Betrayal At Hypocrisy Headquarters
Series: Final Days at Planet Earth
March 7, 2010
Betrayal is defined as: “to harm or be disloyal to a country or another person by helping an enemy or giving information that is confidential; to deliver somebody or something to an enemy. To act in a way that is contrary to a promise made”. If you’ve ever felt the sting of betrayal (if you haven’t, don’t worry… you will)… it’s much more than just a word out of the dictionary. It is a word that communicates pain, rejection and deep hurt. Maybe you were betrayed by a spouse, or by an ex-spouse. Maybe you’ve felt betrayed by a company or by a close relative. Perhaps you’ve been betrayed by a parent who as Dr. Laura says, “Tore up their parent card” when they abused you. Betrayal comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes… but there’s one common denominator to all betrayal… it always begins with trust.
In fact, it’s impossible to be betrayed by someone you don’t trust. What makes betrayal so painful is that someone who knows your heart, turns from what they know and chooses to believe that you’re dangerous. Your mind freezes as you try and grasp how a friend, someone who knew you deeply and intimately could turn and attack you. I remember a song by Michael Card that explains betrayal… “Only a friend can betray a friend, a stranger has nothing to gain… and only a friend comes close enough to ever cause so much pain.” Betrayal makes you to want to shut down, and never trust or be vulnerable to anyone again.
As we move into the last week of Jesus’ life on earth this morning, I want to look at the greatest betrayal in human history. Jesus, the Son of God…is betrayed by someone in his own inner circle. As we read what the bible says this morning, my prayer is that we can learn a few things from the life of Jesus …1st of all, about what causes people to betray one another and 2ndly, how we can recover and respond to it.
When I think of Judas, I’m reminded of a monument that’s been erected on a Revolutionary War battlefield in Saratoga, New York. At the base of the monument are four deep niches for the bronze figures of the generals who fought there so heroically. The 1st niche contains the figure of Horatio Gates, the 2nd contains the figure of Philip Schuyler. In the third niche we see the figure of Daniel Morgan, but when you come to the 4th, it’s empty! It was reserved for a general who performed honorably during battle. However, later he committed an act of treason, and became a traitor instead of a hero. At the base of that empty niche, the name of this general is engraved in the stone. It’s Benedict Arnold. That empty space is a monument of a person who went from heroism to treason.
In the same way, the name of Judas Iscariot appears in every list in the bible of the apostles (except for the list in Acts 1, where it doesn’t appear at all)… but alongside his name is the notation that brands him as a traitor. Here’s a man who committed the most horrible, despicable crime of all history… he betrayed the perfect, sinless & holy Son of God for a handful of coins. Judas stands as a monument of the evil potential that lurks in all of us. Think about it…here’s a guy who was privileged to get as close to Jesus Christ as humanly possible. He saw all the miracles, listened to all of his messages, saw him in every situation and would have agreed that He was sinless…but yet in the end remained an unbeliever and went out into a Christ-less eternity. I think the life of Judas reminds us of the possibility of associating with Jesus, even hanging around people that know Jesus… but never really KNOWING and LOVING Jesus ourselves.
That could be you this morning. Maybe you come to church on a regular basis. Maybe you were raised in the church. You don’t read the bible much yourself, but because you’ve been around it enough, you can even sound like you’re a Christian to others. But you’re not. You may be following others who are following Jesus… but you’ve never personally given your heart to Him. If that’s you…I’d strongly encourage you to get serious about your relationship to Christ. Because, if you don’t…given the right situation, or the right opportunity…or even the right person…you’ll end up walking away and betraying Christ too!
There are 3 causes that led to Judas’ ultimate betrayal of Christ, and they’re the same 3 causes or symptoms that lead people to betray Christ today. The 1st one is…
1. PRIDE
See, Judas never really followed Jesus for who He was. He followed him for what he wanted Him to be, and for what he could get. He observed Jesus’ power and wanted power like that for Himself. He was after fame and fortune. You say, how do you know that? Well, mostly because of what the bible tells us in John 12 about his actions before the betrayal. READ John 12:1-8.
