Betrayal isn’t just a good plot line for a book or movie, but happens in real life as well. A few people in history have themselves become synonymous with treachery and betrayal. In our own country, for example, the name Benedict Arnold means traitor. Arnold was a General in George Washington’s Continental army. He was a great soldier and many would argue that he may have saved the revolution with decisive victories. But his wavering loyalties and eventual treason have forever cemented his legacy as a traitor. But, there may be one man who is a more infamous traitor than Arnold: Judas Iscariot.
There’s not much about Judas in the
Bible. But, it’s unlikely Judas stuck
out like a sore thumb among the disciples.
As Peter states in our First Lesson, “For he was counted among us and
took his share in the ministry.” John
Gill, a theologian in the 1700s said, Judas, “…was not only called an apostle,
and enrolled among them, but he really had a part in that ministry; he
preached, and baptized, and wrought miracles; and besides all this, carried the
bag, was the treasurer, and a sort of a steward in Christ’s family, and
provided for it.” In other words, Judas
was trusted; trusted so much that the group allowed him to manage the money. I suppose that at the Passover meal, while the
disciples were disputing who was the greatest among them, Judas’ name would
have been mentioned or thought of because he served a major function in the
group. When Jesus said someone would
betray Him during the Passover meal, no one immediately pointed to Judas. In fact, each disciple asked if they would be
the betrayer. When Judas left the meal,
there was confusion among the disciples as to why. John writes that the disciples thought one of
two things: since Judas was in charge of the money he was either going to give it
to the poor or, like typical men, they thought he might be getting more food
for the Feast. But this is where the
Gospel says, “As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.” And a
few verses later John adds, “As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went
out. And it was night.”
There is a document known as the Gospel
of Judas, however it is a Gnostic gospel.
The main premise of Gnosticism is that Jesus gave certain people His
“real” secret revelation. These teachings, however, undermine Biblical
teachings and have been considered heresy since their inception. This particular gospel was actually forged by
people about a century after the Canonical gospels were written. Although it is not authoritative, the
existence of such a gospel begs the question, “Why would someone write this?” Dan Clendenin suggests that “Perhaps it was
natural that 150 years later some Gnostics gave Judas’s reputation a
makeover. The ‘Gospel of Judas’…which
contains very little that is specifically Christian—portrays Judas as a hero
who betrays Jesus at his own request, not as the quintessential villain.” Like Clendenin, I do not believe that Jesus
and Judas were in on things together, that Judas had the real revelation of
Christ, which the rest of the disciples couldn’t understand putting them on the
outside. However, I do not believe that the Spirit of God left Judas.
The Bible
clearly states that the Spirit of God left Saul in 1 Samuel 16, but we do not
find that being the case about Judas in the Gospels, rather that Satan entered
him. So how did Satan enter Judas if the
Spirit of God didn’t leave him? Martin
Luther explains that there are three sources of temptation: Satan, the world,
and our own selves. I believe any of these
could have lead Judas to betray Christ. Christian
author John Eldridge takes this idea a step further when he calls the self the
“traitor within.” This traitor within is the flesh that the Apostle Paul writes
about. Paul says that the Spirit is at
war with this traitor. Eldredge explains
that you can have the best fortress ever built, but if there’s a traitor
inside, the fortress will surely fall.
The Bible doesn’t give a specific motive
for Judas betraying Christ, it simply says that Satan entered him. How do you think that Satan entered him? What did Judas do to allow Satan to
enter? I often thought that Judas like
Saul went mad, but I no longer think this is the case. Notice that sometimes when Satan enters a
story he doesn’t stir up bitterness, foaming at the mouth, crazy eyed, insane
people, but tries to bargain with the traitor inside and enters as something
seemingly good, right, beautiful, and as something to the normal person, makes
sense. For Satan is an evil manipulator and can be disguised as an angel of
light. Let’s look at a few
examples.
In the Garden of Eden Satan
approaches Eve asking her why she couldn’t eat of the tree. She answers, “If we eat of it then we will
die.” And what does he say? “You will not surely die, for God knows that
when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing
good and evil.” And Eve saw that the
fruit was good for food, beautiful in her eyes, and believed that she would
gain wisdom, becoming like God, so she took the fruit in her hands, pressed it
between her teeth, and took a bite.
