The Lutheran Hour
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"The Cost of Betrayal"
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Text: Matthew 26:14-15
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Jesus Christ, humanity’s hero and our soul’s Savior, has come to forgive those who betray Him; to hold out hope to those who have denied Him; to provide peace to all who claim the living Lord as their Deliverer, Redeemer, and Friend.
In the Revolutionary War, Benedict Arnold–you know that name, every schoolchild knows that name–was a gifted American general. He, with Ethan Allen, had captured Fort Ticonderoga. In spite of leaky boats, poor provisions, and swollen rivers, Arnold led an attack on Canadian Quebec. For over five years Arnold, in battle after battle, was at the forefront of the fighting. On the field, no American general was more inventive, more daring, and more courageous than was Benedict Arnold. Sadly, nobody knew those facts better than did Benedict Arnold. He was good. He knew it, and he wasn’t afraid to say it. Even worse, he expected others to say it as well. When they didn’t, when his superiors passed over him for promotions and raises in salary, Benedict Arnold, feeling neglected, underpaid, underappreciated, decided to switch sides.
Working with a British officer, a Major John Andre, Arnold coolly calculated that he would be willing to turn over West Point and its 3,000 defenders, for the most reasonable sum of what today would be about a million dollars. To make a long story short, Arnold’s plan was discovered. He managed to escape to England on the British ship Vulture, while Major Andre was left behind to be hanged. It didn’t take long before Arnold was back on American soil; but now he wore the uniform of a British officer. With some skill, he led damaging strikes against the Colonial supply depots in Virginia and Connecticut. It was there in Connecticut that Benedict Arnold questioned an American officer who had been captured. Arnold asked, “What would be my fate if I should be taken prisoner by the Americans?” The officer replied: “They will cut off that leg of yours which was wounded at Quebec and again at Saratoga and bury it with all the honors of war … then they will hang the rest of you on a gallows!” Which is why, if you visit the Saratoga battlefield, you will find at the place where Benedict Arnold was wounded, a small statue of his leg. His name, everything else he did, everything he could have been, remains unmentioned. To be distrusted by the British, to be hated by Americans, was the cost of Benedict Arnold’s betrayal of his country.
Still, Benedict Arnold has gotten off lucky when he is compared with the most well known traitor of all time: Judas Iscariot. When Jesus began His ministry, He called 12 men to His side. Their names are familiar; most of their names are still used today. Most of us know people who are called Matthew or James or John, Peter or Thomas. Not as common, but still not unknown, are the Bartholomews and Andrews. But never have I met a Judas.
This week, Christians throughout the world will gather together to remember their Savior’s sacrifice, the events which led up to His cruel crucifixion upon the crest of Calvary. Today, Palm Sunday, believers remember the triumphal procession of the Christ into Jerusalem. They think back upon the Sunday when the crowds called out, “Blessed is the Son of David, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” This week Christians will hear Jesus invite them to a most special, a uniquely intimate meal of His Body and Blood. They will hear Him say, “Take eat, this is My Body given for you. Take drink, this is My Blood shed for you.” This week, the most holy of weeks in the Christian calendar, the saved will watch with their Lord as He falls to the ground in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating as it were, great drops of blood. They will be filled with sadness as they recognize that the sins of every man, woman, and child, including their own, were laid upon the Savior’s shoulders. They will realize that it is to take away their sins that Jesus suffered so. They will watch the torches and lamps of the High Priest’s henchmen wend their way up the dark, winding path from Jerusalem to the Garden of the Olive Press so that Jesus might be arrested. They will see Judas, Jesus’ friend, betray his Master, his Rabbi, with a kiss. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Let me introduce you to Judas the betrayer. Judas was one of Jesus’ closest friends. Experience by now should have taught you that a betrayer always has to be someone who is close to you.
Years before the events at Gethsemane and Calvary, Jesus had picked Judas to be one of His followers. It was a select group. There were only 12 who would be constant comrades to the Savior as He conducted His earthly mission of saving us from sin. The only disciple from Judea, Judas had found a position of some authority in the group. He was the treasurer of the disciples, keeping track of and stealing from, the group’s meager purse. More than that, Judas had been there when Jesus spoke words of forgiveness and healing to the multitudes which followed Him. Judas had watched as Jesus had helped the lame walk, the blind see, and the deaf hear. He had, with the other disciples, watched in amazement and awe when Jesus called the dead back to life. Judas had, during Jesus’ three years of active ministry, been a most privileged fellow. He had seen the devil’s despair at the approach of the Christ. He had trembled in fear of a Galilean storm, and trembled again when Jesus silenced that storm with a word.