It’s 6 days before the Passover and Jesus’ crucifixion. Lazarus had been raised from the dead and Mary (his sister) comes to Jesus during the meal. As he’s eating, she moves toward him, pours expensive perfume on his feet and begins to wipe it with her hair. Jewish women (like American women) were very fond of perfume. Many times they’d carry a little alabaster bottle of it around their necks. It was the most expensive thing they owned. In fact even Judas remarks that it was worth a whole years wages. (What would that be in our currency? 50-70,000 dollars?)
So Mary takes the most expensive thing she has, and doesn’t just dab a little on Jesus (so it will last)… NO! She lavishly dumps the whole bottle out on him! It was a sign of honor to anoint a persons head, but Mary didn’t think she was worthy enough… so she anointed his feet! And then she used her hair to wipe it around. No self-respecting Jewish woman would ever let down her hair in public. It was a sign of an immoral woman… but Mary didn’t care what people thought… she loved Jesus intensely! True love is like that…it’s not concerned with appearances…in fact, it’s a little bit scary because sometimes it acts so impulsively!
Amazingly, Judas watches this whole scene and isn’t touched by it in the least! In fact, he objects… “What a waste! You could have sold that perfume for a lot of money and given it to the poor!” But, John let’s us in on a dirty little secret. See, Judas wasn’t really interested in the poor! It was ‘feigned compassion”. What He was really interested in was lining his own pockets! John tells us that He was the groups treasurer…and as the “keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put in it!” The guy was a thief! A shop-lifter! The way he figured it, because of Mary’s wastefulness , he was missing out on a prime opportunity to embezzle some more funds!
So Jesus reprimands him. He says, “Leave her alone!” i.e. “Get off her back Judas! She did it in preparation for my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but I will not be here with you much longer.” –John12:7,8 Jesus isn’t being callous here, he’s just stating a fact. He’s saying, “You always have the opportunity to do good because, you’ll always have the poor. But there are some things you only have the opportunity to do once! So do it! If you don’t…you’ll never have another chance!” If you’re a parent, hopefully you know that. Have fun, play with those kids while they’re still young…because they grow up fast! Jesus is simply saying, “Redeem the time! Don’t let the urgent take the place of the important!” He knew his death was imminent, and Mary was simply taking the time to show Him her love while she had the chance.
That whole lesson was totally lost on Judas. (it’s totally lost on us sometimes too!) Rather than admit his mistake and apologize, Judas’ pride made him resent Jesus even more! If you have a proud heart this morning, when Jesus tries to discipline you, (maybe through a trial, or maybe through something someone says)… you take it for a rebuke and instead of learn from it…you get angry. In fact, the way you respond to discipline is an indicator of how much pride you have! If you stomp off in a huff, refusing to listen to reason… you’ll never learn and your pride will lead you into all kinds of trouble!
To “Proud Judas” this was the last straw! According to Matthew 26:14… it was “THEN”, at that moment, i.e., immediately after this incident , that “… Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests 15 and asked, “How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?” And they gave him thirty pieces of silver”. It was the amount you would pay to buy a slave! Jesus was betrayed by his own disciple for the price of a slave! What an arrogant man! He wanted to be the master, and felt Jesus should be his slave! The contrast is stunning! The Lord is anointed with overwhelming love by Mary, and overwhelming hate by Judas at the same time!
