In these Wednesday services,
we’ve been looking at how Jesus’ death on a cross was a deliberate choice Jesus
made. Not that he caused it to
happen—human beings made choices, too, and they were responsible for the
choices they made. But Jesus could have
put a stop to it at any time. He did
not. He chose to allow the events that
led to his death. He chose to let things
play out as they did.
And tonight we look at a major example of that. Jesus had predicted his death before. But now, it’s about to actually happen. And now, Jesus tells the disciples who’s
going to make it happen. And it turns
out that it’s one of them.
The disciples must have been really confused. Look at this scene. It’s right before the Passover festival. Jesus and the disciples are having
supper. Jesus has washed the disciples’
feet. He’s told them that this is an
example for them, that they’re supposed to serve each other. And then he says, “Very truly I tell you, one
of you is going to betray me.”
We’re told that the disciples stared at each other. Eleven of them are trying to figure out which
one of them it is. Judas, of course, already
knows. But think of how the other eleven
must have felt. It’s one thing to hear
Jesus say he’s going to be killed. They
had a hard enough time dealing with that.
But to hear him say that it was going to be due to one of them—that one
of the twelve, the inner circle, this group that had been together for years
and had done so much together, was actually a traitor—well, they must’ve had a
hard time believing it.
They look around it each other. The start to think to themselves, “Who is
it? Not Peter, certainly. James or John? Not likely.
Thomas, maybe? After all, he’s
always questioning, always doubting. But
would he really betray Jesus? That’s
hard to believe.”
And as they looked at each other and thought about it,
they really could not believe any of them would betray Jesus. So, finally, Peter whispers to John, “Ask him
which one he means.”
And you can just picture John going, I don’t want to ask
him. And Peter says, go ahead. Just go
on and ask him. And John says why don’t
you ask him? And Peter says, you’re
right next to him. You’re the disciple
Jesus loves. You ask him.
So finally John says, okay, I’ll ask him. And he leans over to Jesus, and he says, Lord
which one is it? And Jesus does not come
out and say it in so many words, but he lets John know that it’s Judas. Judas is the one who’s going to betray
Jesus. And Jesus says to Judas, “What
you are about to do, do quickly.”
Jesus knew who was going to betray him. And he apparently knew it was going to happen
that night. And yet, Jesus did nothing
to stop it. Nothing. He could have. It would not have been hard. He could, of course, have stopped Judas by
use of divine, supernatural power, but he would not have had to do it that
way. Really, all Jesus would’ve had to
do is get the disciples together, like they were, and say, “Hey guys, you know
what? Judas here is planning to betray
me. He’s planning to bring the Roman
soldiers and some of the chief priests and some of the Pharisees around tonight
to arrest me. Now what do you think we
ought to do about that?”
That’s all it
would’ve taken. Jesus would not have had
to do anything. All he’d have needed to
do is bring the situation to the attention of the disciples, and they’d have
taken care of Judas. He probably would
not have made it out of that room alive.
Jesus did not do that.
In fact, it looks like the only one of the disciples who knew Judas was
going to be the one to betray Jesus was John.
None of the others responded to the news. In fact, we’re told they did not have any
idea where Judas was going. Some thought
he was going to get supplies, some thought he was going to give something to
the poor. As you may know, Judas was the
one in charge of the group’s finances, so he would naturally have been the one
to be given a job like that. Jesus and
John were the only ones who knew the truth, and all John knew was that Judas
was going to betray Jesus. He did not
know when or how. He certainly did not
know it was going to happen that night.
Jesus let it happen.
Jesus knew exactly what Judas was going to do, when he was going to do
it, how he was going to do it, where he was going to do it. And Jesus let it happen. Not only that, he almost gave it his
blessings. All he said to Judas was,
“What you are about to do, do quickly.”
It shows the incredible love Jesus has for us. Knowing exactly what was going to happen, and
knowing how easily he could stop it, he allowed it to happen. Jesus knew he had to be betrayed, be
arrested, be tortured, and be killed. It
was what Jesus had been sent here to do.
