Luke 22:47-48 * Midweek Lent 2,
PERSONALITIES OF THE PASSION:
JUDAS
Dear Friends in Christ,
His name has become synonymous and is used interchangeably with words like “betrayal” or “traitor.” Last Wednesday we considered Jesus the Christ as our “Personality of the Passion.” Today we will ponder the other extreme.
Over the years the Church has assigned a certain symbol to each of the disciples. For him there are two. At times he is represented with a bag and thirty silver coins. At other times he is represented by nothing other than white space. Behind it is the idea that a traitor is not worthy of any memorial.
Today the “Personality of the Passion” we will be examining is Judas.
What do we know about Judas? Not much. About the only hint we have of his early life and history comes from his full name as stated a number of times in Scripture, which is “Judas Iscariot.” “Iscariot” is generally believed to be the Greek rendition of the Hebrew words, “Ish Kerioth,” which translated simply means “man of Kerioth.” So Judas could apparently claim Kerioth as his hometown.
In this respect, Judas was unique among the disciples,
because Kerioth was located in the southern part of the
Although we may not know much about his history, Scripture does have something to say about the kind of man he was. Before we look into that, it might be of interest to note how Judas has generally been perceived down through the ages. Writers of historical fiction and those who try to construct the personality of an individual on very little evidence seem to always portray Judas as being very bright and idealistic and well schooled and well healed; kind of like the one disciple who had a certain amount of class and sophistication…
As an example, allow me to share with you a passage from an out-of-print book I have in my library entitled, “I Remember the Savior’s Death.” The book is a series of fictional interviews with some whose lives interplayed with Christ’s. In the passage I’m about to read, the Apostle John is supposedly recalling some thoughts about Judas. This is what he says:
We hardly knew Judas,
except by reputation, when he was chosen by Jesus with the rest of us as an
apostle. He was a sociable fellow, a
friend to everyone, easy to get along with, talented and brilliant. I think he was the most handsome, physically
well built man among us, the kind we admire and envy. He was a man to whom everything came easy, a
natural leader, a good fellow to whom everyone flocked. He’d never been despised, he never had to
work hard, everything he did seemed to succeed without his trying. When Jesus called him, he followed in an
easygoing way. He probably thought he
was doing Jesus a favor by joining us…
That pretty well seems to summarize the way Judas is often perceived – clever, talented; perhaps a little brighter than the rest, perhaps a bit too self-absorbed. (As a sidebar to this discussion, I believe a new made-for-TV movie about Judas is being aired this Monday. If you watch it, see how he is portrayed. Other cinematic representations of Jesus’ passion seem to cast him in the light we’ve just mentioned. My guess is this will be the same.)
All of this, of course, is conjecture. But Scripture may intimate a kernel of truth resides in these perceptions because Judas was recognized by the rest of the disciples as having some kind of qualities that set him apart. Among Jesus and the disciples there was but one office – treasurer – and Judas was chosen. So evidently they trusted him.
But Scripture also tells us that just as he betrayed his
Savior, Judas also betrayed the trust given to him by his peers. This comes through loud and clear in an
incident that took place in the town of
A very noble thought, indeed. But it wasn’t reality, because John’s Gospel continues with these words: “He did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag he used to help himself to what was put in it.” This piece of information casts a cloud on the idea that Judas was a good boy who just did a bad thing. This passage tells us that regardless of perception and conjecture, Judas had a problem with greed.
And greed no doubt played at least a part in the despicable act of betrayal he committed. However, there seems to be something else that played an even greater part. And that was Judas’ disillusionment with Jesus. Simply put, it would appear that Jesus had not lived up to Judas’ expectations of Him as a Savior, so, in essence, Judas gave up on Him. Judas discarded Jesus as being irrelevant to meet his needs…
And what were Judas’s needs? Like many at that time, Judas was thinking
physically and personally rather than spiritually and eternally. Despite Jesus’ constant teaching otherwise,
there were those who wanted Jesus to build heaven on earth. But Jesus was not about to do that. It was as He told Pontius Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world.” It was as he told His disciples
previously: “the Son of Man did not come to
be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
And when it became increasingly clear that Jesus was going to stick with His charter and willingly sacrifice Himself for the sins of the world, it seems Judas wanted out. In the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar Judas complains that the people had “too much heaven on their minds.” Judas wasn’t into ethereal goals. He wanted identifiable, tangible, empirical results from Christ as Savior. And when it looked like Jesus wasn’t going to deliver; when it appeared that Judas had picked the wrong horse to advance his agenda, he bails on Jesus. And makes a little cash on the side.