The 2nd symptom of leading up to betrayal is…
2. DISILLUSIONMENT
Now, a people think Judas had a political agenda. The sur-name “Iscariot” could have identified him as one of the ‘sicarii’ or “dagger-bearers”. These were Jewish extremists and terrorists who would do anything to including murder and assassination to drive the Romans out of Palestine. Judas realized that with Jesus’ miraculous powers, he could lead a great rebellion against their Roman oppressors. But Jesus wasn’t interested in overthrowing the Romans, so Judas became disillusioned. How many people today follow Jesus for the wrong reasons and when they don’t get what they want from Him, they turn on Him? Maybe they think He’ll bring them instant healing or happiness. Maybe they think following Jesus would mean financial prosperity… or freedom from all of their problems… Whatever it is…when He doesn’t deliver the way we think He should (or on our time-table)… we abandon and betray Him. Just like Judas, I know people who end up hating Jesus because He wasn’t the Messiah we expected Him to be.
Which leads to the 3rd cause of betrayal…
3. BITTERNESS
When Judas realized that Jesus wasn’t going to overthrow the Romans, his devotion turned to disillusionment and then to bitter disappointment. Judas’ bitterness drove him to seek the death of the man he expected so much from. Maybe he thought he could force Jesus to act by betraying Him, we’ll never know. The tragedy of Judas is that he refused to accept Jesus as he was. He tried to make him what He wanted him to be. Have you ever made that mistake? If so, the result is always bitterness. Bitterness towards Jesus, bitterness towards his church, bitterness at other Christians. See what we don’t realize sometimes is that… we can’t change Jesus (He’s perfect and unchangeable). We can’t change Jesus…we have to be changed by Him! He won’t let us to use Him for our purposes… we have to submit to being used for His purposes!
Our pride leads to disillusionment and our disillusionment leads to bitterness and our bitterness leads to betrayal. If you have any of those symptoms towards the Lord this morning (or anyone else for that matter)… watch out! You’re going down the path of betrayal… either of your Lord, or someone else!
Go to John 13:1 with me now, because here we have John’s eye-witness account of what happened in the Upper Room. At this point, Judas had already taken the money the religious leaders had given him for information leading to Jesus’ arrest. Now he came into the room pretending like nothing was wrong. As we go through this, I want you to watch how many times Jesus tries to reach out to Judas, but each time he turns away. According to vs. 13:2…John says that it was the devil who prompted Judas to betray Jesus. (READ) Now, the bible had predicted that Jesus was going to be betrayed and Jesus himself knew it was Judas who would do it.
Ps.41:9 is a messianic prophecy predicting that… “Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely, the one who shared my food, has turned against me”. Jesus quoted that very verse later on in the evening in vs.18, and told his disciples it would be fulfilled at his own betrayal. The bible even predicts in Zech11:12,13 that the betrayer would be paid exactly 30 pieces of silver! So Jesus wasn’t ignorant of what was going on here. Even though Judas’ role was foreordained… you never get the idea that he was forced or coerced into doing what he didn’t want to do. He was exercising his own free will and so he’s completely responsible for his actions. Satan couldn’t FORCE him to betray Jesus, and he can’t force you do what you don’t want to do…but when you allow bitterness to remain in your heart… He’ll change your “want to’s”!!! He’ll use your hurts and your hatreds… to compel you to do all sorts of horrible things.
• The devil didn’t ‘make’ those boys go into Columbine H.S and start killing their fellow students in cold blood…but he sure took advantage of their hatreds and prompted them to do it!
• The devil doesn’t force parents to brutally murder their own children…or employees to shoot their employees… but he can sure “prompt” them.
See, pride, disillusionment and bitterness are dangerous weapons in the hands of the ultimate betrayer. In fact, the bible tells us that Satan was the very 1st person to commit the sin of betrayal. He betrayed God Himself. Because of his pride, He tried to overthrow God and betrayed Him when he encouraged many of the angels to join him in His rebellion! (Isa.14, Ezek.28) So, is it any surprise that he’s involved in fermenting rebellion in Jesus’ own disciples? Judas’ heart was so hardened towards the truth, and so filled with anger, that he became a willing instrument in Satan’s hands. And don’t think the same thing can’t happen to you! It was at that point that Jesus gave the disciples a lesson on humility by washing their feet. He even washed the feet of Judas. That means that Judas sat there and let Jesus wash his feet knowing full well that he’d just betrayed him. The world’s worst sinner was also the world’s worst hypocrite! It was an attempt on Jesus part to appeal to Judas and win him back over…but He wouldn’t have anything to do with him. Judas was totally unmoved, but Peter was deeply moved by Jesus’ act of humility.
