The Ultimate Powers of Love and Evil
Series: A Journey with Jesus (through the Gospel of John)
Brad Bailey – January 30, 2011
Intro
If you have been following this season of professional football… then you feel the moment that last Sunday led to… at the conclusion of the day… everything was brought down to the two final teams that will now square off in the final Super Bowl showdown next Sunday. As the time gets shorter before the climatic showdown… the tension intensifies... coaches are letting their players know that this is it… when the game is over there is no going back.
Today we engage this very point in the grand drama that we are a part of.
As we continue in our series, A Journey with Jesus through the Gospel of John… that is the moment we arrive at today… a moment in which the powers that surround human life become clear… and each will line up to strike the other.
Jesus has come for the final time to Jerusalem… as John described at the start of chapter 13…
John 13:1-2 (NIV)
1 It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. 2 The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.
It’s the Passover Feast… that which looks for hope y remembering another intense moment between the power of evil and the power of God… Jesus ‘Shown them his love’… will call them to love… but in the midst…. there is evil at work…betrayal.
Jesus goes on to begin washing their feet… capturing what the cross will represent…he has to explain to Peter the symbol of being cleansed… and then explains that not all of them are clean… and we are told that he knew who was going to betray him.
He then says that they must do as he has done in loving and serving others… for he has set the example and the servant is not greater than the master.
Now we reach the point in which two powers come into clearer play.
John 13:18-30 (NIV)
18 "I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: 'He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.' 19 "I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He. 20 I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me." 21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, "I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me." 22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask him which one he means." 25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" 26 Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. "What you are about to do, do quickly," Jesus told him, 28 but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor. 30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
So much at hand for us to engage.
At the center is the most profound and personal acts of betrayal. [NOTE 2]
Consider the relationship… and what was being done….Jesus had called him… given him the privilege of being called as one of his 12 disciples… the group who the Messaih from God would train… he gave him his last three years of life.
And now… he had just washed his feet … to capture the heart of preparing to suffer for them. When they sat down… who do you suppose was given the most honorable place… it was Judas that Jesus placed at his right side… it was Judas who he would offer the honor of personally serving the special bread dipped in oil to. But it was Judas that had just gone to the rulers who sought to get rid of Jesus…. and agreed to turn him over for twenty pieces of silver. It is the ultimate betrayal.
> In that moment… two powers come into clearer play…. that of love… and of evil. And we see the power of each played for what they really are.
Judas went out into the dark’… which consumed him.
He would soon face the shame of what he had done… and in despair, we are told he threw the money into the temple… and went out… and hung himself. (Matthew 27:5).
Jesus would now be arrested… and give his life in the most sacrificial way for the sin of all.
I want us to grasp the reality of the two powers… that of evil and that of love. We need to transcend our strange way of keeping the reality of evil safe… and of keeping love sentimental. They are two very real forces. That is the reality that Jesus brings before us today.
In Judas we see the power of evil at work.
Our culture tends to make light of evil… or only speak of it in relationship to very the extremes that can be relegated to more distant manifestations… such as ‘evil empires’… or the most deranged serial killers.
And such extremes may be used to question how God could allow such evil. In truth God is the one who comes to face off with the evil that we have welcomed in all it’s subtle ways.
We can read this text and imagine Jesus just speaking stoically… cool and controlled…as if it is just God’s plan being worked. But as we read in…
Verse 21 - Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, "I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me."
‘Troubled in ‘spirit’… it means he felt pain and anger… not at Judas … but at what stood behind him.
God knows how real evil is… and wonder why we don’t seem to grasp it.
The truth is that evil is a force that is after every one of us.
Evil is a force that surrounds us in a million subtle ways… always seeking to hide it’s face.
Somewhere we will face it… in what happens to us… or within us.
When someone takes a trust and outright hurts us with it… or takes a life from us in a selfish act.
Then we begin to feel how evil evil can be.
What can we see about the power of evil?
There is a force that will prompt us towards itself…. and then consume us. We see
The Power and Progression of Evil
13:2 - The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.
It all began with just a prompting. We can only imagine the deception that he sowed into his thoughts… and what desires he may have played on.
There were some desires already in Judas.. and they were played on… and they grew. It may have been the money. But many think it was power…. perhaps he wanted the type of power the religious leaders had… perhaps he wanted Jesus to take the political force so many expected. He hoped to be a part of that, and occupy some place of importance.… so he was trying to escalate the showdown.
13:27 - As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
At this point, as one states,
“Judas is the first to receive food, a sign of honor. This is love’s last appeal! Jesus is reaching out to him. The stakes were so high… and in that moment “Satan entered him” (v. 27). He is now his complete master. There is no turning back. The thought of betrayal has given birth to the act. [NOTE 3]
13:30 - As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
Are there any more tragic words in all human experience?
