“And when morning was come, all the chief priests and ancients of the people took counsel against Jesus, that they might put him to death. And they brought him bound, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Then Judas, who betrayed him, seeing that he was condemned, repenting himself, brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and ancients, saying: ‘I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.’ But they said: ‘What is that to us? Look thou to it.’ And casting down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed: and went and hanged himself with an halter. But the chief priests having taken the pieces of silver, said: ‘It is not lawful toput them into the corbona, because it is the price of blood.’ And after they had consulted together, they bought with them the potter’s field, to be a burying place for strangers. For this cause that field was called Haceldama, that is, The field of blood, even to this day. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying: ‘And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was prized, whom they prized of the children of Israel. And they gave them unto the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed to me.’”
The chief priests then, not wanting to kill Jesus secretly that they may destroy His reputation: “A good name is better than great riches” (Proverbs 22:1). Thus, they lead to the pagan governor the King of Israel, that all wonder and joy in His name may be stamped out: “They are multiplied above the hairs of my head, who hate me without cause. My enemies are grown strong who have wrongfully persecuted me” (Psalm 68:5). Judas then takes the money back to the chief priests, wrongfully thinking that, by this, he could turn the minds of men rabid with hate. Now, in this is an insight into the inherent goodness of human nature; despite man’s fallenness, he is not totally depraved, but simply tarnished, like a beautiful gem that has been scratched and muddied: “Thou wast in the pleasures of the paradise of God: every precious stone was thy covering: the sardius, the topaz, and the jasper, the chrysolite, and the onyx, and the beryl, the sapphire, and the carbuncle, and the emerald: gold the work of thy beauty: and thy pipes were prepared in the day that thou wast created” (Ezechiel 28:13). This is clear in the case of Judas, who, though he was so darkened in mind as to willingly betray Jesus after seeing His ministry: “But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25), still possessed a mind that was good insofar as it was human, and therefore is stung with contrition upon seeing Jesus condemned, which could refer either to the chief priests or to Pilate. Judas, however, still continues in the error of either not seeing or affirming Jesus’ divinity, calling Him “innocent blood” rather than “God,” and thus he looks for a salve for his heart in the chief priests rather than in God: “Put not your trust in princes: in the children of men, in whom there is no salvation” (Psalm 145:2-3), which meets with a grossly unsatisfying answer for one that was in shambles, such as the case of holy Job: “Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees: but now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: it hath touched thee and thou art troubled. Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?” (Job 4:4-6). The devil, then, is a tactical, cruel worker, that draws one into temptation by downplaying the gravity of the sin: “[Man] drinketh iniquity like water” (Job 15:16) before screaming in the ear of the one that falls, attempting to drown them in despair: “Many say to my soul: ‘There is no salvation for him in his God’” (Psalm 3:3). Such is the case of Judas, whose heart did not find solace in God, and having been rejected by men, was open to the shredding of the enemy: “With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it" (Proverbs 4:23) and was so consumed with sorrow that he took his own life. A heart entirely devoid of love, Theophila, is in hell, the sentencing to hell is simply following the course that was led in life, and this hell so overcame this Apostle that he did not go to his brothers: “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Psalm 132:1), being unable to face them, or wait for the resurrection, which had been promised: “And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the ancients and by the high priests, and the scribes, and be killed: and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31), instead killing a man that could still be saved in himself. The chief priests then take the silver, and knowing that they had purchased a murder, call it blood money, and then feel it unlawful to put in the treasury: “Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:24). They then buy a potter’s field, which was to be a burial place for foreigners, showing that even the physical price of His passion was to be a haven for the dead: “Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord. From henceforth now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; for their works follow t hem” (Apocalypse 14:13). The field can also be representative of the whole world, for Jesus is the potter that formed you as you are: “And now, O Lord, thou art our father, and we are clay: and thou art our maker, and we all are the works of thy hands” (Isaias 64:8), and He bought the world with the price of His blood for the sake of those who wander in a country that is not their own, that is, in a world in which their hearts are not set, instead being captivated by the Divine Lover who is in heaven: “For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:21). This is particularly so in the remembrance of His holy Passion, to consider the price by which you were redeemed: “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver… but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled” (1 Peter 1:18-19), thus does St. Raphael exhort: “Take out the entrails of this fish and lay up his heart, and his gall, and his liver for thee: for these are necessary and useful medicines… And the gall is good for anointing the eyes, in which there is a white speck, and they shall be cured” (Tobias 6:5-9), that is, take the gruesomeness of the Passion, represented by the bitter gall, from the fish of Jesus and apply it to the eyes of your mind frequently, that any blindness of heart may be cured by the greatest act of love in human history. Finally, the prophecy that St. Matthew references is a combination found in Jeremiah: “And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle’s son, that is in Anathoth: and I weighed him the money, seven staters, and ten pieces of silver” (Jeremias 32:9), and in Zechariah: “And they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me: ‘Cast it to the statuary, a handsome price, that I was prized at by them” (Zacharias 11:12-13). This is to indicate that the Holy Spirit speaks through all of the Prophets, and thus by reading them you can pay attention to what He is speaking to you in the moment that you read them. There is finally one more connection, that the Field of Blood was where Jeremiah had smashed a pot: “And thou shalt break the bottle in the sight of the men that shall go with thee” (Jeremias 19:10), which prophesied the smashed vessel of Judas’ soul, which had been so lovingly sculpted by the divine craftsman, but by hardening it with thoughts of malice against Jesus and smashing it by suicide, he destroys what God had made simply for love.