Sermon

St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Durham, NC

March 25, 2007 - Fifth Sunday in Lent

The Rev. Vicki L. Smith

The betrayer, the traitor, as notorious as Brutus and Benedict Arnold – that is Judas, disciple of Jesus, who turned his master over to the authorities, leading directly to the crucifixion.  And to make it even worse, Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss.

The portrayal of Judas in Scripture is curiously one-dimensional.  He is totally evil.  The lesson we just heard even reinforces the point by John’s asides.  Just in case we might give some benefit of the doubt to Judas or credence to his argument, John reminds us that this is the person who betrayed Jesus, and that he didn’t really care about the poor, he just wanted to steal the money out of the treasury.  Just in case we might think there was any redeeming value in Judas, John makes sure to set us straight.

It is interesting that no other Bible characters are as one dimensional, fully evil or fully good.  Peter, John the Baptist, Mary Magdalene, Paul – all have depth, richness and full humanity.  That is how we engage with them and the gospel.  We are drawn into their stories because they are human like we are- with foibles and faults and good intentions. It is their similarity to us, their humanity, that allows us to identify with them and learn from them what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

But Judas seems to be almost a cardboard cutout, a cartoon villain, and I think that there’s a real danger in that.  Not just that we will think ill of Judas, but because seeing Judas as totally sinful lets us off the hook much too easily.  It lets us blame him for the crucifixion rather than acknowledging our own role in it.  It is like blaming the Jews or the Romans for Jesus’ crucifixion – it lets us say that it was all their fault and we had nothing to do with it.  But it was not just the Jews, the Romans or Judas that crucified Jesus.  It was human sin, human sin that we share and must accept a part in.  If we see Judas as completely sinful, and not as a real human being, we distance ourselves from his behavior and deny our own sinfulness.

This is not in any way to diminish Judas’ sinfulness.  He was a sinner, no question about it.  He was a traitor and he betrayed the man who loved him more than anyone ever had.  He was the most notorious of sinners. But we have to know that ultimately he was not so different from us and we need to know that not for his sake but for ours.

It is all too easy for us to look at Judas and claim the moral high ground – “I’d never have done that.”  I would never have betrayed Jesus.

But we’re not entitled to that moral high ground.

Who among us has never been susceptible to a bribe?  Perhaps not 30 pieces of silver, though money is always a motivator, but power and promotion, those can always tempt us.  It begins on the playground – if you want to be in our club, you have to be mean to her – then you can be my friend.   And though the words change in adulthood, the behavior doesn’t.  How many of us have supported an idea or a cause that we didn’t really believe in because it was the boss’ idea or a way to be friends with someone who was important to us.  How many of us have chosen to benefit in some way and closed our eyes to the ethical issues raised? 

Who among us is not capable of making a colossal mistake out of overzealous belief, frustration or a desire to move things along?  Who among us has not set in motion a chain of events that we knew, or at least suspected, would end up hurting someone? 

Who among us has not condemned a spontaneous, extravagant gesture of love, like Mary’s with the perfume, out of pettiness, jealousy or simple stinginess?  We clothe our objections, as Judas did, in words that make it look better – concern for the poor or the budget or something else that looks reasonable, but it is often just plain sinful jealousy and pettiness.

We need to accept that like Peter, John and Mary, Judas is not so different from us.  He is a sinful human being – so are we.  He has responsibility for Jesus’ crucifixion, and so do we.  As he stands in need of redemption, so do we.

And as we have been redeemed, so has he.

Hear Jesus’ words from the cross:

Father forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.

These words are said not just to the authorities who condemned him and the Romans who drove the nails, but also to Judas who betrayed him, to Peter who denied him and to us, who sin and fall.   Their sin, and ours, is met with compassion and forgiveness, even the worst of sins, and the worst of sinners – from the cross, Jesus forgives it all.

Jesus died to redeem all of humanity, not just the good ones.  Jesus died to redeem even Judas, even us. 

Judas was perhaps the most human of all Jesus’ disciples.  We identify with his objections to waste, his frustrations, and his sin.  We know that we really are like him – that the potential for sin, the potential to hurt and betray even those closest to us, dwells in our hearts as it did in his.  And yet Jesus died to redeem us all; to give us clean hearts – Peter, James, Mary, Judas, you and me – all redeemed by the loving sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

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