude and behavior that has repeated itself from the beginning of civilization to the present.

Yet, behind Judas' temporal transaction lurks a higher, spiritual truth: Christ's declaration unveils a profound act of self-sacrifice. By acknowledging that he has been sold to become our sustenance, the Lamb of God directs our attention to the ultimate sacrifice of his body and blood, which he institutes as the Eucharist during this poignant moment. Here, the symbolism of nourishment transcends physical sustenance to embody spiritual nourishment, offering believers a real, consequential communion with the source of their daily and eternal bread.

And so Jesus' proclamation during the Last Supper intertwines the earthly and the heavenly, transforming the act of eating the ancient Passover feast into a new, heaven-heralded sacrament of redemption. Through the imbibing of bread and wine, believers also partake of the Paschal body and blood, which comes from the eternal mystery of Christ's self-offering, where believers find sustenance for both their bodies and their souls. Thus, the word "meat" is a meaningful reminder of the transformative power of the Eucharist, where the mundane is united with the sacred, and the act of consumption becomes an act of communion with the divine.

And now that the stage is set, here is the poem: 

It was upon a Sheer Thursday that our Lord arose,
Full mild were the words he spoke to Judas:
"Judas, you must go to Jerusalem to buy our food;
Take thirty coins of silver to carry on your back.
When you come far into the broad street, far into the broad street,
Some of your kinsmen there you may meet."
He met with his sister, a wicked woman:
"Judas, you deserve to be stoned with stones!
Judas, you deserve to be stoned with stones,
For the false prophet you believe in."
"Be quiet, dear sister - may your heart break!
If my Lord Christ knew of this, he would have his revenge."
"Judas, go to the rock [in Jerusalem], up upon the stone,
Lay your head in my lap; go to sleep now."
As soon as Judas awoke from sleep,
Thirty coins of silver were stolen from him.
He tore his hair until his head was covered in blood;
The Jews of Jerusalem thought that he was mad.
To him came the rich Jew who was called Pilate:
"Will you sell your Lord, who is named Jesus?"
"I will not sell my Lord for any sum of money,
Except for the thirty coins he entrusted to me."
"Will you sell your Lord Christ for any sum of gold?"
"No, except for the coins he wishes to have."
To him came our Lord as his apostles sat at meat.
"Why sit you, apostles, and why won't you eat?
Why sit you, apostles, and why won't you eat?
I am bought and sold today for our meat."
Up stood Judas: "Lord, am I that man?
I was never in the place where evil was spoken of you."
Up stood Peter, and spoke with all his might:
"Though Pilate himself come with ten hundred knights,
Though Pilate himself come with ten hundred knights,
Yet would I, Lord, for your love fight!"
"Be quiet, Peter, well I you know:
You will forsake me three times before the cock crows."