Truly, the Son of Man will go, just as the Holy Scripture says about Him, but woe to that man by whose hand the Son of Man will be betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
This word brings together God’s supreme plan and human responsibility. The Son of Man goes as it is written; the cross is not an accident, but the path of fulfilling Scripture. But this does not justify the betrayer. Judas acted by his own will, with greed and wickedness, and so his sin remains with its full weight. The words “It would have been better if he had not been born” show the terror of that judgment. God’s plan can be carried out even through an evil man, but the evil man does not cease to be responsible for his sin.