There’s a movie that likes to flashback to various moments in people’s lives to show you how all of the character’s pasts fit together in the plot. At one point the movie comedically zooms in on a water bottle and tells us all the things that happened to it since it was bought and how it rose to a place of importance in the story.
Matthew sort of does that in his gospel as the camera zooms in on 30 pieces of silver. We watch as the religious leaders hand this “blood money” to Judas as a reward for betraying Jesus. Then we watch the next day as Judas, throws it at the feet of the religious leaders in agony over what he’s done. The camera then zooms in on the pieces of silver all across the floor as the religious leaders debate what to do with it. The scene then does a hard cut where it’s handed over to a man to buy his land so they can bury un-Jewish people in Jerusalem. Add some slow-motion, classical piano music, dynamic lighting, and that’s a wrap on the money scene.
From money, to the-blood-of-Jesus money, to money that invited outsiders into sacred space. Sometimes a water bottle has a story to tell.
*This devotional was created out of the themes of Matthew 27:1-10 found in today’s reading at CommonPrayer.net. Below are the various AI-created pictures I typed into existence via Mid Journey to mock up artwork for today’s post.
Jamin Bradley 