Jesus chose Judas knowing…..

Dr. RB McFee

Email: drmcfee2020@gmail.com

9 “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me”

Psalm 41:9

J 

Betrayal – this is certainly the time of year where we see it on full display. It is one of the key elements of Jesus’ Passion. Judas betrays Jesus. Peter betrays Jesus. Most of the twelve Disciples betray Jesus.

To be sure, the forms of betrayal vary.

Judas sells Jesus out to the religious leaders, who want to arrest and kill Him. Peter betrays Jesus by denying even knowing Him. The Disciples betray Jesus by hiding instead of standing by or near Him while nailed upon the Cross.

There are so many lessons tied into Lent. And over the last few weeks, perhaps since preparing for the Ash Wednesday service, I’ve been thinking about Jesus, His final earthly days of ministry and teaching before the Last Supper, and the notion of betrayal.

Most of the time we focus on the specific acts of betrayal Judas does in the last hours before the Passover meal, Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the journey to Calvary.

But have you thought about what was it like for Jesus to spend three years with the person who’d betray Him?

Jesus recruited Judas early in His ministry, along with the rest of the Twelve. They ate together, travelled together, went to synagogue together. Judas watched Jesus do the miraculous, including things reserved to God and God alone.

And yet Judas betrayed the One they all got to hang out with, the One they all understood was God’s beloved, only Son.

How can someone who knew, who knew Jesus up close and as a friend, with first-hand experience, how could anyone betray Him?

Sad reality, betrayal usually comes at the hands of those we know, trust, and even love.  Put differently, if you’ve lived long enough and given your trust to someone, chances are you’ve been betrayed.

Knowing that, Jesus still loved on, taught, and entrusted parts of His ministry to Judas.

Perhaps that is one of the most important yet rarely discussed lessons from Christ.

It is in that very notion we see the loving nature of Jesus, of God, because our Savior is always inviting us to our higher nature through and in Him.

Consider how often Jesus must have afforded Judas opportunities to do God’s work – whether handling the finances of the group, or going out and ministering to people, even doing some miraculous acts in the Power of Christ.

Was Jesus trying to show Judas a better way, and help him have a change of heart, a change of spirit? Was Jesus giving Judas a bunch of last chances to choose goodness?

Jesus never gives up on us, even knowing who we are, and what our future is very likely to become.

And Jesus did in fact empower Judas. Scripture tells us even the betrayer himself did go off on assigned ministry and do some healing. Boggles the mind, but he did.

Now imagine you are capable of knowing the future, say like Jesus. Jesus would have known from day one when He invited Judas to become a member of the original twelve Disciples that ultimately this man would betray Him. And yet Jesus welcomed Judas none the less.

Imagine working with on a daily basis, empowering even, a man you know will stab you in the back. What kind of spiritual discipline would it take to walk side by side with someone like this for three years?!

Moreover given Jesus is The Word, besides knowing the Jewish texts inside and out, He would have known the various Old Testament verses that point to His being betrayed.

 “And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.” 

Zechariah 11: 13 NIV

And God loves us so much He gave us free will – to do what is right, or to sell Him out for thirty pieces of silver.

To be sure, the downfall of Judas is more complicated than mere greed. In the end he tossed the money, the blood money, back to the priests and scribes.

In some ways Judas is like a lot of people – they think they know the best way to God’s fulfillment based upon their own expectations from or interpretation of the Bible, and try to orchestrate events to follow their idea of how the Lord should do things and the best way to bring about the right ending.

Just like God with Job, discussing just Who made the tree, Jesus tried to teach Judas to trust Him, and by extension, us, too. But Judas wouldn’t, and he took matters into his own hands, as predicted in the Old Testament. How often do we?  

Now some might suggest Jesus needed Judas to betray Him in order that the Passion of the Christ, His crucifixion would be fulfilled, and that ultimately it would lead the Lord to Resurrection and sitting at the right hand of God.

Put differently that the short-term pain of betrayal and the Cross would be eclipsed by the eternal joy of fulfilling God’s plan such that Judas’ betrayal was merely part of the plan.

Perhaps; but even so, it had to hurt on a human level, even though Jesus knew what humans were capable of – the good, and the not so good.

Be that as it may, I think Jesus always was teaching – His Disciples, His followers, His contemporaries, and all those who want to know Him throughout the ages by how He treated people and handled the mortal hurts we all face.

I think Jesus was using Judas to teach you and me about the essential fundamentals that are inherent in being a follower of our Savior – love, forgiveness, grace, humility, friendship, compassion.

If Jesus can break bread with people who have, and will let Him down, can we do any less with people who perhaps think differently than us, have hurt us, have let us down?

If Jesus can see the best in people, and try to encourage them towards their higher angels, even when they make it difficult to do so, the way Judas did, can we do any less?

If Jesus can forgive people who nailed Him to a cross, can we in Christ-like fashion forgive “those who trespass against us?”  Or do we just want God to forgive us without doing our part towards others? Through parables Jesus gave us a glimpse on the greater sin being upon those who don’t forgive.

As an aside, that doesn’t mean we open ourselves up to further betrayals, nor does it mean there isn’t responsibility for atonement on the part of the one who hurts us. But we are expected to show God we got the memo, and give the grace of forgiveness – not so folks can keep doing hurtful stuff – forgiveness isn’t a permission slip. It is a Holy inspired grace we choose to give that frees us to let go and move on, or rebuild, or reconcile.

And you really can’t have love without forgiveness, and Jesus showed cosmic sized forgiveness from the Cross. He asked God to forgive the people He cured, He loved, He cared about, the ones who ultimately screamed “crucify” Him in spite of the Grace our Savior gave.  That included Judas, and Peter, and most of the Twelve, too.

Jesus chose Judas knowing he would betray Him. Jesus gave a man who was broken spiritually, and so many other ways, a path towards the Light. Even to the last moment before Judas turned away from the Lord, our Savior did try to save the one who betrayed Him.

I take great comfort in knowing Jesus never gives up on us. He always is ready to reconcile, redeem and restore us. He is always forgiving us. And He is always ready to save us, again and again and again.

Jesus chose Judas knowing….

Jesus chose you and me knowing …. who we are, and what we can become in Him and through Him if we stay close to the Lord, trusting our Savior to do what He does best – save and love us.

May we always choose Jesus and follow His Light.

Happy Easter and God bless you on your journey in Christ,

Robin

Image from: https://freechristimages.com/images-Christ-life/Kiss-of-Judas-_Jean-Bourdichon-c1500.jpg