It was the only way we could have our sins forgiven.
And maybe that’s enough of lesson for tonight. Maybe just knowing Jesus loves us so much
that he would come here and die for us, taking our sins on himself so our sins
could be forgiven, is all we really need to know. It certainly is an important thing for us to
know. But throughout this sermon series,
we’ve been trying to think of what we can learn from what Jesus did. So what can we learn from the story of Jesus
telling his disciples that someone was going to betray him and going on to tell
John that Judas was that someone?
There are probably more, but I can think of at least
three things. One of them is this: we, you and I are referred to as God’s
children. Those of you who are parents,
have you ever had a time when you knew your son or daughter was making a bad
decision, a decision you knew they were going to regret later, and yet there
was nothing you could do but stand there and watch? Maybe you tried talking to them, maybe you
tried reasoning with them, maybe you even tried punishing them. But they were determined to do things their
own way, no matter what you thought.
They were determined to make this bad decision. And there was nothing you could do but sit
back and watch it happen and try to be ready to pick up the pieces when
everything fell apart as you knew it would.
Jesus could not have talked Judas out of this. He could’ve stopped it in other ways, as we
talked about, but there was nothing Jesus could’ve said that would’ve changed
Judas’ mind. Judas was determined to
make this bad decision.
It’s got to be one of the hardest thing a parent ever
does, to watch their child make that kind of mistake. It had to be really hard for Jesus to watch
Judas make this mistake. But he knew he
had to let it happen. Because God allows
us all to make decisions. God allows us
to make choices. And then, God often
makes us deal with the consequences.
And there will be consequences. That’s the second thing we can learn from
this. When make decisions, for better or
for worse, those decisions don’t just affect us. They affect everyone around us. And sometimes, they affect even more people
than that. Sometimes, our decisions have
a much greater effect than we ever know or realize.
When Judas decided to betray Jesus, he knew it would
affect Jesus. If he thought about it, he
knew it would affect the disciples. But
of course, Judas’ decision to betray Jesus affected a lot more people than
that. It affected the entire history of
the world.
Our decisions, for better or worse, are not likely to
affect the entire history of the world.
But they’ll affect our part of the world. The decisions we make affect lots of people. They affect our families. They affect our friends. Sometimes they affect our entire
community. Sometimes they even go beyond
that. We said that God makes us deal
with the consequences of our choices, but we’re not the only ones who have to
deal with those consequences. Lots and
lots of people can be affected by the decisions we make, just as so many people
were affected and continue to be affected by the decision Judas made.
That brings me to the third thing we can learn from
this. Sometimes, when we make a
decisions to do something, that decision cannot be undone.
Some of you know the further story of Judas, at least as
told by Matthew. Judas realized how
wrong it was for him to betray Jesus. He
tried to give back the money he’d gotten for doing it. He wanted to undo what he had done, but he
could not. It was not possible. What Judas had set in motion could not be
changed, no matter how sorry he was or how much he wished he could go back in
time and change it.
You and I make a lot of decisions every day. Some of them are big. Some of them are small. Some of them seem small at the time and it’s only
later that we realize they were big. But
each day, you and I make tens or hundreds or even thousands of decisions.
God allows us to make them. God does not always agree with our decisions,
but God allows us to make them. And
then, God allows us to deal with the consequences, both of our own decisions
and the decisions of others. And we do
have to deal with them, because the things we do affect lots of people and,
once they’re done, we cannot undo them.
Jesus did not tell Judas to betray him, but he refused to
stop him. God does not tell us to make
bad decisions, but God allows us to make them.
God tries talking to us, God tries reasoning with us, but when we’re
determined to make bad decisions, God allows us to do it.
But God is there to pick up the pieces. If Judas had asked for forgiveness, Jesus
would’ve given it to him. If we’ll ask
for forgiveness, God will give it to us, too.
So in this period of Lent, let’s go to God and ask for forgiveness. And let’s listen when God is talking to us,
so we can make fewer bad decisions in the first place.
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