Normally preaching through the Bible a book at a time saves the preacher a lot of grief. However, on occasion it brings us to passages of Scripture that most people would just rather leave alone. This Sunday I had one of those passages. In Preaching through John's Gospel, Sunday brought me to the story of Judas leaving the upper room to betray the Lord. The following are some thoughts developed from this event.
1. Christ predicts the betrayer. Not only does the Old Testament predict Judas' betrayal (Psalm 41:9; Psalm 55:12-14; 20-21; Zechariah 11:12-13), but Jesus also knew in advance the identity of the betrayer. In John 13:19, Jesus predicts the betrayer in order that the rest of the disciples might know that He is the Messiah. So the story of Judas further validates John's argument that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
2. Judas was morally accountable. There has been a huge rehabilitation program for Judas over the centuries. The Gospel of Judas attempts to take away Judas' guilt by seeing the betrayal as Judas carrying out Christ's plan. Modern critics ask how Judas can be accountable for the sin when it was foreordained in the plan of God. This is the mystery of our sovereign God. He can ordain events from before the foundation of the earth, yet each and every one is a moral agent accountable to God for our actions. I don't understand how both those truths are compatible, but in God they are.
3. Genuine evil exists. Our society has been doing away with the notion of evil for some time. Evil is blamed on environment, upbringing and social deficiencies. If that is the case how do you explain Judas? He spent three years with the most wonderful person to walk the earth. He had just had his feet washed in a wonderful act of humility by that master. However, Judas still went out and betrayed him for thirty pieces of silver. How is that explicable apart from the concept of real evil?
4. Genuine evil exists in me. If I admit that evil existed in the heart of Judas, then I must allow that evil might exist in my own heart. I think that is the real reason we want to explain Judas away. If we can't rationalize the evil we see in him, then we have to confess that evil is present in all of us. The Scriptures take away all doubt. My natural bent, like Judas, is toward evil. In fact, it is entirely within the bounds of reality that I could have been Judas. I have within me the makings of the next Hitler, Stalin or Genghis Khan. So why am I not? Simple - the grace of God. God's general grace acts as restraint upon mankind so that we do not live up to the full potential of the evil within us. God's saving grace in Christ Jesus delivers us from the power of the Evil One and transforms us into the image of Jesus. This ought to provoke a profound humility with in us. When we see Judas, it ought not to feed our pride. Rather, as the old saint used to say, it ought to provoke to praise because "but for the grace of God - there go I."
1. Christ predicts the betrayer. Not only does the Old Testament predict Judas' betrayal (Psalm 41:9; Psalm 55:12-14; 20-21; Zechariah 11:12-13), but Jesus also knew in advance the identity of the betrayer. In John 13:19, Jesus predicts the betrayer in order that the rest of the disciples might know that He is the Messiah. So the story of Judas further validates John's argument that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
2. Judas was morally accountable. There has been a huge rehabilitation program for Judas over the centuries. The Gospel of Judas attempts to take away Judas' guilt by seeing the betrayal as Judas carrying out Christ's plan. Modern critics ask how Judas can be accountable for the sin when it was foreordained in the plan of God. This is the mystery of our sovereign God. He can ordain events from before the foundation of the earth, yet each and every one is a moral agent accountable to God for our actions. I don't understand how both those truths are compatible, but in God they are.
3. Genuine evil exists. Our society has been doing away with the notion of evil for some time. Evil is blamed on environment, upbringing and social deficiencies. If that is the case how do you explain Judas? He spent three years with the most wonderful person to walk the earth. He had just had his feet washed in a wonderful act of humility by that master. However, Judas still went out and betrayed him for thirty pieces of silver. How is that explicable apart from the concept of real evil?
4. Genuine evil exists in me. If I admit that evil existed in the heart of Judas, then I must allow that evil might exist in my own heart. I think that is the real reason we want to explain Judas away. If we can't rationalize the evil we see in him, then we have to confess that evil is present in all of us. The Scriptures take away all doubt. My natural bent, like Judas, is toward evil. In fact, it is entirely within the bounds of reality that I could have been Judas. I have within me the makings of the next Hitler, Stalin or Genghis Khan. So why am I not? Simple - the grace of God. God's general grace acts as restraint upon mankind so that we do not live up to the full potential of the evil within us. God's saving grace in Christ Jesus delivers us from the power of the Evil One and transforms us into the image of Jesus. This ought to provoke a profound humility with in us. When we see Judas, it ought not to feed our pride. Rather, as the old saint used to say, it ought to provoke to praise because "but for the grace of God - there go I."
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