Sermon "Judas’s Never Want To Help The Poor”

Sermon Lent Services Lake City UMC Date 04/13/2022

Sermon “Judas’s Never want to Help the Poor.”

John 13:21-30 The Message

21 After he said these things, Jesus became visibly upset, and then he told them why. “One of you is going to betray me.”

22-25 The disciples looked around at one another, wondering who on earth he was talking about. One of the disciples, the one Jesus loved dearly, was reclining against him, his head on his shoulder. Peter motioned to him to ask who Jesus might be talking about. So, being the closest, he said, “Master, who?”

26-27 Jesus said, “The one to whom I give this crust of bread after I’ve dipped it.” Then he dipped the crust and gave it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. As soon as the bread was in his hand, Satan entered him.

“What you must do,” said Jesus, “do. Do it and get it over with.”

28-29 No one around the supper table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas was their treasurer, Jesus was telling him to buy what they needed for the Feast, or that he should give something to the poor.

30 Judas, with the piece of bread, left. It was night.

The Scripture says basically That satin entered him, and Jesus Said Just Do it!

Wow, and then the text says the disciples thought Judas was concerned with the poor.

One of my favorite sermons that I have ever read is this title delivered by Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays, President of Morehouse College. Mays offered a different interpretation of the role of Judas as not a villain or "betrayer" but as the fulfillment of the plan of redemption for the world; thus, we must be kind to Judas.

Other scholars assert that the role of Judas as "betrayer," especially from the Greek, was misinterpreted for "hand over." The claim that "Jesus made me do it" is, in effect, what an ancient document called the Gospel of Judas attempts to do for the great betrayer.

Consider our reading from John's gospel. It records an incident at the Last Supper where Jesus tells his disciples that one of them will betray him. And while they are all wondering who it can be, Jesus privately hands Judas a piece of bread, which he had said would signal the betrayer. John then tells us, "After [Judas] received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him." Luke also attributes Judas' action to the Devil, saying, "Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve" (Luke 22:3).

Matthew and Mark simply report Judas' action without laying it on Satan, but they clearly describe it as an act of betrayal.

But return a moment to John's statement that Satan entered into Judas. Throughout his gospel, John has been concerned to explain the life, ministry, and death of Jesus theologically, and not just reporting specific facts.

In other words, as far as John is concerned, the real opponents are not Jesus and Judas but Jesus and Satan. Or, to say it even more broadly, the struggle is between the most-holy God and the Prince of Darkness.

No, as John understands it, the devil made Judas do it.

However, what catches me in this text this year is something more subtle and hinted at with just a little more finesse when in the text, we see the idea that the other disciples, when they saw Judas leave, thought he was going to Help the Poor.

I’ve been working and fighting all year with Rev William Barber and Rev Liz Theo Harris, really for the past four years in a movement called the Poor Peoples Campaign. In this movement, I see a lot of similarities with the Revolution that Jesus was leading.

The PPC wants to Help folks with Heath Care, The PPC seeks to get folks healthy water and food and wants to change the poverty narrative and release the captives.

To me, this is much the same fight that Jesus was fighting so I have to say that the entire messianic movement was directed at changing the suffering of the poor from poverty to experiencing the Kingdom of God right here right now.

Jesus wants everyone to experience the Kingdom of God.

However, I’m not sure if that was Judas' desire.

1st While some of the disciples thought that Judas was going to give money to the poor, I have been in churches long enough and been around the political arena long enough to know that sometimes the folks that oversee the money don’t like to spend the money on the poor.

Judas was the treasurer in the Group and I’ve known some treasurers that didn’t want to spend money on anything, especially outreach and poverty.