The Revelation of Betrayal
John 13: “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.”
Matthew 26:22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely not I, Lord?” 23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
John 13: 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.
Matthew 26:25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “Yes, it is you.”
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.
What does it take to be a traitor? Consider the story of Benedict Arnold. The fact is that Benedict Arnold was actually a very gifted fighter for the American Army during the Revolutionary War. He and Ethan Allen led the brigade that captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. Arnold’s heroics continued in September, when he took 1,150 riflemen to fight against Quebec. He had to overcome leaky boats, spoiled provisions, treacherous rivers, and near starvation to arrive at Quebec. In this assault he lost almost half of his mean. He even had a ball shot through his leg. But these losses did not deter Arnold. For the next five years Arnold served the Patriot side with distinction in one battle after another, including a dangerous assault against the center of the British line at Saratoga, where he was again wounded in the leg. One historian by the name of Henretta said, “No general was more imaginative than Arnold, no field officer more daring, no soldier more courageous.”
Yet Arnold has gone down in history not as a hero but as a villain, a military traitor who decided to hand over a key fort in West Port, New York to the British. When he didn’t get the promotions that he wanted and the money that he was seeking for his lavish life, he decided to hand over the fort for more money. With cool calculation he promised to deliver West Point and its 3,000 defenders for 2O,OOO sterling (about $1 million today), hoping that he could stop the Americans in their tracks. Persuading Washington to place the fort under his command, Arnold moved in September 1780 to execute his audacious plan, only to see it fail. After Arnold failed in this endeavor, he served George III with the same skill and daring he had shown in the Patriot cause. In 1781 he led devastating strikes on Patriot supply depots in Virginia and Connecticut.
A traitor is worse than an enemy because of the element of trust that you had in that person and the deceit involved in being a traitor. Tonight we look at the story of a traitor - one of the most well known traitors of all time - Judas Iscariot. Judas, too was an insider. He, along with the other 11 disciples, was given the ability to chase out demons. He stood by their side in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus and undergoing the resistance of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law. He was even entrusted with the money bag. But Jesus shows us tonight -
The Revelation of the Traitor
I. The meaning of a “traitor”
The beginning of this Lent season’s readings takes us to the Upper Room, where Jesus had decided to eat a last meal with the disciples, and establish the Lord’s Supper. Albrecht comments, “In the Arab culture today, it is still taken for granted than to eat with someone else amounts to saying, ‘I am your friend, and I will never hurt you.’ ” Once again, Judas was enjoying a very private with Jesus and the disciples - one of only 12 men who were given the privilege to eat and drink the Passover with the Promised Messiah. This was a very close knit setting. The disciples could feel at home with one another. I would compare it to the way I feel when I go to a conference and enjoy time with his fellow preachers and teachers. I know these men believe the same as I do. They are on my side.
This sense of rest and relaxation came to an end when Jesus had a revelation for the disciples. Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.” Jesus literally said, “amen, amen,” meaning - VERY TRULY - solemnly speaking in very clear terms - Jesus made sure the disciples understood what he was saying - that one of the 12 disciples - this very close knit group - was going to betray him! They could sense it in his actions and his demeanor that something wasn’t right. It bothered him that one of his close friends whom he had given so much would do this to him.
It also bothered the disciples. Here they were living and assuming that they were all on the same page. They had no idea that the prediction of Psalm 41 had anything to do with THEM! And so God’s Word says, They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely not I, Lord?” 23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” John 13: 22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. Notice what bothered the disciples. It was not only the fact that one of THEM would betray Jesus, but that they didn’t know WHICH one. And so they had to do some real soul searching here - “could it be me?” “Surely not!” The fact that they had to ask Jesus this shows the uncertainty in them!
Now, some might say, “the disciples should have been confident that they would never betray him! What kind of faith do they have to even question whether they would do such a thing!” But the disciples were not naive pietists who thought they were super Christians. They realized the same thing that Paul declared, I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. (Romans 7:18) When Paul realized this about himself he said to other Christians in 1 Corinthians, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
This is something that we need to realize about ourselves as well. Before we stand in awe as to what Judas did, do not be surprised at it. For God reveals that all of us has a Benedict Arnold and a Judas inside of us. His name is Adam, Old Adam, Nature, Sinful Nature. He would like nothing more than to betray Jesus for money or fame. He would like nothing more than to hand Jesus over to his enemies. You see the Judas within you every day. When you to buy yourself a new toy instead of give your first fruits to God - you are betraying Jesus. When Jesus does not meet your expectations and you complain to others about how unfair your life is, you are betraying Jesus by not expressing faith and thankfulness to God. When you are impatient with your children or disobedient to your parents, this is almost equal to telling Jesus, “I don’t want you as my Savior!” Whereas these are not always purposeful betrayals, they are still sinful. And they could very easily progress to what Judas did. The disciples realized that THEY had the potential to do such a thing, and it worried them. Don’t be naive about yourself. You still have a sinful nature that can do very harmful things.
II. The revelation of the traitor
Jesus could not allow Judas to go on sinning without exposing his sin. It is the duty of a doctor, not to cover up disease, but to first expose it and then to fix it. And so Jesus exposed this sinner in a most interesting way. The text goes on, 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. Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “Yes, it is you. . . . What you are about to do, do quickly.” One commentator mentioned that this was usually a sign of honor for a guest to be handed bread to eat. So Jesus showed who would be his betrayer by being polite and courteous to him.