Impressed with such power, in awe of Christ’s strength, it is not unlikely that Judas saw a great potential for profit in all of Jesus’ doings. Jesus healed the sick; a gift of support might be asked from all those healthy and healed souls. Better yet, an amount could be charged before they were healed. Although we cannot know for sure, it is quite possible that Judas considered himself a practical individual; an entrepreneur, a fellow who knew when the situation was right, how to make a buck. When Zacchaeus the tax collector came to faith, he gave back everything he had stolen. No doubt, Judas thought Jesus and His followers should have received a piece of that action. When Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with a costly oil, Judas bristled at the impracticality and waste of it all. Worse, he had probably been hurt when his sensible suggestions went unnoticed and ignored.
Like Benedict Arnold, somewhere along the way, Judas decided to switch sides. Unlike Benedict Arnold who made the substantial sum of a million dollars betraying his country, Judas betrayed his Savior for 30 pieces of silver, the price of a broken-down, worn-out slave. I don’t know his reasons. Greed probably had something to do with his choice. Some scholars, wishing to put a positive spin on Judas’ act of betrayal, have suggested he wanted to force Jesus into becoming a political activist, who would drive the hated Romans from Israel’s borders. Still others have said that Judas, feeling himself a social outcast among the backward Galileans, thought he could find better, more supportive and understanding friends among the Jewish leaders.
Many different reasons for Judas’ actions have been suggested. Maybe he needed some cash to pay gambling debts; maybe he wanted to buy a retirement home in the country; maybe he wanted … maybe, maybe, maybe. Nobody, not me or anyone else, knows why Judas became a traitor. All we know is Judas switched sides. He sold his Master and himself to the men who had sworn themselves to secure the Savior’s destruction. For Judas, 30 pieces of silver was the cost of betrayal. With 30 pieces of silver jingling in his purse, he began secretly, slyly, stealthily to look for the moment when he might in safety, turn Jesus over to His enemies. He should have saved himself the trouble.
Jesus already knew what Judas was up to. Before Judas had ever made his first move, Jesus had known what was in this disciple’s sad and sinful heart. From day number one, Jesus knew the night would come when He would be betrayed, and He had known who would do the betraying. Now don’t think that Jesus wanted Judas to betray Him; or that Jesus manipulated the situation so that Judas would be forced into this sorry, sinful act. Judas made his choice alone, but Jesus knew what Judas was doing, just as He knows what each of us are doing.
Jesus’ knowledge should have spelled disaster for Judas’ plot. You see, the greatest worry of any traitor is that his dark plans will be dragged into the light; his devious secrets exposed so that all might see. Judas should have had no such worry about his betrayal. You see, Jesus knew about the traitor’s plots with the priests, but Jesus’ foremost concern was not to save His own life. Indeed, He had been born to give His life as a ransom for many. Jesus had entered this world to fulfill His Father’s promise to save humanity from itself. Jesus had come down from heaven to live the perfect life that we could not live; to suffer an agony we could not bear; to die the death that our transgressions deserved. Jesus had come as One of us, knowing He would be betrayed and He would die so His followers might live forever, forgiven and free.
Jesus knew what Judas had planned. Before the Last Supper, as He washed the feet of the disciples, He intimated that there was a traitor in their midst, someone who was not clean. But Jesus did not order Judas out. Not at all. Jesus washed the feet of the traitor, and in so doing, tried to show His faithless friend that he was still loved. When they sat down to dinner, Jesus did not banish the soon-to-be-betrayer. On the contrary, Jesus sat Judas next to Him so He could try to speak to the defecting disciple. Later during dinner, Jesus once again commented that one of His close friends would betray and deliver Him up. Even then, Jesus did so in a way that left the innocent disciples confused and the guilty one knowing that his plot had been uncovered. Even as Jesus was eating a farewell meal with His friends, even as Calvary’s cross was coming closer, the Savior still reached out to the man who was going to be most responsible for His arrest. Jesus wanted His betrayer to know that he was still loved and that there could be forgiveness.
