JUDAS THE BETRAYER (part two)
Last week we saw that Judas actually started out well. He was chosen to be an apostle, he was chosen to be the treasurer and he was sent out by Jesus with the others to heal people and drive out evil spirits. But somewhere along the way, he changed and allowed Satan to come in and take over. We looked at some possibilities as to why.
He may have thought Jesus was going to be a political Messiah and start a revolt but when that didn't happen he got upset with him. He also became a thief and started dipping into the money bag. When he objected to Mary's costly act of devotion he had a bad reaction to Jesus' firm rebuke and he went to the chief priests and sold Jesus out.
Then we looked at the different ways Jesus exposed Judas to the others. He said one of them was a devil, he said not all of them were clean when he washed their feet and he made it clear that one of them would betray him and then revealed it was Judas.
Today we continue our account with the aftermath. How did the betrayal effect Judas? How did things turn out for him? Spoiler alert-not very well.
1) What have I done?
It appears Judas regretted his decision to betray Jesus.
Matt. 27:3-5, "When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” “What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”
So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself." Judas was seized with remorse; he was gripped with shame over what he had done. That's how the vicious cycle goes. We give in to temptation and when the deed is done we're gripped with remorse. “I have sinned…I have betrayed innocent blood.”
It's good that Judas realized he sinned but when he says he betrayed innocent blood it made me wonder what Judas thought Jesus was guilty of? Maybe it was all the things the religious leaders accused him of. As a companion of Jesus, he heard what the religious leaders said against him.
Though Jesus had answers for their accusations and he rebuked them publically along with warning the disciples to watch out for them, perhaps Judas gave too much attention to what the religious leaders were saying about Jesus. So when Jesus rebuked Judas in the perfume incident he found some sympathy for the religious leaders.
When we are disappointed with Jesus we will start to see him in a different light. That's dangerous because if that isn't addressed it will get easier to continue to see him in a negative way. Then we'll find ourselves agreeing with the world. Regardless of Judas’ actions here he wasn’t truly repentant. His feelings had changed but his heart did not.
The Fourfold Gospel commentary, “There are two Greek words which are translated "repented," the one properly so translated, metanoeo, which means literally "to know after" and therefore means a change of mind or purpose; and the other, metamellomai, which is used here and which means literally "to care after," indicates a sorrow for the past. The first should be translated "repent"; the second, "regret."
Trench draws the distinction thus: 'He who has changed his mind about the past is in the way to change everything; he who has an after care may have little or nothing more than a selfish dread of the consequences of what he has done'.
Considering the prophecy which had been uttered with regard to Judas' act he had good reason to fear the consequences. While he testifies as to the innocence of Jesus, he expresses no affection for him.”
Judas didn't have a repentant heart, he had a remorseful heart. Remorse is okay if it leads to repentance but if it doesn't it's just worldly sorrow. 2nd Cor. 7:10, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death."
With what happened after Judas threw the money back at the moneychangers, we see he only had worldly sorrow, not godly sorrow. Notice the difference between Peter and Judas. Peter denied knowing Jesus. But when the rooster crowed he and Jesus locked eyes. Then Peter remembered that Jesus told him he would betray him and Peter thought that would never happen.
When the truth hit Peter he went out and wept bitterly. When the truth hit Judas he went out and hung himself. Peter's remorse was more about what he had done to Jesus, Judas' was more about what he had done to himself. Although part of it had to do with being sorry he betrayed Jesus, the focus turned to himself and his fears. They both had guilt and shame over what they had done but Peter stayed and Judas fled. He couldn't live with what he had done so he ended his life.
When people take their own lives they reach a point of hopelessness. Peter may have felt like taking his own life but he didn't. I'm not trying to paint a picture that everyone who commits suicide is a Judas, I'm just highlighting the difference between Judas' reaction and Peter's. It's a sad situation whenever anyone takes their own life-even Judas.
But Judas had the wrong reaction to his sin-it pushed him away from God where Peter's reaction allowed him to eventually draw closer to God. The world is filled with remorseful people who are sorry they got caught, but not necessarily sorry for what they did. They're sorry for the consequences of their actions and not for the actions themselves. They may even be sorry for what they did but not enough to change.