At 1st he was ashamed and wouldn’t let him do it, but when Jesus said in vs.8… “But if I don’t wash you, you won’t belong to me.” … he said, “If that’s the case… give me a bath!” HA! Jesus replied in vs.10…, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you are clean, but that isn’t true of everyone here.” I can imagine that a buzz went off in the room when He said that! In vs.18-19 Jesus gets even more pointed… “I am not saying these things to all of you; I know so well each one of you I chose. The Scriptures declare, ‘The one who shares my food has turned against me,’ and this will soon come true. 19 I tell you this now, so that when it happens you will believe I am the Messiah.” All of that seems to go right over the disciples heads… so in vs.21… He gets even MORE explicit… “The truth is, one of you will betray me!” There! Is that plain enough?
That finally got their attention and everyone but Judas got deeply upset at the idea that one of them would actually do such a thing. They began to ask Jesus… “Lord, are you talking about me?” Even Judas, trying to keep up appearances asked Jesus the question… “Lord, is it me?” John tells us in vs.24, that at this point Peter motions over to him to ask Jesus to tell them who the traitor is. Jesus said, “It is the one to whom I give the bread dipped in the dish.” In Near Eastern culture, for the host to offer a guest a piece of food from his dish was an honor and a sign of special friendship. Even though he knew what was going on…again and again Jesus showed his love for Judas, trying to save him from what he was about to do. But instead of Judas’ heart softer, it was getting harder… until finally the bible says that …”As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered him.”
Listen very closely to what I’m about to say. Jesus loves you and He loves me… and even when we sin against Him, even when we reject Him… He doesn’t give up… He keeps coming to us, appealing to us, trying to get us to repent. But He won’t hold out his hand forever. I don’t pretend to know when, or how many times it takes… but eventually, if you persist… He won’t hold you against His will. He’ll let you go and do what you want to do! At that point Satan enters a persons heart…and they condemn themselves. It’s called the “unforgivable sin”, because you know longer want to ask God to forgive you. And if you won’t ask for it… He won’t give it! (example: Pharaoh). It’s that simple. Every time you say “NO” to God… you take one step closer to the point of no return. The good news is that if you’re still open to God, if you’re still willing to come to Him… you haven’t come to that point!
Interestingly, it wasn’t until Judas left that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. He wasn’t about to have the 1st communion service with the devil and Judas in the room, so He told them they had to get out. This morning, we’re going to come to the Lord’s table and the instructions are the same… I Cor.11:27-32 tells us to “examine ourselves, so that we don’t come hypocritically to the table and bring judgment on ourselves”. So as the ushers come this morning, I want you to ask yourself… Is it I Lord?
• I don’t want it to be me. Do you? There’s a risk that goes with following Jesus, and I’m scared that I’ll be the one that runs when the persecution mounts.
• If there’s known sin in your life, Jesus is giving you an opportunity to repent… will you take it or will you walk away without it?
• If you’ve been betrayed… God wants to heal you. You may need to forgive someone who hurt you deeply. As partake, I want you to ask God to help you do that. Slowly you’ll begin to trust again. It may take a while, (it did me) but it can happen. David had his Absalom. The Apostle Paul had his Demas (who deserted him)…and Jesus had his Judas. So you’re walking where great people have walked before. They’re remembered as great because they didn’t allow betrayal to stop them. Instead they learned how to turn their pain into greater usefulness for the Lord. After all… if God can take Judas’ money-making treachery and combine it with Jesus’ obedient submission to transform the world… maybe he can use my situation too! AMEN?