Listen to that one more time. Jesus wanted His betrayer to know that he was still loved and could be forgiven. Do you comprehend? Can you fathom such love? Of course you can’t. The kind of love that can promise forgiveness to a traitor is divine, not human. Still it is the kind of love that God has for us. St. Paul said it clearly in the book of Romans: “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Can you understand? Can you grasp such grace? Forgive me if I answer that question, too. You cannot. It is not within your ability. In a similar situation, you would want fairness, you would want justice, vindication. You would want revenge. So would I. But Jesus wanted only that Judas the traitor be turned by the Spirit and, in repentance, to forgiveness and salvation. Jesus wanted Judas, along with all of humanity, to be saved. That is why Jesus laid down His life for His friends. That is why Jesus, from the cross, forgave those who put Him there. That is why Jesus lived and died: He wanted to seek and save the lost.Once again, I ask you to stop and consider what those words mean. Right now, at this moment, I don’t know the many listeners who have tuned into this broadcast or who are listening to my words on the World Wide Web. I can’t know you who are hearing me speak as you drive somewhere in your automobile; or listen from a sick bed in the hospital; or work on your car in the garage. I cannot know what you have done, or how you have lived your life. I only know this: if Jesus, God’s sinless Son, can forgive the man who betrayed Him, He can forgive you. Jesus can forgive you. He wants to forgive you. He lived and died to forgive you. And no matter what you have done wrong in the past; no matter how horrible or heinous, how deadly or despicable; how often and how long you have done things wrong, Jesus, this day, is ready to forgive.
Those of you who have been Christians for a while, but still entertain a nagging feeling that your sins are greater than God’s grace, know that Jesus can and has forgiven you. There is no sinful stain so set upon your soul that the blood of Jesus cannot erase. For those of you who have felt that you are beyond the reach of the love which is extended through Jesus’ nail-pierced hands, believe me when I say, “You are wrong.” Jesus wanted to forgive Judas. He wants to forgive you. This day, this hour, Jesus is calling you away from that which you have done wrong, and calling you to repentance, forgiveness, and faith. Believe me when I say that nothing in all creation can separate you from the love of God, the grace of God, the forgiveness of God which is yours in Christ Jesus. Governments may feel it necessary to hang their spies and turncoats; the military may stand before a firing squad those who have betrayed comrade and country; but Jesus, the ever-living Lord Jesus, wants to forgive those who are sinful turncoats and scurrilous traitors. “Forgive,” that’s what Jesus wanted to do for Judas. Forgive is what Jesus did for thrice-denying Peter. Forgive is what He wants to do for you, and you can be as sure of it. What was the cost of Judas’ betrayal, our betrayal? It was the life and death of God’s crucified, yet ever-living Son.
The sermon today began with the story from American history, the story of a traitor, the story of Benedict Arnold. Let me end with another story, the story of another American – but this is the story of a hero by the name of James Butler Bonham. For the first two weeks of February in 1836, James Bonham worked with the other men of the Alamo in building up the fortifications of the mission. His job description changed when word came that Santa Anna, the Mexican general, was approaching the mission with a great army. Realizing the hopelessness of their present situation, the commanders of the Alamo, William Travis and Jim Bowie, sent Bonham out to find assistance. Bonham, under orders, left before the siege began. He looked for help, but found no one to relieve the surrounded garrison.
There is no written record of what went through Bonham’s mind when he realized the helplessness of the situation. Who could blame him if he decided not to go back? We have no written record of what James Bonham thought. We do know that James Butler Bonham got back on his horse and returned to the Alamo to inform his friends and fellow defenders that they were, to the best of his knowledge, on their own. Bonham made a choice and refused to desert or betray his comrades. He died with his friends, fighting the enemy.
His death was a noble thing, but it pales in comparison to that of the Christ. Unlike Bonham who carried bad news, lonely news; Jesus came to earth to give us the Good News that we were not alone or on our own. Unlike Bonham who died killing his enemies, Jesus died trying to save those who hated Him. And while history tells us that the body of James Butler Bonham was found in the chapel of the Alamo along side a cannon, it also tells us that Jesus’ body has never been found. Why? Because Christ is not a dead hero. He is a living Lord, a risen Lord, the Redeemer. If you would like to know more about the Savior, please call us at The Lutheran Hour. Let us introduce you to the risen Lord, who has paid the price of our betrayal. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for March 20, 2005
Topic: Is God Cruel to Condemn?ANNOUNCER: Now Pastor Ken Klaus answers questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer. Today’s question is really very simple – “Can a person be saved after they die?”