Let’s turn to our text.
The scene is the
We might just say that the pages of history tell us of many acts of deceit and atrocity; of faithlessness and the violation of trust; of selfishness outweighing long standing friendships. But this one surpasses them all. Because it was not done to a mere man. It was an offense against the Son of God. And it was done even in the midst of last ditch effort by Christ to call wayward child to repentance.
But his disciple went through with it. And it is for this that Judas has become known. It is because of this that parents name their children Peter or James or John or Matthew, but not Judas. And finally, it is on account of this that the most stinging indictment one friend can accuse the other of is being a “Judas.”
What part did Judas play in the passion of Jesus? He is the one who gave up on God. He is the one who decided that the Son of God did not adequately live up to the expectations he had placed on him, so he bailed. He is the creature who weighed the Creator in the balance and found Him wanting. He is the betrayer of Christ.
What lessons can we learn from him and apply to ourselves as Christians today? In Judas’ case we can learn much by negative example. We see in him betrayal and greed; things we don’t really need to be told not to imitate…
But there is something in Judas we must be ever vigilant against. And that is a spirit of disillusionment with God. Judas had his own ideas of how God was supposed to be. And when God didn’t live up to them, Judas abandoned Him.
The lesson for us is to let God be God and to trust that He will carry out our lives according to His divine ways – as opposed to our personal, pre-fabricated expectations of how things should go. All of us have a tendency to want to dictate to God on how He ought to do His job. God, let this happen. God, don’t let this happen. God, bring this into my life. God, take this out of my life.
What happens, then, when prayers aren’t answered as quickly or fully as we want? What happens when “bad things happen to good people” – and we’re the good people? What happens when we very clearly and concisely outline for God what He can do to make things better for us, but then life goes on as if He’s never consulted the plan, or worse, ignored it?
What happens? What happens is that we can fall into the same trap as Judas. Disillusionment with God. Disappointment with God. Maybe even a little anger. Judas said, “What’s the use?” and chucked the whole thing. Satan would like nothing better than to get us thinking along those same lines…
Earlier I read from the fictional account that supposes John is sharing his impressions of Judas. Let me read one more paragraph. John is wrapping up his thoughts…
I cannot easily forget
Judas, because I have seen the future of the Church. Judas will be repeated by many of the
disciples of Jesus as the Church grows.
They will come to Jesus to use Him for their own purposes: for health, for prosperity, and a crutch to
lean on in trouble, for all sorts of problem insurance, even for someone to
blame for their own weakness. If only
they will trust Jesus completely, and let Him decide how to give them all these
things, they will come through. Jesus
has everything they need. But if they
insist on impatiently demanding from Jesus their own kind of benefits, they
will have nothing but trouble…
Here is a better way of thinking: “‘My ways are not your ways,’ declares the
Lord…” Here is a better
plan: “Be still and know that I am
God.” Here is a better offer: “Never will I leave you, never will I
forsake you.” Here is a better
vision: “‘I know the plans I have for
you,’ declares the Lord…” Here
is a better frame of reference: “I
consider our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that
will be revealed in us.”
And here is the guarantee for it all. The cross. Here is where our salvation was worked out. Here is where our sins were forgiven. Here is where all doubts about where we will spend eternity are put to rest. Here is where all disillusionment dissolves and is replaced with trust, acceptance and confidence. The Apostle Paul put it this way in Romans 8: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
Had he relied on trust, acceptance and confidence that His Lord knew exactly what He must do for him and the rest of the world, perhaps we’d be remembering Judas for another reason…
But he didn’t. And so
when we think of him, we think of Judas the greedy. Judas the betrayer. Judas the disenchanted. May it be that through our examination of
him, Judas is one “Personality of the Passion” we never imitate. Amen.