Jesus had once told his disciples, “if your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault - just between the two of you.” It is interesting then, that even though that they were among 11 other disciples, Jesus was able to show Judas his sin in a private way - that only both of them knew what Jesus was saying. Why did Jesus do this? Was this indirect way of communicating with Judas another effort of Jesus to “seek and save that which was lost?” By not confronting him in a publicly humiliating way, was he still trying to reach out to Judas? Knowing the heart of God as being gracious and compassionate, one would believe this to be so. But how did Judas respond? As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. Instead of repenting, he became hardened and more determined to do what he had planned. He ran away from the scalpel of the Doctor.
Isn’t this a great revelation then, of the heart of our Savior? When we are traitorous to him, he still continues to feed us with bread. He still continues to offer his gifts of forgiveness and the Lord’s Supper. In a gentle way he shows us our sin, so that he can soothe us with His forgiveness. Instead of letting us go on in our sin, Jesus has the compassion to reveal our sinful natures so that He can also reach out with the Bread of Life - His forgiveness. Some people become more angry with God for his patience and forgiveness. But God just keeps reaching out to them. What a compassionate God we have!
Since this was a private admonition, Matthew went on to say that “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.” Why didn’t at least John understand what Jesus was saying? Maybe he interpreted Jesus to be saying that eventually he would betray him, and didn’t fully realize the immediate impact of what Jesus was saying. Maybe God just wouldn’t allow their minds to comprehend it. Either way, the disciples still didn’t know that Judas was the traitor.
So why did Jesus reveal it in the first place? He tells us this “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He. After the fact, the disciples would then remember that Jesus predicted that Judas would do this. Only God would know Psalm 41 was a prediction of what would happen to him. And so the disciples would then afterward conclude that Jesus must be the Christ - the Chosen One. At this time of betrayal Jesus was concerned with the disciples’ faith. And so he used this word of prediction to STRENGTHEN their faith in Jesus as their Savior! Jesus was planting a seed that would later on grow and produce faith in these disciples.
III. The command to the traitor
On Wednesday, May 16, 2001, one of the great American traitors of all time, F.B.I. Counter-Intelligence Agent Richard Hanssen, was indicted on twenty-one (21) counts of espionage-associated offenses, committed against the security of the United States of America. Agent Hanssen was charged with causing "grave injury to the security of the Uniteds States", while committing multiple acts of espionage on behalf of Moscow. Agent Hanssen had apparently worked for the Soviets/Russians for fifteen years, and is thought to have passed over six thousand pages of highly classified documents to the Russians. The documents included highly classified documents on American intelligence operations, intelligence methods, technology, agent and counter-agent methods and procedures, as well as the identities of an unidentified number of agents working for the United States; at least two of whom were executed as a direct result of Hanssens’ traitorous actions. All done for fun and money.
The immediate question that came about after this discovery was, “how could this happen?” They knew that someone was providing a major leak, but they didn’t know WHO it was. And the heat came one FBI director Louis Freeh. Many felt he should have used polygraphs more often. Imagine, however, if he did know WHO was doing it, but did NOTHING about it. Freeh then would be considered a traitor also, no?
Now, you can tell I’m leading somewhere with this. Jesus KNEW who was going to betray him. He even revealed him. But then, what did Jesus do? “What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him. . . As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night. Instead of commanding the disciples to hold Judas down and keep him from doing what he was about to do, Jesus not only told him to do it, but he told him to do it QUICKLY!
However, this was not the sign of a traitor? Instead, this reveals two things to us about our Savior. First of all, he does not make us to be robots. He could have forced Judas to stay there and not betray him. But God creates all of us with a free will to do evil. And you and I, even as Christians, have the full freedom to walk away from Jesus. He doesn’t put a 12 foot barb wire fence around our faith and say, “you can’t leave!” Just as with Judas, he implores us to stay with his gentle compassion, but he doesn’t force us. If we want to leave, we can. Jesus let Judas go and betray him of his own volition.
Secondly, this command reveals the compassion and resolution of Jesus in his attitude. He knew that this was going to be a painful night for him - an excruciatingly painful night. Not only was Jesus going to be crucified, but He was going to have the sins of the world be put on HIS shoulders and be punished with eternal HELL! This was the only way that Jesus could redeem the world from it’s sin. Like a warrior heading to a painful battle, Jesus wanted to get the show on the road. Jesus didn’t want time for his human flesh to think about this pain that he would go through. And so he told the now hardened Judas, “get going already!” What a compassionate and determined Savior we have!
When President Bush was faced with his first real crisis in America with the bombings, most believe that this brought out the best in him. It showed his fortitude and his resolution and character that he had within. Whether you agree or disagree with that, it is true that times of trial will either bring out the best or the worst in you.
When Jesus was faced with the betrayal of a close friend, he didn’t turn ugly. Instead, it brought out the best in Him. Jesus revealed the compassion he had for this close friend as he tried to reach out to him. He revealed to us his resolve to die on the cross for us. Jesus’ Revelation of the Traitor also revealed to us what a wonderful Savior we have in Jesus. Amen.