KLAUS: God is patient and the Holy Spirit is always calling sinners to repentance and faith. But if a sinner rejects God’s grace during his time here on earth, once he dies, it’s too late. Now I realize, to some people that seems cruel. They might ask, “How can a God of love do that to someone who is innocent?”
ANNOUNCER: There’s enough material there for a whole month’s worth of Q&As.
KLAUS: It is that. First let’s say that God would never send an innocent person to hell. The fact is, from God’s perspective, nobody is innocent. We all are sinners. The Bible says, “There’s not a just person on the earth that always does good, and never sins” (Eccl. 7:20). The truth is, all of us have broken God’s laws. So, although it would be cruel for God to send an innocent person to hell, it’s sort of a moot point because no one fits that description.
ANNOUNCER: Still, some would say it’s cruel for a God of love to send anybody to hell.
KLAUS: And I would ask them, how about Hitler and Stalin?
ANNOUNCER: Good question. But what about those people who have tried to lead a good life?
KLAUS: Then the question really is, how good is good enough? Again, if you agree that God is justified in sending certain people to hell, then it’s just a matter of where you’re going to draw the line. You know, Mark, I also think it’s a very dangerous thing for people to call the Lord cruel. That’s an adjective that just doesn’t apply to Him.
ANNOUNCER: Why not?
KLAUS: A cruel God would not have set our first ancestors in the Garden of Eden where they had a perfect life. No tears, no problems, no pain, no death – that’s not the work of a cruel God.
ANNOUNCER: But humankind fell into sin by disobeying God.
KLAUS: Here’s the synopsis of what happened. God gave Adam and Eve everything they needed. There was only one very small, easily followed law – don’t eat from the fruit of this one particular tree. That’s not complicated; it’s not cruel; there were no hidden clauses in that arrangement. God said, “Do what you want, eat what you want, just stay away from the tree. Don’t eat from it.” Sadly, our first parents couldn’t do it because they didn’t believe what God said. They doubted His word. They did the one thing they were warned not to do, and they along with all who have come after, are subject to death and deserve to be punished eternally.
ANNOUNCER: Is that where God gets cruel – at least the way some people think?
KLAUS: I suppose so, but cruel still doesn’t describe the Lord. He’s not cruel. He’s fair and just and gracious and merciful. Immediately following our sin, God gave a promise, a way for us to be saved to escape damnation. He said He would send His Son who would take our place. He would take our place by living a perfect life. He would take our place by avoiding every kind of temptation. He would take our place by suffering and dying for us. He would take our place by carrying our sins. Having given His promise, God said, “Turn from your sins, believe that Jesus is your Substitute, and you will be saved.” That isn’t cruel.
ANNOUNCER: No, actually it’s mercy and grace we don’t deserve.
KLAUS: That’s the picture Scripture paints. Here’s the rest of it – we’re in prison for our sins. God, our Judge, sent His innocent Son into our prison to take our place. Jesus took our punishment and then rose from the dead. In this way, He unlocked our jail cells. He sent His followers out to tell people that they’re free. Now, if somebody doesn’t hear that they’re free, that’s not the Judge’s fault. You can’t say that the Judge who sacrificed his innocent son for guilty jailbirds is cruel. If people stay put in themselves, you can’t blame the Judge for that either. If people laugh at the idea of freedom; if they say “no Judge would do that, there must be a catch,” that’s not the Judge’s fault. If the cell is relocked, which is basically what will happen on Judgment Day, you can’t blame the Judge for not giving people yet another chance. You can’t say, “He’s cruel.” He’s done far more than anyone thought any Judge should.
ANNOUNCER: So, getting back to the question that started this discussion, there is no second chance to believe?
KLAUS: None. Let me say, there’s a lot of Scriptural passages that support what I’ve said today. But here’s one that sums it up. From Hebrews 9:27, it reads this way: “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” Let’s close by saying, “Now is the day of salvation. God is calling unbelievers right now. Look to Jesus, trust in Him, and live.”
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.