Judas, unlike Peter, was not close with Jesus spiritually. There was no deep relationship there. Peter’s sorrow was because it hurt the relationship; Judas’ was because he realized he had messed up. And since he couldn’t handle the guilt feelings and the fear of consequences, he dealt with those feelings by committing suicide where Peter repented and Jesus forgave him.
How often have we done wrong and instead of reacting the right way and making a determination to correct our behavior we were seized with guilt and as a result it pushed us deeper into sin? There are consequences to our actions. We can be like Judas, who added a wrong reaction to a wrong choice or we can have godly sorrow over what we've done and repent like Peter did.
2) Why?
Martin DeHaan asked, “How could he live for three years in Christ’s inner circle and then betray the best friend he ever had?” It doesn't make sense that someone in Jesus' inner circle who heard what he heard and saw what he saw could become detached to the point of betrayal.
But we could ask the same question of Adam and Eve. In one sense that was more astounding. Two perfect people literally walking with God in a perfect place yet they were lured away and ate the fruit of disobedience. They only had one thing that was off limits yet they allowed that one thing to get in the way. They decided what they had with God wasn’t enough; they wanted more.
It can happen to us. We have Jesus but the allurement of sin entices us and we want to fulfill our desires. So, even if it’s for a moment, we decide that Jesus isn’t enough. And then, if we don’t get a handle on it, the amount of time spent in sin increases and we are overtaken by them. Judas started out fine but somewhere along the way evil crept in and he went south.
This is what happened to Jim Jones. At one time, The People’s Temple was focused on helping to fix the social concerns of the day; taking on the problems of inner city poverty. However, as the church grew so did Jim Jones’ ego. He rejected any constructive criticism. As power and money fed his dark side he eventually put the bible away and made himself the authoritative voice. We know how tragically that ended-with a mass suicide.
Judas started out doing the things of God. Remember in Matt. 10 when Jesus sent out the twelve to heal and drive out evil spirits? Judas was one of them. But at some point that changed. Last week we saw in John 6 that Jesus called him a devil. The one who was once working against the devil flipped and started working with him.
How much more of a change could one make? That just lends all the more wonder to how Judas, who had been given power from on high to do God's work could reach the point to do a 180 like this.
Then to continue on from there and go through the motions and travel with Jesus and the others, watching him perform more miracles and healings and then see him raise Lazarus from the dead and yet not allow that to cause him to forsake the devil and get back on the right side.
One has to wonder how he could walk so close to the light yet remain in the darkness? One reason is if he struggled with the tug-of-war battle between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood, he chose not to expose it. He kept it hidden instead of opening up about it.
John 3:20, " Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”
When we are looking good on the outside but living in darkness we will do whatever we can to keep our deeds hidden; exposure is the enemy. But if we are willing to take a huge step and reveal what's hidden in the darkness, we can get some help and avoid going further down and deeper into the pit of despair, like Judas did.
Some people are close to the light-they go to church, have Christian friends, read their bible, yet they're still in the darkness. Why? Because they haven’t really surrendered to Jesus. They're unwilling to let go of old ways; unwilling to embrace the new way. They have an element of belief but they don't possess the faith that places the control of their lives into the hands of Jesus.
It’s possible to be near Christ and to associate with his followers but not be saved. Church attendance and church involvement does not mean you are okay with God. Judas wasn’t. Judas hid his dark side in a cloud of religious activity.
1st John 1:5-7, "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."
This isn't about being perfect. It says walk in darkness. At one time Judas had true fellowship with Jesus but at some point that started to shift and he began to pull away; emotionally at least. He didn't see it as anything serious at first, but then it grew over time and he became accustomed to it-like the frog in the pot scenario where you slowly turn up the heat to keep him in the pot until he's cooked.
Judas may have walked with Jesus literally but he walked in darkness spiritually. When Jesus washed his disciples' feet, Peter wanted him to wash the rest of him. Jesus told him he was clean, but then he revealed that they weren't all clean-referring to Judas. Sadly, Judas would not reach the point of being purified by the blood of Christ. We need to stay walking in the light.
3) Is Judas misunderstood?
If you read what's known as the Gospel of Judas or see the musical, Jesus Christ, Superstar, you come away with the idea that Judas isn't the bad guy, he's simply misunderstood. In fact, not only is he not the bad guy-he's a hero!
