Ash Wednesday

SERMON - Judas Iscariot—Profile of Betrayal

INI

Text: Matthew 26:14-16

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?" And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.

In Christ Jesus, whose righteousness by faith is part of each of our profiles, dear fellow redeemed:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). As we enter the Lenten Season this year I would urge you to bear in mind this truth, that the passion history of our Savior Jesus Christ is a history dealing with individuals—the Individual whom God treasured more than any other…“His only begotten Son”—Jesus, whom He nonetheless sent to deliver a world filled with individual human beings—rebellious creatures that we were and are! God has a profound love for each of us individually, and His promise of everlasting life is bestowed upon us as individuals—individuals who are led to believe in Jesus as our Savior from sin and as the Lord of our lives!

This year in our series of Lenten meditations, we will focus on different individuals involved in the passion history. We will provide a profile of these individuals—profiles either of their faith or of their unbelief. We will do so in the hope that we will be both admonished and encouraged in connection with our own faith and consequent hope. Today we will consider perhaps the saddest personal profile in all of human history, that of JUDAS ISCARIOT—A PROFILE OF BETRAYAL!

Judas was described sadly by Jesus as “the son of perdition” on Maundy Thursday evening. Earlier that same evening Jesus had issued this warning in Judas’ presence: “The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born” (Matthew 26:24). The passion history goes on to reveal that within twelve hours of that warning Judas was so filled with remorse that he in anguish “through down the pieces of silver” he had received to betray Jesus and “went and hanged himself” (Matthew 27:5).

What led to this tragic series of events? Judas’ relationship with Jesus did not begin this way. He had initially been attracted to Jesus, as had the other disciples, by His preaching and through His miracles. He believed Jesus to be the promised Christ. He left his former life behind and had devoted himself to following Jesus. The Holy Spirit, after all, moved David in Psalm 41:9 to describe Judas as Jesus’ “own familiar friend,” and Jesus identifies him as such when He almost pleaded with Judas to reconsider his role in the garden: “Friend, why have you come?” What would move a friend to betray a friend, especially when that friend was Jesus? (Mt. 26:50) What happened in Judas’ heart to change him so much? What was the first step down the path of betrayal? These are important questions, for we certainly do not want such a thing to happen to our hearts, nor do we ever want to take such a first step!

What happened to Judas’ heart? We have no reason to believe that Judas was insincere when first recruited by Jesus to follow Him and become one of His disciples. On the contrary, the Scriptures give us no indication that Judas did not relish his personal and public time with Jesus as did the other disciples. But as time passed something began to change in Judas’ heart. The love that he initially felt began to wane. Perhaps he began having doubts about whether or not Jesus truly was the promised Christ. Perhaps the question that John the Baptizer’s two disciples asked: “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another” (Matthew 11:3) began to gnaw at him. But the love and devotion that Judas once felt for Jesus was in time replaced by doubts and ultimately by a love and devotion to self.

What was then his first step down the path of betrayal? While the first step of betrayal certainly differs from instance to instance, it seems that in the case of Judas it began with something quite common—greed! Judas did not heed Jesus’ warning, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Mt. 6:24). Judas was a good man with figures. He had some understanding of finance and was, consequently, named the treasurer of the apostolic band. As such, however, he apparently could not resist stealing from their common treasury to satisfy his own desires (cf. Jn. 12:6). If Jesus were not the promised Christ…if this gig, so to speak, was going to end, why not make sure he got his due? Add to that greed a second step of dissatisfaction, and Judas was well on his way to the chief priest’s palace. That dissatisfaction was voiced in the home of Lazarus, when Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive ointment just six days before His death. Judas had objected, claiming the oil had been wasted, as he feigned concern for the poor.

From greed to dissatisfaction to betrayal—this was the path Judas trod…this was his profile of betrayal! We do not know when he finally decided to give up his allegiance to Jesus, but he at one point secretly slipped away from the disciples to meet with the high priests and agreed to betray Jesus for the figure of thirty pieces of silver—the price of a good slave. Then no doubt began a nervous life of deception—searching for the appropriate time to carry out the betrayal, while hoping that his scheme would not be uncovered. How his stomach must have churned when Jesus began speaking of betrayal during the Passover meal! How relieved he must have been to leave the upper room behind, his mind completely focused upon securing the silver and satisfying the greed, Satan using his dissatisfaction with Jesus to momentarily stifle his conscience until the deed was done!

How sad, but how common! It would be fairly easy for us to simple sit in judgment of Judas without considering ourselves. But Jesus once said: “He who is without sin…, let him throw a stone…first!” (Jn. 8:7) As we contemplate this sad story, may we be led to reflect upon our own lives and our own betrayals of Jesus and there may well be many such betrayals during the course of our lives. How so, you may ask?

Let us first examine our hearts! Does not our love for Jesus ebb and flow at times? There are times when we are filled with joy and thanksgiving, while at other times, especially when we are buffeted by life, that our hearts begin to be weighed down by cares and doubts. Our love and devotion to Jesus can be replaced by a desire to please and satisfy ourselves.

What are the first steps that lead us down the path of betrayal? Oh, the greed of Judas can certainly take root in our hearts and lead us to take a first step away from Jesus. That is why the apostle Paul took the time to warn us, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10). But there are other issues as well. Love for Jesus can be replaced by lust for someone else and the first step towards betrayal may well be an e-mail to someone who is not my spouse, or a few minutes of visual feasting upon a pornographic web-site. Our love for Jesus may be replaced by a love of power and control, and my first step down the path of betrayal may well be a threat to harm someone if they do not do as I say. Or that devotion to the will of Jesus may be replaced by a devotion to the ideas of another god—the god of higher education and my first step might be reveling in the tantalizing idea that is sophisticated to think that there is no God to whom I am responsible.

My dear friends, let us examine our hearts, for there are hundreds of reasons why our hearts might turn away from Jesus and thousands of first steps leading to a betrayal of Him, for in the end any decision to sin is a betrayal of our Savior. How might we defend ourselves and avoid such betrayals? The solution is to recognize the one thing we need—the gospel of our Lord and Savior. With Mary, we must sit at Jesus’ feet (cf. Luke 10:42). We need to follow Jesus with faithfulness and hear His precious Word regularly. When Satan’s temptations come to doubt our Savior’s love and to question our Savior’s faithfulness, it is imperative that we recognize Satan for whom he really is—the father of lies (cf. John 8:44). Our future lies not in seeking to fulfill our own desires, but rather to seek with faithfulness to fulfill the desires of our Savior God. It is in His house, not our own, that we ultimately want to live!

Should we stumble down the path of betrayal, the solution is to return to Jesus with a penitent heart—to trust in Jesus’ forgiving love. For you see, that was Satan’s ultimate triumph in Judas’ case. He blinded Judas from seeing the hope of redemption—a redemption that was surely possible even in the case of Judas. Let us never despair of God’s redeeming love and of Jesus’ capacity to forgive and renew. No, let us never fail to see the power of the cross, but rather rejoice in its forgiving love! Amen.

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting
To God alone be the glory!