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February 27, 2002
Midweek Lent
Psalms 41:9
Pastor Joel Zank

A Faithless Friend Adds to Christ's Anguish

(Psalms 41:9) Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

In Christ Jesus the Friend of sinners, dear fellow redeemed,

Do you personally know anyone named Judas? I don't believe I've ever met a person by that name. And yet in Jesus' day the name Judas was one of the more popular names in all of Israel. In fact, of the twelve men Jesus chose as disciples, two were named Judas. But nobody names a child Judas anymore. I suppose for the same reason that we don't name schools after Benedict Arnold. Thanks to the actions of one Judas Iscariot, the name Judas has become synonymous with the word "traitor" In fact for some people, the mere mention of that name stirs up feelings of anger and disgust. Did you know that in some countries Christians use firecrackers to blow up Judas in effigy as part of their observance of Lent? Judas has become a person that people love to hate.

It wasn't always that way. There was a time, brief though it was, when Judas had the distinction of being one of Jesus' closest friends, and oh how Jesus worked to keep it that way! Tonight we'll look at their friendship through David's prophetic eyes in Psalm 41. There David shows us how A FAITHLESS FRIEND ADDS TO CHRIST'S ANGUISH by the trust he betrays and by the injury he inflicts.

Was Judas ever really a friend of Jesus? Listen again to how he's described: "Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me." We know these words refer to Judas because Jesus himself quotes them in John chapter 13 at the Last Supper just before he predicts his betrayal. And even as Judas' act of treason unfolds in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus still addresses him in this way: "Friend, do what you came for." (Matthew 26:50).

We have no reason to believe that when Judas began following Jesus, he was any different than the rest of the disciples. Like the others, he was waiting for Israel's Messiah. He wasn't a "once-a-week" sort of Christian. He was so drawn by Jesus' message that he was willing to leave everything else behind, his home, his family, his career, and literally follow Jesus wherever he went. We have no reason to doubt that Judas was genuinely amazed and excited by the miracles he saw Jesus perform. He wasn't some mole, some spy secretly planted by the Pharisees or Sadducees to infiltrate and sabotage Jesus' ministry. He was a sincere believer, though sinful and flawed, just like the rest.

If you find all this hard to believe, just look at the way in which Jesus treated Judas. The words of our psalm describe him as one "Whom I trusted, he who shared my bread." Jesus trusted Judas. Granted, he wasn't part of the inner circle of disciples like Peter, James, and John, but he was trusted enough to be given charge of the group's treasury. He was trusted enough to receive the Savior's complete course of seminary training. And when it came time for the disciples to be paired up and sent out for their first taste of mission work (Matthew 10), Judas was there. Jesus trusted him to care for lost souls. With his partner, Judas went from town to town, proclaiming the precious gospel of Christ. Like the others, Judas must have experienced the rush of excitement that comes from seeing people taste God's grace and forgiveness for the very first time; and like the others he too must have learned firsthand the pain of rejection when people despised the good news he preached. Think of the bond all of this forged between Judas and Jesus! Where Jesus slept, Judas slept. Where Jesus ate, Judas ate and as I say this, let's try to understand the significance of that particular privilege--the privilege of breaking bread with Jesus. Christian writer, Brennan Manning comments, "Sadly, the meaning of meal sharing is lost in the Christian community today. In the Near East, to share a meal with someone is a guarantee of peace, trust, fraternity, and forgiveness."

Judas was loved, trusted, and accepted no less than the other eleven men who followed Jesus. In fact, he was not a bragger like Peter, nor a vengeful man like James and Jon, nor a doubter like Thomas. But he did have his faults. Judas loved money, so much so, that he helped himself to the money in the disciples' treasury, and for love of money he would betray his Savior's trust.
Could you or I be Judas? Look at us. Our presence here tonight indicates that our hearts, like his, are drawn to follow Jesus. Like Judas we desire to be more than just "Once-a-week" Christians. Like him we have been entrusted with responsibilities. Jesus has trusted us to serve him in our homes and perhaps in some way here at church. Like Judas we know the peace, trust, fellowship, and forgiveness of eating at Jesus' table, for these are exactly the gifts he has given us together with himself in his Holy Supper. Like Judas, Jesus has made us his trusted friends with whom he has shared every blessing.