Regarding these two subjects, Minister Jeff Strite wrote, “Many so-called scholars claimed this gave us new information about Jesus that we hadn’t had before, but most Christians have simply scoffed at this “great” discovery.
The early church knew that this so-called Gospel was not an eye-witness account. It was written long after Judas had died. In fact, it was written long after anyone who had ever seen Jesus had died. In all likelihood, it had been written long after anyone who knew anyone who had seen Jesus had died.” The Gospel of Judas paints him in a positive light; he was Jesus’ closest friend, not a betrayer.
The musical, Jesus Christ Superstar depicted Judas as a hero who was trying to save Jesus from His self-destructive ways. According to their story Judas meant well, but he ended up getting Jesus killed anyway. In their story Judas was a nice man who just didn't understand what God had in mind.
The reality is that Judas was not a nice guy who was misunderstood. He was not a friend trying to look out for Jesus’ best interest. He may have misunderstood some things but the other disciples misunderstood some things too but they didn’t decide to hand their Master over to the ones who were looking to have him killed."
It's interesting that certain people want to paint Judas in a positive light. Maybe that's because they feel misunderstood themselves so they feel relatable to Judas. Since they don't see themselves as bad people, then maybe Judas wasn't either-he was simply misunderstood.
It's one thing to feel bad for Judas, but we can't let him off the hook. If we do, then we will take ourselves off the hook. When we do wrong, we will come up with excuses and rationalizations. It's not my fault, it was external circumstances, I was misunderstood.
It's possible Judas misunderstood that Jesus was not going to be a political Messiah. But the main thing we have to remember is that he was in the company of Jesus for three years. I guarantee that as soon as he started slipping away, Jesus picked up on it and addressed it; no doubt privately.
How can I know this? Because that's what he does with us. Jesus loves us too much to let sin go unchecked. We know that as Jesus lovingly convicts us and tries to get us to go in the right direction, he was doing the same thing for Judas because he loved Judas too. But, as we have the choice to obey or disobey, so did he. Judas had no excuse to do what he did. He could've chosen to abandon sin and cling to Jesus.
But did he have a choice? John 13:18, "I am not referring to all of you; I know the ones I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture" 'He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me'." Jesus' words here makes it seem as if Judas' betrayal was inevitable since it fulfilled a prophecy.
And then you have what Jesus said a few chapters later when he was praying in John 17:12, "While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that scripture would be fulfilled."
When you read this you wonder, 'what choice did Judas have?' Then you take into consideration that if Jesus wasn't betrayed he wouldn't have been arrested and then crucified. Judas had to do what he did so everything would happen the way it was supposed to.
So, was Judas chosen to be the unfortunate soul who would betray Jesus and there was nothing he could do about it? Was Satan going to enter into him regardless of how much he resisted it? Was none of this Judas' fault and therefore he shouldn’t be held accountable for his actions? Was all this outside of his control? No.
Judas had a choice. Prophecy is the foretelling of what God already knows will happen. It's not that God orchestrated it all; he just knew it all. All of time is before God. Therefore, the betrayal of Jesus was foreseen, not predetermined. And that's beneficial to us. The fulfillment of prophecy is a confirmation of Jesus' divinity.
In John 13:18 when Jesus said Judas' betrayal would fulfill scripture, he said in vs. 19, "I am telling you this now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He." So when it happened the way Jesus said it would it was a confirmation to them, and us, that he is the Messiah.
Just because God knows what will happen it doesn’t mean that’s how he wanted it to happen. God didn’t want Adam and Eve to disobey him he just knew they would. It was not preordained for Judas to betray Jesus as if he had no choice but to do it.
God is a just and loving God. It would be cruel of him to create Judas with the purpose of betraying his son and end up in hell without any ability to change his fate. How could Judas be held accountable for his actions if everything was outside of his control?
Judas had free will. He wasn't misunderstood, he wasn't a patsy; he was a man who chose to betray Jesus and the bible just records what God already knew.
It's important for us to see Judas in the proper light so that if any of his behaviors reside in us, then we will be compelled to do something about it. We want to address sin when it starts, not wait for it to grow and become out of control. We want to have right reactions to our sin. We want to react like Peter did, not Judas. Learning about Judas will help us to make sure we don't repeat his mistakes.
