Wadhams United Church of Christ
2569 County Route 10, Wadhams, NY 12993
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Sermon by Steve Smith
March 22, 2009
It seemed like a simple enough task: bring the grocery list to Walmart, pick up what we needed, and check out. As I was headed triumphantly to the checkout area, I noticed that everyone else in the store seemed to be converging on the registers at the same time. After going back and forth a few times, I picked out the line that looked to be the shortest. While this strategy might work well for others, it seldom works for me. Yesterday proved no different. It seemed that every person ahead of me had one problem or another that required intervention from various departments.
Even more maddening to me, though, was all the gesturing the checkout clerk was doing while he should have been scanning items and putting them in bags. Accompanying the gestures was a steady stream of chatter that apparently interested him more than getting his customers through the line in a timely fashion. As I finally got close enough to hear him, it turns out that the favorite topic of his one-sided conversations happened to be his dog. A very unusual dog. When I finally had my chance at the register after 15 minutes in line, I have to admit that I wasn’t in a listening mood.
But he was persistent about his topic, and he seemed determined to enlighten me. “I’ve got this incredible dog,” he started. I tried to carve my face into the most disinterested look I could manage, but he didn’t get the hint. “It’s a mixed breed.” “Mmff,” I responded, which is an acronym for “Make it go Far, Far away.” He still wasn’t picking up my clues. My moment for enlightenment had arrived, whether I wanted it or not. “My dog is a cross between a pit bull and a wolf,” he gushed, obviously expecting some sort of enthusiastic reaction from me.
For my part, I was trying hard not to imagine why someone would want such a dog, and what kind of person would keep one as a pet. Troubled by my lack of response, the clerk pursued me further. “Have you ever seen a dog like that?” he asked. I’m not proud of it, but the 15 minutes in line had transformed me into something resembling a cross between a pit bull and a wolf. I was able to keep from snarling and howling at him, but I finally said, “No, I’ve never seen a dog like that, and I really don’t want to.” It was amazing how quickly he had my groceries bagged and rung up.
Our Lenten reflections so far have taken us into the minds and hearts of Jesus’ most devoted followers as they wrestled with their understanding of God’s presence and guidance in their lives. From Peter, who couldn’t fathom the notion of a suffering Messiah; to James and John, who wanted to assure themselves that their sacrifices meant something tangible; to Thomas, who along with the others wanted to rid the world of its brutal monsters; each of them would have the rest of their lives to realign themselves around the greater purposes of God to be found in crushing disappointment and bitter sorrow.
Today’s gospel lesson takes us to Judas, who is in my mind one of the most mysterious figures of the New Testament. For millions of Christians down through the centuries, there has been no mystery or question about Judas and what he represents. One word pretty much sums it up: traitor. His betrayal of Jesus into the hands of his enemies has made him one of the most notorious and reviled characters in human history. In their minds, Judas was something of a cross between a pit bull and a wolf.
The gospel writers, being close to the people and events depicted in the New Testament, could only make sense of his actions by pointing to his moral lapses and to the dark side of the spiritual realm. One of them points out that Judas was in the habit of helping himself to the purse of money that Jesus and the disciples used to buy food and supplies. Another one tells us that Satan entered into Judas and proceeded to bring about the downfall of the greatest man that ever lived. In another place, Jesus bemoans the fate of Judas by telling him it would have been better if he had never been born.
All of these descriptions paint Judas in very unsympathetic tones. Of all of the people who gathered around Jesus, Judas is one of the hardest ones to connect with. We might well be tempted to say, “No, I’ve never met anyone like Judas, and I really don’t want to.” He’s not really the kind of person we want to relate to, because we don’t want any of his dubious morality or tarnished character to rub off on us. In short, we don’t want to be like him, and we certainly don’t want our children to grow up with Judas as their hero. So why spend an entire sermon thinking about him?
Besides my innate curiosity, I have to confess to thinking that there is more to Judas and his story than what we read about in the New Testament. If this man had been as purely evil as history has made him out to be, I don’t think his presence would have been tolerated by Jesus or the disciples during the three years of Jesus’ ministry on earth. And coming from the other direction, I don’t think Judas the evil one would have been able to stand being around so much goodness and holiness as he would have had to endure in Jesus’ company. In my mind, his character is far more complex than our simple dismissals. And if that’s the case, then Judas might have something to teach us about disappointment with God.
Others have wrestled with the complex nature of Judas’ character. Because Jesus talked several times about his coming betrayal, some people have argued that Judas was simply a hapless pawn in the vast eternal plan of God, so that the betrayal wasn't an act of free will, but was imposed on Judas as part of the divine plan. Several scholars have taken the argument further and suggested that he was merely the negotiator in a secret prearranged surrender, and that his later portrayal as a traitor is a historical distortion. I’ve heard some of them wanting to offer a non-traditional interpretation of the word “betrayer” to suggest that Judas was simply playing the role that Jesus asked him to play.
Then a couple of years ago, National Geographic scored some major headlines when they spent vast multiples of thirty pieces of silver to get their hands on the lost Gospel of Judas. They put their experts to work on the existing fragments of the document, and came up with an intriguing piece of work that offered the shocking gospel truth of the matter, that Judas did not betray Jesus. Instead, Jesus asked Judas, his most trusted and beloved disciple, to hand him over to be killed. Judas' reward? Ascent to heaven and exaltation above the other disciples.
Although I’m nowhere near a New Testament scholar, I have to tell you that when I read a copy of the Gospel of Judas that I found on the internet, I had a hard time finding that viewpoint amid the confusing terminology and language I saw that was totally foreign to the New Testament. Instead, I was leaning toward a dark interpretation of the document based on repeated references to Judas as “the thirteenth one” who was master of “the thirteenth realm.” Everything I know about the symbolism of thirteen has to do with demons and dark magic.