Even in the story of Job we see
that it wasn’t Satan telling Job to curse God, but rather his friends, the
world, tempting this man of God. Though,
Satan didn’t make Job’s friends crazy, he was able to plant in their minds the
idea that Job must have done something wrong for all of this to have
happened. To them it seemed
obvious. It was the world that tempted
Job to curse God and move on. But Job
knew the way to make sure the traitor wouldn’t let the enemy in. He knew he had to kill the traitor, or crucify
the flesh and he did so by trusting in God.
My last is example is when Jesus
went into the desert for 40 days. At the
end of His time there, Satan approached him three times. Once was when Jesus was hungry and Satan
tried to reason with him. Satan said
that if Jesus was truly the Son of God, He would turn the rocks into bread and
eat it. Eating when you are hungry isn’t
evil, but Jesus saw past the statement and saw the intention behind it.
Then Satan told Jesus to prove
Himself by jumping off the temple. Satan
reasoned that angels would catch Jesus if He were the Son of God; this time he
even quoted scripture. It’s true that
Jesus was the Son of God and there’s nothing wrong with proving what is true,
but Jesus once again looked beyond the statement and saw the motive.
Lastly, Satan took Him to a high
mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and told Jesus that he’d
give all of it to Him, if only Jesus would worship him. This is a more blatant attempt of coaxing
Jesus, He wouldn’t have to die, yet, Jesus knew that even though the world has
been overrun with sind, it still wasn’t Satan’s to give and once again deflected
things that seemingly made sense. But Satan’s
attempted manipulation was in vain for Jesus didn’t have a traitor inside, because
although he was fully human, He was one with God.
So, Satan left Jesus, but he did not
give up. He waited for the opportune
time with the opportune traitor that would give him access to Jesus. That person was Judas. Now we should examine how Satan may have
persuaded Judas to do his bidding.
Although I do not agree with all of
his theology, William Barclay suggests a few motives Judas may have had. His first theory is that Judas felt like an
outsider in the group. This is suggested
because some believe “Iscariot means a man from Kerioth,” which would be in the
south making him the only non-Galilaean.
Being the outsider he would have
felt out of place which may have driven him to kill Jesus.
But as John Gill pointed out, this was probably not the case
for Judas not only was a part of the ministry but had a pivotal role.
Secondly, Judas may have betrayed
Jesus out of pure greed for money.
Thirdly Barclay writes, “It may be
that Judas came to hate Jesus. From others he could disguise his black heart;
but the eyes of Jesus could penetrate to the inmost recesses of his being.” And for that Judas hated Jesus enough to kill
Him.
Fourthly, another
theory has Iscariot meaning “dagger bearers.”
This group would have helped in the war cause that fought desperately to
see the Romans forcibly removed from Palestine.
They would have thought the Messiah was coming to be a military
leader. Had Judas been a part of this
group, the realization that Jesus would not fight may have so frustrated Judas
to the point of betrayal.
The last suggestion, which is the
most probable, is that by betraying Jesus, Judas didn’t actually want him to
die. Many people outside of the dagger
bearers also thought the Messiah was coming to free the Jews from the
Romans. Maybe Judas thought that turning
Jesus over to the authorities would force Jesus to rise up as the militaristic
Messiah. Barclay says, “If that be so, Judas had the tragic experience of
seeing his plan go desperately wrong; and in his bitter remorse he committed
suicide.”
Jesus stirred
up enough trouble to be this Messiah, but never with the right people at the
right time. He’d been captured by the
crowds before and escaped, but wouldn’t the Messiah fight against soldiers? Maybe Satan convinced Judas in the same
manner he convinced Eve that the fruit was good, making Judas believe that by
turning Jesus over to the chief priest that he’d actually be doing everyone a
favor forcing Him to show His power as the Messiah. The traitor within Judas was paid off, and being
convinced, Judas made his plans, and opened his heart to allow Satan to enter *at
the opportune time*.
Now let’s change lenses for a
second and compare Judas to another figure, Peter, who as our first lesson
shows, was the new leader of the early church.
Both men had been specifically called to the ministry by Jesus. As John Gill pointed out, each would have
preached, baptized, and performed miracles.
They each expected the messiah to conquer the Romans; we can see that
Peter thought this by his fighting manner when the guards came to take
Jesus. Peter drew his sword and even cut
off a servant’s ear. And when push came
to shove, both men turned their backs on their Rabbi. This may be more serious than we understand.
Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg indicate in their book Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, that
“one’s rabbi was considered to be as dear as one’s own father.” Judas betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver by
means of a kiss.