The door is closed. Judas has joined to the evil forces that seek to destroy all of God’s loving relationship with his image bearing children… by destroying Jesus. But the reality is that it is Judas who is led into the darkness from which he will never return.
This progression reveals how evil unfolds. Here are the core truths we can know about evil.
The first thing we have to understand about the power of evil that seeks to destroy us is that…
Evil flows through our freedom… our own choice to follow desires that defy God’s nature.
James 1:13-15 (NIV)
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
How well this describes Judas… who simply did not turn from such desires and they became his door to evil.
C.S. Lewis said, "Every time you make a choice you are turning the control part of you, the part that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, you are slowly turning this control thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish one." -"Mere Christianity," p.86
But we also see that…
Evil also involves spiritual powers defiant of God that are seeking to draw us into themselves… to reign over us.
We can take our choices lightly if they are just being played out in a random and meaningless world. But there is a force of destruction… who will uses the most deceptive of means to lead us into the most destructive of ends. The means of deception are so much greater than we realize… and the destruction so much worse than we want to know.
I recall my own encounters with the reality of evil.
In that moment I could never forget that we are on the human battlefield… where the power of evil is real… and where love is real. Two forces at work which transcend us…. which seek us.
1 Peter 5:8 (NLT)
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
Yet…
Evil is still under the sovereign reign of God’s purposes.
Jesus had begun to understand that this was part of what was to unfold. He tells them,
13:18-19 – “…this is to fulfill the scripture: 'He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.' "I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He.
Jesus is noting that this very work of evil was part of what was to unfold when God sent one representing him into the world. This declares that evil is not in ultimate control. God is redeeming the world from evil. To simply rid the world of evil would only involve destruction of us all. God is actually at work redeeming all who will receive His power of love.
> He comes with His own power… the power of His own nature… the power of love.
With ever reminder of evil’s power and pretense… we need to know that it never overcomes God’s purposes.
The Power of Love that is Greater
The power of love is the very nature of God that was leading Jesus towards giving up his life for others. And this is the power that not only alone will prevail… but that Jesus now calls them to choose.
This now he explains to the others…
31 When he was gone, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. 33 "My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. 34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." 36 Simon Peter asked him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus replied, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later." 37 Peter asked, "Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." 38 Then Jesus answered, "Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!
As Judas leaves, Jesus knows that his fate is rushing towards him… and he begins to prepare the eleven others.
31 When he was gone, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him.
> Now that evil has waged it’s greatest act… God’s glory… His goodness will be seen.
Only now does Jesus speak of the Son of Man being ‘glorified.’ (Also 12:23 but it is part of same scenario.) Up until now we only know of him speaking of God being glorified. But now the two merge. As was prophesied in the Book of Daniel (chapter 7), ‘one like a son of man’ will be exalted. God is going to be revealed against the dark forces that have sought to rule creation.
The power of love is seen most clearly when it defies evil.
Light is brightest amidst darkness.
These are not equal powers in the most fundamental way… in fact it was nothing but the negation of the other. God created only good… and evil only exists as choosing another nature.
One is the very nature of God and eternal… one is merely that which chooses to defy that source. It is by nature self consuming and leads only ‘out into the darkness.’ Light is a measurable energy. Darkness is merely the absence of light.
When you turn on the light… it floods darkness… but darkness does not flood the light.
Jesus brings the power of love which created the world and bears the power to restore us. Evil is simply that which destroys who we really are.
In this moment… in that room… Jesus sought to make it clear how we respond to the evil at work in this world.
He explains that “You can’t come where I am going… but here is what it is all about… love. Love is what overcomes.”
Peter jumps back to the statement about not being able to go where he is going.
Jesus explains… "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later."
Peter says he’ll lay down his life for Jesus.
Jesus likely appreciates the desire… but knows that Peter still thinks Jesus is going to lead them into some type of fight… and that he is tough enough to stand up for him.
It’s at this point that Jesus predicts Peter’s own denial.
38 … "Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”
As he had already said… he can’t follow now… but he will later. The point is that Peter did have a loyalty to Jesus…. but the power of love was limited… for he said he would lay down his life for Jesus… but where Jesus was going was far greater… for it was laying down his life for all.
Jesus knows that Peter may be up for a cause that is dangerous…. but he has not understood or given himself to the love that is at the root. He has given himself to Jesus who may anticipate will lead some sort of popular uprising. He might think he is joining the band of heroes. But when he sees what they are going to do to Jesus… he will deny he even knew him.
> Jesus knows that Peter does not have the power of love that will overcome the power of evil at hand.
BUT... he will. When the full power of love has suffered and died… and then is raised again… Peter will be able to follow in the power of love that Jesus embodied.
Today we have to face the reality of these powers.
Judas had to face the reality of evil that led him from desires to destruction.
While the others faced the reality of love that led Jesus to the greatest act of victory of ever known.