Since we are so much like Judas, I have to ask: What little flaws like his are lurking in our hearts? Like his our flaws are not so little are they? But how tempted we are to underestimate the power of our sinfulness. We take great pride in qualifying our sin with that phrase, "It's just a little": "It's just a little lust. Nothing will come of it." "It was just a little slip of the tongue. No one was hurt by it." "It was just a little too much to drink. Nothing I can't control." "It's just a little theft. No one will even know that it's missing." Do you suppose that Judas tried to walk off with the disciples' entire treasury right from the start? No, he took just a little here and there. In the same way we minimize and rationalize our sin, whatever it is. We coddle and convince ourselves that deep down where it counts we're still pretty good. Don't be fooled! The same potential that led Judas to betray our Savior's trust and in the end exchange faith and life for eternal death, is not so dormant and not so hidden inside each one of us. Your sin, my sin, all sin is frightening, because it can lead us to betray the trust our Savior has given to us. Sin can lead us friends of Jesus straight to hell.

Could you or I be Judas? Oh yes, we often are. But here's the better question: Could you or I love Judas? Jesus did. More amazing than Judas' betrayal of Jesus is Jesus' love for Judas. "Friend" he calls him, even in the Garden of Gethsemane. Just think, Jesus knew of Judas' plot to betray him even before Judas did, and for months he dropped hints and gave warnings. Who of us would waste our time with a guaranteed loser? And yet Jesus gave Judas every chance. He brought Judas as close to himself as anyone could possibly be and held out his grace to him to the very end, in spite of the fact that he knew Judas would fall. Such love that was big enough to embrace Judas with compassion and forgiveness is big enough to embrace you and me no matter how often, no matter how severely we have betrayed our Savior's trust.

We have considered the great harm Judas caused himself, but how did this faithless friend add to Christ's anguish. For the answer to this question we again turn to David's prophecy: "Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me." Judas added to the Savior's anguish by the great injury he inflicted.

How vividly David pictures this sin. It's one thing to hit or punch someone with a fist. The right combination of blows can knock someone unconscious or even be fatal in rare cases. But our legs are much more powerful than our arms. Knowing this, David portrays Judas' act of betrayal as the lifting up of a heel, in other words, as a mean- spirited kick, the kind someone delivers when a victim is already down on the ground, hurting and helpless.

But how could that be? Judas didn't slap Jesus in the face and spit on him as did the members of the Sanhedrin. Judas wasn't among those who whipped Jesus until the skin was torn from his back. He didn't push the crown of thorns into Jesus' brow or drive the nails through the Savior's hands and feet. His only physical contact with Jesus was the kiss that marked Jesus as the one to be arrested by those who sought to kill him.

It may have only been a kiss, but I would think it had to be one of the most painful injuries inflicted upon our Savior in the hours leading up to his death. We know from experience that we are most hurt by those who are closest to us. If a stranger insults us, we don't pay much attention to his words. He doesn't even know us. If a long-time enemy attacks, what else should we expect from an enemy? But when someone close to us turns on us, that wound runs deeper: the closer our relationship, the deeper the pain.

Jesus counted his disciples closer to him than his own family, and yet all of them would forsake him before the night was over. Peter would even deny him. But Judas was the friend who allied himself with Jesus' enemies and actually became a part of the plot to murder his Lord. Don't think for a moment that such betrayal of the Savior's love and trust didn't add to Christ's terrible anguish.

Nor should we think that Christ's prior knowledge of such treachery somehow lessened the blow, or for that matter, Judas' guilt. Jesus knew what was coming. He had announced that it was coming. He could have gone to some other place in Jerusalem to pray and alluded his enemies. But that would not have changed Judas' heart. Nor would that have benefited you or me. Earlier we mentioned the Savior's love for Judas, love that offered an opportunity for repentance, love that offered forgiveness to the very end. It was such great love on the part of Jesus-- love for all us faithless friends that moved him to endure the anguish of this betrayal. Here Jesus takes another step toward perfectly fulfilling the Scriptures. Here the suffering and payment for our sins begins. Here, in Jesus' pain from a trust betrayed and a friendship rejected, we find that God's grace will stop at nothing, it will endure everything--even the cross, even hell itself to save us from our sins.

You know, the name Judas doesn't really mean "Traitor" It actually means "praise." So even though we may not wish to be called a "Judas" we will put the name into practice and praise our Savior for the anguish he endured at the hands of a faithless friend for no other reason than to make us his forgiven friends forever. Amen.