One of the key players in the Holy Week story is Judas Iscariot – tonight in the gospel (John 12:1-11) he is involved in the account of Mary washing the feet of Jesus with expensive perfume – Mary carries out the anointing as an act of huge devotion, but Judas is horrified – this expensive perfume could have been used to help the poor – why was it being wasted away ?
John tells us in the gospel that Judas isn’t concerned about the poor, but is in fact a thief, only interested in stealing money from the common purse…
Judas is a really complicated character to think about – very often he is simply condemned as the betrayer of Jesus – the word ‘Judas’ has entered into our language as a word to describe somebody who has let someone down… there is nothing good said about him.
And maybe that’s right – he was guilty of betraying a man who he knew was innocent – he was guilty of betraying a man with whom he had spent loads of time – whose miracles he had watched, who had shared food with him, times of prayer and teaching… Judas must have known some of Jesus’ most intimate thoughts – and yet he betrayed him…
And there are several theories why : the first is that he was simply greedy – his love of money had led to him being tempted to give Jesus up – there was a good price on his head, and Judas could go back to his life before Jesus with a good sum of money to invest…
Secondly it may have been that Judas was trying to force the hand of Jesus – one theory has Judas as a radical even before he met Jesus, a man who was desperate to overthrow the Romans – he saw Jesus as the man to do this.
And he had watched the miracles – he knew the power of Jesus, and he wanted Jesus to use that power to do what Judas wanted…
The third and perhaps in some ways the most uncomfortable theory is that Judas was simply chosen to be the betrayer – he was put up as a sacrifical victim, the instrument of God…
But what substance is there to these theories ?
Sadly there is probably an element of truth in them all… Judas was greedy – the gospels tell us that. He was constantly concerned about money. But what a sad reversal this became. Judas accepted the money to betray Jesus – he must have felt it was a reasonable price – he must have thought it was worth it…
But very soon he realised that there was no money that could replace what he did. Once he realised the full enormity of what he had done he tried to give the money back but it was too late… there are great lessons for us as we are reminded that money is worth very little compared to relationships, and as we are reminded that money cannot in fact buy everything…
But it was also a lesson to us that sometimes we can’t go back on what we do – sometimes we need to think through our actions, because once they’re done, they’re done…
And what about the second theory ? The fact that Judas seemed so upset perhaps indicates that he did think there would have been a different outcome. But he couldn’t force it…
Judas thought that he could dictate events to God, but he couldn’t and not one of us can. It can be a very painful recognition when we realise that God’s timing is not our timing, and God’s ways are very often not our ways…
There are times when we will all have hopes and expectations which are not seemingly met – but the great consolation of Holy Week is that Jesus is showing us through these events that through sadness we can find joy, and through darkness we can see light…
And thirdly what about that third theory – the one that says that Judas was just a pawn in God’s plan – that the poor man really had no chance from the start – well, this isn’t quite true – perhaps God did choose Judas because he knew that he’d fail and betray Jesus, but he never forced him to do it.
Judas made a choice to betray Jesus – and he could have made a different choice ! God allows every one of us freewill – and that means we too have to make choices – and as we go through Holy Week – as we prepare to celebrate once again the resurrection of Jesus on Sunday, we too must make a choice to follow him or not.
If we do then we must learn from the mistakes of Judas – we can’t choose the way Jesus calls us to follow, we can’t choose the time and the place he asks us to do things, we can’t try and force his hand to do what we want rather than follow his plan – we must never be distracted by money or any one of loads of distractions which can take our focus away from Jesus….
But if that sounds negative, it shouldn’t be because what we can be assured of is the love of the Saviour of the world – a love which he feels so strongly that he was willing to die for each and every one of us – in Holy Week, we recognise God’s commitment to us – and we review our commitment to him…. AMEN
John tells us in the gospel that Judas isn’t concerned about the poor, but is in fact a thief, only interested in stealing money from the common purse…
Judas is a really complicated character to think about – very often he is simply condemned as the betrayer of Jesus – the word ‘Judas’ has entered into our language as a word to describe somebody who has let someone down… there is nothing good said about him.
And maybe that’s right – he was guilty of betraying a man who he knew was innocent – he was guilty of betraying a man with whom he had spent loads of time – whose miracles he had watched, who had shared food with him, times of prayer and teaching… Judas must have known some of Jesus’ most intimate thoughts – and yet he betrayed him…
And there are several theories why : the first is that he was simply greedy – his love of money had led to him being tempted to give Jesus up – there was a good price on his head, and Judas could go back to his life before Jesus with a good sum of money to invest…
Secondly it may have been that Judas was trying to force the hand of Jesus – one theory has Judas as a radical even before he met Jesus, a man who was desperate to overthrow the Romans – he saw Jesus as the man to do this.
And he had watched the miracles – he knew the power of Jesus, and he wanted Jesus to use that power to do what Judas wanted…
The third and perhaps in some ways the most uncomfortable theory is that Judas was simply chosen to be the betrayer – he was put up as a sacrifical victim, the instrument of God…
But what substance is there to these theories ?
Sadly there is probably an element of truth in them all… Judas was greedy – the gospels tell us that. He was constantly concerned about money. But what a sad reversal this became. Judas accepted the money to betray Jesus – he must have felt it was a reasonable price – he must have thought it was worth it…
But very soon he realised that there was no money that could replace what he did. Once he realised the full enormity of what he had done he tried to give the money back but it was too late… there are great lessons for us as we are reminded that money is worth very little compared to relationships, and as we are reminded that money cannot in fact buy everything…
But it was also a lesson to us that sometimes we can’t go back on what we do – sometimes we need to think through our actions, because once they’re done, they’re done…
And what about the second theory ? The fact that Judas seemed so upset perhaps indicates that he did think there would have been a different outcome. But he couldn’t force it…
Judas thought that he could dictate events to God, but he couldn’t and not one of us can. It can be a very painful recognition when we realise that God’s timing is not our timing, and God’s ways are very often not our ways…
There are times when we will all have hopes and expectations which are not seemingly met – but the great consolation of Holy Week is that Jesus is showing us through these events that through sadness we can find joy, and through darkness we can see light…
And thirdly what about that third theory – the one that says that Judas was just a pawn in God’s plan – that the poor man really had no chance from the start – well, this isn’t quite true – perhaps God did choose Judas because he knew that he’d fail and betray Jesus, but he never forced him to do it.
Judas made a choice to betray Jesus – and he could have made a different choice ! God allows every one of us freewill – and that means we too have to make choices – and as we go through Holy Week – as we prepare to celebrate once again the resurrection of Jesus on Sunday, we too must make a choice to follow him or not.
If we do then we must learn from the mistakes of Judas – we can’t choose the way Jesus calls us to follow, we can’t choose the time and the place he asks us to do things, we can’t try and force his hand to do what we want rather than follow his plan – we must never be distracted by money or any one of loads of distractions which can take our focus away from Jesus….
But if that sounds negative, it shouldn’t be because what we can be assured of is the love of the Saviour of the world – a love which he feels so strongly that he was willing to die for each and every one of us – in Holy Week, we recognise God’s commitment to us – and we review our commitment to him…. AMEN
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