As we consider these two powers…. I want to offer us a visual depiction of these events. Drawing from a song by the band U2 that reflects Judas speaking to Jesus…. and the depiction captured in the Passion of the Christ film… the reality of these two powers is brought home.
As this involves images that are graphic in nature… if you have young children or intentionally avoided the intensity of the Passion film… I certainly want to offer the opportunity to limit what you see.
[The following is a link to a video that follows U2 song ‘The End of the World’]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkJczbs2q1A&feature=related
As these images help bring home the reality of these two powers in the events we have looked at… I want to conclude by bringing the reality of these two powers to bear on our own lives.
Conclusion:
There are two powers at work… we will give ourselves to one or the other. Each has their destiny.
Do you recognize that there are desires trying to draw into evil … prompted by spiritual powers destined for destruction … money, power, anger to name a few. Are they just human desires? We may think so… until we realize we may be willing to sell our souls for them.
Evil is at our doors too. It is prompting our desires.
Do you really grasp that love is not just a warm feeling… it is the power that is God… that created the universe… that will exist eternally… and that is the greatest power because it can give itself in the greatest way. This is why Jesus declares that our choice is centered in his call to love… and that such love is defined by him and in him…. we are to love ‘as he has loved us.’
This is the power that this world will call weakness…. when in fact it is the very nature of God at work to overcome evil.
Matthew 5:43-45 (TNIV)
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Jesus is calling out as the voice not of morality… but of paternity…. This is not a call to mere morality to simply make us better people… but of paternity as he is speaking forth the Father’s heart that seeks to restore us to who we really are.
This is what we need to overcome the subtle draw of evil in our lives… our marriages…. and ourselves.
Only such love overcomes evil. This is what Mother Teresa exemplified…. As she saw human lives betrayed and abandoned… she sought one thing… to love them as Christ. She overcame the power of evil not only that was at work around her… but within her. And she centered herself in the very source of that power… spending hours in focus upon the cross… upon the love of Christ that had been given for her.
Jesus has called us here… knowing evil is prompting our desires… and that we face the same crossroads.
Closing Prayer
Notes:
1. Regarding the timing of this event. Passover Meal
The Synoptics record that during his last week of ministry, during the Passover festival, Jesus enjoyed a final meal with his disciples (Mark 14:12–25). Each synoptic writer terms this “the Passover” (Matt. 26:17; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7–9) ordinarily served after dusk on the Jewish date of 15 Nisan. John mentions such a meal (13:2, 26) and indicates through mention of the betrayal of Judas (13:21–30) that this meal is the synoptic Passover (cf. Mark 14:17–21). However, John’s date cannot be 15 Nisan (Passover) for later he will say that Jesus is crucified on 14 Nisan when the temple lambs are being slaughtered (19:14). Hence the Johannine record shows the meal to be on the Day of Preparation, one night prior to the Passover feast.
Scholars have solved this riddle in a variety of ways. The easiest and most popular solution is simply to say that one Gospel tradition or the other is incorrect. But critics can find fault with each account: Would the Sanhedrin hold a trial on a feast day as the Synoptics contend? Or has John moved the cross to 14 Nisan to develop a paschal emphasis for Jesus’ death (cf. 19:32–37)? Recent studies have urged that both narratives might be accurate due to competing calendars in the first century. Hence ceremonial meals may have been sponsored on more than one night during this festival week.
The synoptic emphasis is found in the words of institution during the meal (Luke 22:14–23). While it comes as a surprise that the fourth Gospel does not record this (but see 6:52–58) we find that another event, the foot washing, is prominent (13:1–20). The theme of servanthood so central to the narrative, however, does appear in Luke in the upper room: the disciples’ interest in greatness and authority is rebuked by Jesus as he instructs them about servanthood (Luke 22:24–27). - Elwell, W. A. (1996, c1989). Vol. 3: Evangelical commentary on the Bible. Baker reference library (Jn 13:21). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House.
2. The name Judas. - Judas is not a very popular name now. But such has not always been the case. When Judas’ parents gave him that name it was a very popular Jewish name, and carried much great history. The parents of Judas had high hopes for their child just as all good parents do. They hoped that he would live up to his name which means "praise to the Lord". They hoped that he would live a life that would bring praise to the Lord. Such was not to be case however. Now his name lives in infamy. The Name Judas is a boy's name . The origin of the baby name Judas is Hebrew with the meaning(s) depending on Gender/Origin being
Hebrew- Praise. The praised one. Judas has the following similar or variant Names: Jude Judah Yehudi Judas
Judas Name Popularity (2011 web stat)
The name Judas, is the 16052nd most popular baby name at mybaby.net.au
3. From The Preacher's Commentary Series - Fredrikson, R. L., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1985). Vol. 27: The Preacher's Commentary Series, Volume 27 : John.