A New Testament scholar who reviewed National Geographic’s work agreed with me. This is what she concluded: A more careful reading of this gospel makes it clear that not only is Judas no hero, he is a demon. Whoever wrote the Gospel of Judas was a harsh critic of mainstream Christianity and its rituals. Judas is a demon working for {the king of demons}, so when Judas sacrifices Jesus he does so to the demons, not to the supreme God. This mocks mainstream Christians’ beliefs in the atonement and in what happens in holy communion.
There is another way to look at Judas that acknowledges the inner conflict that must have been raging inside him. This viewpoint stresses his zeal for the cause of liberating his people from the evil Roman Empire. Some experts believe that the nickname appended to Judas name is a reference to his political leanings. According to them, the name Iscariot comes from the Latin word "sicarius", meaning "dagger-man". The Sicarii were a group of rebel assassins who were resisting the Roman occupation of the country. Thus Judas might have originally been a member of this group, and he had turned his allegiance to the man he thought could make his dreams come true.
He would have been drawn to Jesus because of his charisma, his ability to draw a crowd, and his insightful criticism of the current Jewish leaders. Since the current Jewish leadership in place in Jerusalem had carefully crafted a working relationship with the Roman authorities, they obviously couldn’t be trusted to lead a revolt against Rome. Someone from outside the system had to be found, and Judas thought he had found that someone in Jesus.
To Judas and to other observers of the political climate in Jerusalem, the time had come for a showdown. He had no doubt been heartened by Jesus’ decision to return to Jerusalem, but had probably been more than a little bit disturbed by Jesus’ language about being insulted, humiliated, tortured, and killed. That wasn’t the way things were supposed to go. It’s entirely conceivable to me that Judas’ growing sense of desperation would have prompted him to take some drastic action that would force Jesus to fight back and launch his campaign to overthrow Rome to establish God’s kingdom on earth.
When he heard that the Jewish authorities had put a price on Jesus’ head, he believed he had found the solution to the complex dilemma swirling inside him. But as events unfolded over the next several days, it became clear that his dreams were quickly disintegrating into nightmares. When Jesus refused to defend himself in front of a series of increasingly powerful leaders; when Jesus was subjected to the humiliation and abuse he had foretold; when Jesus embraced the cross and shunned the army of angels that were no doubt at his disposal, it was more than Judas could bear.
Engulfed in sickening remorse and crushing disappointment over the way things turned out, Judas tried to return the money, but was rebuffed. Not seeing any other way out of the mess he had made, he took his own life. In this interpretation of events, Judas tried to force the hand of God by putting Jesus in grave peril, and the plot failed completely. Judas responded to that failure, that crushing disappointment, and that bitter grief by destroying himself. Apparently, he agreed with Jesus that it would have been better if he had never been born.
But could things have ended differently for Judas? Could it have been different if his disappointment with God had driven him toward God, and not away from God? Could it have been different if his bitterness had made him pursue the God who could transform that bitterness into a passion for ministering to others who had known bitterness? Could it have been different if his failures had been the launching point for God’s redemptive power at work in his life? If nothing else, an animal that is part pit bull and part wolf is fiercely loyal to its owner. Judas could have been a fiercely loyal presence in the new thing that God was doing.
Order of Service
March 22, 2009
Welcome, Announcements, Joys & Concerns
A Prayer for Peace Family #681
Leader: Creator of spring, we thank you for your love for us which is undeserved and yet is so persistent.
People: Work your miracle of new life within our hearts and minds, we pray.
Leader: Touch us in your mercy, so that even in our weariness and weakness we may know your love.
People: Help us to live with faith and optimism, and to trust that you will be in our tomorrows as you are in our todays.
Leader: Give us stability when we falter. Turn our tears into laughter.
People: Give us resilience. Help us to be persistent in the face of trouble, and constant in seasons of change.
Leader: O God of many names and infinite attributes, be present in our worship, and lift our gaze so that we may see you more clearly.
Hymn Family #455 I Am Thine, O Lord Responsive Prayer
Leader: Great Triune God, we have gathered here in your name as an act of faith, believing that you are not only among us, but that you love us.
People: It is often hard to recognize your love, to see your mercy, and to feel your presence.
Leader: We are greatly in need of your guidance. Our world is riddled with greed and hate and confusion.
People: Our minds and emotions are over burdened. We often don’t know the best thing to do. It often seems we are forced to choose between the “lesser of two evils.”
Leader: Our souls crave something better. Lead us, O God, into a deeper and truer commitment to you and to the values and understandings cherished by our Lord Jesus Christ.
People: Show us how to commit ourselves to you in our hearts. Help us to wait in stillness before you until we see things more clearly.
Leader: Make the way plain to us, and help us to trust you even at the darkest times. Then enable us to make the right decisions and to do the things we ought to do.
People: Teach us how to find love again, to realize more fully how much you love us, and to experience how wonderful it is to love others with a generous and sacrificial love.
ALL: For you are our God, and we know that you are able to help us at all times, and to restore us to new life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Pastoral Prayer, Lord’s Prayer
Hymn Family #84 My Faith Looks Up To Thee
Psalm 107:1-9, Numbers 21:4-9, Luke 22:1-6
Sermon Part Pit Bull, Part Wolf
Offering, Doxology, Dedication
Hymn Family # 260 And Can It Be
Benediction
Leader: As we go out from here, touch us, powerful God, with the power of your presence.
People: Come with us, our Sustenance, and sustain us on our journey.
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