Luke 22:1-6 Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus
Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread,
called the Passover, was approaching,
and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some
way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot,
one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the
chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how
he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money. He consented, and watched for an opportunity
to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.
Betrayal is the theme of tonight’s
Gospel reading and it also seems to be the theme of society today.
The two major stories in the media
last week were all about betrayals at different levels.
The guilty conviction and jailing of
Cardinal George Pell was steeped in betrayal.
The parents who felt betrayal of
their children by the church.
But it’s not just the church – many
institutions were named in the Royal Commission as having betrayed the trust of
parents and the innocence of children placed in their trust – sporting
institutions, religious institutions, educational institutions, service
institutions like the scouts and YMCA – all betrayed the trust given to them.
And then there was the article about
Lawyer X – Nicola Gobbo who betrayed various levels of trust.
She betrayed her clients who thought
they could trust her to fairly represent them under the trust of
attorney/client privilege.
Irrespective of what your views on
these matters are there was a betrayal of trust.
It’s a horrible feeling being
betrayed especially by a person you trusted.
In fact Jesus says that this type of
close betrayal is a sign of the decay of our world and the sign of end times -
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child.
Betrayal by friends and loved ones is
at the highest level of hurt and in many cases hard to forgive.
Whether it be in a professional
relationship, a church relationship, a family relationship or a marriage.
One betrayal is often enough to
destroy the relationship and any hope of reconciliation.
In today’s reading we hear of the
ultimate of betrayals – that of Judas betraying Jesus.
Judas was the treasurer for the group
of disciples and Satan tempts him where he knows he has a weak spot – with
money.
The temptation of money was far too
great for Judas to ignore and Satan knew it.
We know what happens because of that
betrayal to Jesus but what does that betrayal do to Judas.
We will discover that the betrayal
was so filled with guilt that Judas could not deal with it.
Even returning the money didn’t undo
the guilt he felt for betraying Jesus.
And as a result Judas takes his own
life.
This is the work Satan does.
He looks for an opportunity to use
our guilt to break down our faith and our relationship with God.
This Sunday, the First Sunday in
Lent, we will hear Satan tempt Jesus 3 times – 3 times that will fail each
time.
At the conclusion of the 3rd
temptation it says: he departed from him until an opportune time.
And that’s how Satan works – he looks
for opportune moments to convict us of our sin to create guilt in us and our
relationship with God because of our betrayal of God.
Judas’ guilt weighed heavily on him
that he could not come before God to seek his forgiveness.
Compare the difference to Peter who
denied Jesus 3 times but repented of his sin and was reinstated.
Jesus used Judas’s betrayal against
Satan as we hear again tonight – our Lord Jesus Christ on the night he was
betrayed took bread – take and eat this is my body – he took the cup – take and
drink, this is my blood – shed for the forgiveness of your sins.
God does not want us to be weighed
down by the guilt of our sin because that gives Satan that opportune time to
burden our conscience and believe that God could not possible love and forgive
me – not this time – not again.
But he does – it was while we were
yet sinners that Christ died for us.
Satan waited patiently for that
opportune time –
If you are the Son of God turn these
rocks into bread.
If you are the Son of God throw
yourself down and let God catch you.
If you are the Son of God worship me
and I’ll give you all the Kingdoms of the world.
And that 4th time – if you are the
Son of God, come down from the cross and we’ll believe in you.
But Jesus resisted that 4th
temptation too.
And because he did he took all our
guilt and burdens upon himself so when we are burdened by the betrayal of our sin
we can look to the cross again and again and let Jesus take that burden upon
himself as he says – come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will
give you rest – rest for your souls.
The weight and burden of our betrayal
against God is too much for us to bear on our own as King David discovered when
he wrote Psalm 32:
Blessed is the one whose
transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
When I kept silent, my bones wasted
away through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy
on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you and
did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess my
transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Note how David starts that Psalm –
blessed is the one whose sins are forgiven.
Not blessed are those who do not sin.
We all sin and fall short of the
glory of God but Jesus takes that burden and guilt upon himself to the cross.
And we need never lack trust in what
God has promised when he promises to forgive us as we will be kept blameless at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As St Paul affirms: The one who calls
you is faithful, and he will do it.
May God bless your Lenten journey as
you journey to the cross with Jesus and lay your sin and guilt – all your
betrayals at his feet.
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