Peter denied Him, three times. After their disloyalty became evident to
each, they both felt remorseful. After
Peter denies Jesus 3 times in Matthew’s Gospel, he hears the rooster crow, goes
outside and doesn’t just tear up or cry, Matthew says he “wept bitterly.” Matthew wrote his gospel in a way that linked
ideas or themes together so it is not coincidence that immediately after Peter’s
betrayal Matthew resumes the story of Judas.
Matthew writes that Judas, “was seized with remorse and returned the
thirty silver coins to the chief priests and elders,” saying, “’I have sinned
for I have betrayed innocent blood.’” But
they didn’t care for they had gotten what they wanted, Jesus was going to die.
But Peter and Judas differ in one
distinct way. That is, in how they
respond to their own sinful deeds. Judas
took matters into his own hands and not being able to forgive himself, hanged
himself in a field. Imagine if Judas
would have waited 3 days. Jesus would have forgiven him. It would have been the real life example of
the prodigal son coming home to his father.
Although Peter didn’t kill himself,
I don’t think he trusted himself either.
Jesus had changed his name from Simon to Petra or Peter which means Rock.
He was supposed to be the Rock Jesus was going to build his church on. Yet he crumbled and denied Jesus repeatedly. But John ends his Gospel with Jesus
reinstating Peter. Just as Peter denied
Jesus three times, Jesus restores him by asking Peter the same question three
times. It was probably the toughest question anyone
could ever face. Imagine what Peter must
have felt after explicitly denying Jesus in His time of need. He had to look into Jesus’ eyes, which must
have pierced his soul, and answer the question, “Do you truly love me?” By not taking matters into his own hands,
Peter was able to experience God’s grace.
Judas never got that chance.
When I think
of how we should respond to God’s grace despite our sins, I am reminded of an
experience I had in Thailand. I got the
opportunity to go to an orphanage one day.
The guys in our group went off to play ball with the boys. There was a group of older Thai girls
coloring and playing games and most of the girls on our team stayed with them. But
I saw a few girls on our team walk into a building and decided to follow
them. In this building were “rejected
babies.” Most of them were old enough to
walk, but had a deformity such as a clubbed foot. As I entered a girl no older than 2 stood at
the door with her hands in the air, wanting me to hold her. Her ailment was that she was missing a finger,
a pinky finger. We only got to play with
in there for an hour and then we were forced to go play with the “normal”
kids. We weren’t allowed to take
pictures because the people were afraid that if the pictures we took back to
the U.S. were of deformed children, then no one would want to adopt from this
orphanage. I only put this little girl
down once the whole hour and that was to fix my hair. When I did she cried for me to pick her up
again and hated that I had put her down.
In my quiet time the following day,
I couldn’t get her out of my mind. It was then that I realized something; we
each have deformities because of our sin.
But like that little girl we each need love. It’s the times when we feel
alone, like God is not holding us, that we are faced with the choice to trust
Him or take matters into our own hands. I
wish I could say that I am like the little girl, always seeking God to pick me
back up and restore me again, but so often I do the opposite. So often I am like Judas and instead of
waiting for restoration I do desperate and stupid things that hang myself out
to dry.
When I read that Peter said Judas
was counted among the disciples the question I ask myself is “am I any
different than Judas” I call myself a
Christian, which means, “Little Christ,” but is that the way I act? I have sinned and fallen short of the glory
of God. My sins have betrayed and denied
Jesus, nailing Him to the cross. But how
do I respond to my sin? Often, I am more
like Judas than I am like Christ, taking matters into my own hands rather than
fully relying on God. However, I have to
remember that, like Peter, I now know the end of the story. I know that Jesus did bear my sins on the
cross, died, but three days later rose again, and I now have the Holy Spirit in
me.
So, what can we make of these two
disciples? How do their stories affect
us? Let me leave you with a couple questions
to ponder. First, is your flesh, or the
traitor within you, effecting who you listen and open your heart to? Secondly, how do you react when you realize
you’ve sinned, by taking matters into your own hands, hanging yourself out to
dry so to speak, or will you allow the grace of God to cover your guilt and
shame? And lastly, are you like Judas and
Peter trying to force God’s hand or running and hiding; or are you like Christ
who chose not to live a second without the presence of God evident in Him?
God promises that He will never
leave you or forsake you, or “put you down to fix His hair”, for you have been
saved by grace through faith in Christ’s body broken for you, His blood shed
for you, in order that you might be resurrected with Him. Remember, had Judas not taken his life, even
he, the most infamous traitor in history, would have been forgiven. Let us learn from his mistake and trust God
instead of acting upon our own impulses.
As the Psalmist says, “wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He
shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord.”
Amen
