"A Little Judas in All of Us"
Matthew 26:14-25, 47-56
Palm Sunday
April 5, 2009
St. Paul United Methodist Church
Rev. John Andrew Fleming
When it comes to naming our children, parents try to do the best they can. Many of us search high and low for the name that will follow our sons and daughters for a lifetime. We hope their names won't get them beat up on the playground, will be ones that can spell in kindergarten, and ones, later, they will be glad they have.
Certain names are immediately taken out of consideration. Naming a daughter for an old girlfriend or a son for an old boyfriend just isn't right. For our girls, Susie and I chose family names. It was important to me that our firstborn have the name Grace as either her first or middle name. As it turns out, Susie had a great Aunt whose name was Ann Grace. They called her Annie Grace. So that is why Annie Grace received her name. Julie Ann is named for my beloved Aunt and sister, Julia Lee Moore and Emily Ann Fleming Castle.
Sometimes people turn to the Bible to name their kids. Susie and I have a college friend whose name is Ruth. She is the only Ruth we know. All of her siblings have biblical names. Their daddy was a preacher, so figure. There is no shortage of biblical names to use. Some employ James and others John and still others Andrew. Peter and Mary and Martha are also popular.
There is one biblical name that is never used. It is the name of Jesus' most infamous disciple, Judas. I understand that in Germany, it is against the law to name your child Judas. In America, it is against your better judgment. One preacher put it this way, "We don't even name our dogs Judas." He is right about that.
Judas, you will remember, was one of the twelve, Jesus' chosen disciples. He is one of the ones of which we know very little about. What we do know is that Jesus and Judas' fellow disciples trusted him a great deal, enough to make him the treasurer of the group. He was a member of Jesus' executive committee. We also know that at the last supper, Judas was sitting next to Jesus. Then and there, while they were eating, Jesus said, in a matter of fact kind of way, "One of you will betray me."
Matthew tells us that the disciples were distressed when they heard Jesus say that. Eleven of them said, and pay attention to this, "Surely not I, Lord." Judas did not say anything, at least not yet. Jesus continued, "The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me…" To share that bowl meant that Judas was sitting in a position of honor and trust. All of that makes his betrayal all the more painful.
I have been a preacher and pastor since my graduation from seminary in 1994 and thus far have never preached a sermon on Judas and his betrayal. That is a little hard for me to believe. I have wondered, haven't you, why Judas did what he did.
Some have guessed that he did it because he was greedy, that he did it for the money. The problem with that is that thirty pieces of silver is not really all that much money. In today's standards the amount would be ten thousand dollars.
Some have speculated that Judas betrayed Jesus because he was disappointed in him. Jesus wasn't turning into the kind of Lord Judas expected him to be. Now look back at what Judas said when Jesus predicted that one of them would betray him. All but him said, "Surely not I, Lord." Judas said something different than that. He said, "Surely not I, rabbi." Rabbi. Teacher. That is different. Did Judas see in Jesus what the Jews saw in Jesus, a good teacher, perhaps the greatest of all teachers, but only a teacher? I guess that could be it.
Maybe Matthew knows what he is doing in not spelling out the reason of Judas' betrayal. Perhaps Matthew is leaving a little room for us to consider the reasons why someone, anyone, would betray the Lord.
I guess you could say that we have always reserved the harshest judgment for acts of betrayal. A betrayal will shatter a relationship quicker than anything else, mostly because at the very heart of it is the absence of trust. When a betrayal happens in a marriage, the marriage is a patient in the Critical Care Unit. When a betrayal happens in a family, the family may never be the same. A betrayal can even happen in a church and often we don't know what to do with that. The economy is terrible these days and our outrage is strong for the managers at AIG and their bonuses. We bailed them out with tax dollars, how dare they take a bonus!
Friends, we have always been hard on Judas and anyone like him. Why is that? Could it be that we are that way because we are afraid that there is a little bit of Judas in all of us. I cannot confirm this, but I am told that when Jesus turned and said that one of them would betray him, several of them thought to themselves, "Can you really see that in me? I thought I had it under control." One preacher I know put it this way, "The sin that is the hardest to forgive is always the one that we struggle with ourselves." Perhaps all of the disciples struggled with betrayal.
You will recall this. In Jesus' last hours, none of his followers were faithful. None were model disciples. Mike Smith told us last week that Peter denied Jesus not once or twice, but three times. When all was said and done, when the horror of the crucifixion of Jesus was over, none of them, not James or John or Peter, not Andrew or Matthew, none of them went to take care of the body of Jesus. Nicodemus was suddenly there as was Joseph of Arimathea, but none of the ones who knew Jesus the best, the ones who walked along with him for those three years, were near. At a time when trustworthiness was dangerous, the disciples stayed far away.
Down deep I think that terrifies us. Down deep I think we afraid that we will deny Jesus, or worse, betray him. Maybe we are doing all right with our discipleship these days, but we should be. It is Palm Sunday after all and I've been asking you to pay attention to your discipleship for weeks now. But we all know, don't we, that we all live with the possibility of betrayal. Some fear betrayal worse than they do the cross. The cross is a sign of sacrifice and love. Betrayal is a sign of disappointment.
One of the messages of Holy Week, I think, is that sooner or later every disciple will betray Jesus. We will do it in the places where we work when it costs us way too much to think and act like a Christian. We will betray Jesus at home when our tempers turn into anger and then an explosion. Someone's soul around us could easily get hurt. We will betray Jesus in our world where we look around at the poor and walk the other way, by not turning the other cheek when its time to do that, and our not listening to a call to do something for Jesus.
Look back at Judas and what happened to him. He was filled with remorse. Matthew's gospel tells us that he repented. Repent, now that is an interesting thought. I have defined repentance for you before. Repentance means to turn. It is important where you turn. Judas turned to the wrong people for what he needed. He turned to the religious powers of his day, the ones who had paid him in silver coins. He turned and tried to return the money when the money wasn't really the issue. The powerful always keep their power by refusing to show mercy and that is exactly what happened that spring day.
Judas was remorseful, very remorseful. The feeling inside him was very strong. It is just too bad that he could not hold on to his remorse for one more day. If he had been able to do that, he might have heard what we have heard from the cross, strong words of forgiveness. It is Jesus who says, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." That pretty well sums up Judas' life. In the end he had no idea what he had done.
Let me close with this. A pastor I know tells a story about what happened to Judas after his death. As the story goes, his soul wandered for a time. Hell had no interest in Judas and neither did the earth. Judas was looking for a place to land his weary soul. As he walked along, everything around him was dark.
Then one day, Judas stumbled upon some light, it came from the under the doorway of a house. He opened the door and inside he heard the sounds of music and laughter. He walked down a long hallway and opened another door. There Judas saw something terrific. In front of him was a huge table set for thirteen. The host got up from his place, came over to Judas, and greeted him with a kiss. Then he said, "We have waited a long time for you to come. Welcome home."
Judas' mistake was greater than the ones we've considered these past few weeks. It was greater than assuming we don't have enough to feed a crowd, bigger than thinking there is a ladder of success in discipleship, larger than putting our agenda above the Lord's. Judas' mistake was greater than underestimating the cost of discipleship and larger even than denial.
It is to that same table that we come this morning. Whatever we have done, whoever we have become, we must know the right way to turn. Beloved, welcome home. Let us pray.
(I am grateful to the writings of J. Howard Olds and a preacher friend for some ideas for this sermon).